Winged Warriors/National B-Body Owners Association
Cal Gas Daytona Finally Finds A Good Home

Text and Photos by Sue George

On February 18, 1970, a company by the name of California Liquid Gas Corporation (known across the U.S.as Cal Gas) purchased a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. The car was #XX29L9B410759, Hemi Orange with a white stripe, black interior and equipped with a 440 4bbl and 4-speed transmission.

[Cal Gas Daytona]
[Cal Gas Daytona]
[Cal Gas Daytona]

Two 30 gallon tanks were mounted in the trunk of the Daytona, which were then filled with propane gas. The Daytona was converted to propane so Cal Gas salesmen could drive it all over the states to promote propane as the new fuel for combustion engines. The promotional campaign was called the Cal Gas Clean Air Crusade. A big white decal proclaiming "Clean Air Car" was glued to the Daytona's doors. Part of the Cal Gas campaign included the claims that propane is "essentially free of dangerous fumes, smoke and contaminants, the engine is free of sludge and carbon, it extends engine life and cuts maintenance costs, cleaner oil, higher octane fuel, smoother power, longer spark plug life, instant cold weather starting with no flooding or choking of carburetor".

By late 1973, the Daytona had made its way to Arkansas and had lived out its usefulness as the Cal Gas promotional car. Sometime during this time, the Daytona was painted blue. Brian Thornburg saw the Daytona on a used car lot in Corning, Arkansas and bought it for his daughter to drive. It was soon discovered she couldn't drive the 4-speed manual transmission, so her father pulled it out and replaced it with a 727 TorqueFlite automatic (leaving the clutch pedal in the car). All of the propane conversion equipment was also removed from the car. The daughter drove the car daily and eventually got married. Her husband, Clyde Hendrix, did not like the blue color, so he repainted the car copper brown and left the Daytona stripe off.

In 1977, the Daytona was involved in a wreck that left the nose cone damaged on both sides and one fender dented. The car sat until late 1979, when it was finally shipped to a body shop in Bloomfield, Missouri. During the years it sat at the body shop, it developed a bad case of rust in the quarters and the engine froze up.

While being stored at the body shop and waiting for repairs and a new paint job, several people saw it. Mr. Hendrix had been trying unsuccessfully since 1982 to sell the car for $3,500. Once word got around to the winged car clubs that this tattered and torn Daytona had been sitting neglected outside a body shop, Californian Ken Finwall heard about it and became interested. He offered Clyde Hendrix $3,000 and in August, 1984, Ken paid for the car sight unseen and arranged to have it shipped to Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. Ken proceeded to restore the Daytona back to it's original EV2 Hemi Orange and put in a 4-speed transmission.

Once the Daytona went to California, we figured Ken Finwall would own it forever and pretty much lost track of it. About three years ago, I received a letter from Scott Dorris in Greenville, Missouri. Scott explained that he had purchased the numbers matching 4-speed transmission that belonged to Daytona #XX29L9B410759-the Cal Gas Daytona-from his friend Brian Thornburg, and he would like to see the tranny reunited with the car. Scott also claimed that Mr. Thornburg still had all of the original propane conversion equipment stored in his garage and he would try to obtain those pieces to reunite them with the car. Supposedly, Scott also contacted someone else about the Daytona's transmission. That person contacted Ken in California, who replied that he was not interested in buying back the numbers matching 4-speed or the propane equipment.

Across the pond, John Houlihan of Middlesex, England had been thinking about buying a nice Mopar. On February 1, 2000, he lost his beloved wife to bowel cancer when she was just 38 years old. It was on this date that he decided tomorrow may never come and to live for the moment. He must have that Mopar. After looking at a 1969 440 4-speed GTX in Detroit in November, 2000, he decided maybe a Hemi car would make him happier. But when he started comparing the Hemi car prices to the winged car prices, he made the decision that he had to have a SuperBird. Having made prior arrangements with a seller to fly to California to check out a SuperBird that he had his heart set on, the seller informed him the car had been sold when he called from the motel to make viewing arrangements.

Since he was already in California, John decided to look at a Daytona that he had seen for sale on the Hemmings website. The Daytona turned out to be Hemi Orange with a white wing and black interior, 440 with a non-numbers matching 4-speed transmission. After a little bit of haggling, John finally owned the Daytona. But this was not just any Daytona-this was the original Cal Gas Daytona!

John joined the Winged Warriors/NBOA and told me he had recently purchased the Cal Gas Daytona. The information about Scott Dorris having the car's original transmission and having access to the original propane equipment was shared with John. He would very much like to get all of the original equipment back that belongs with the car. However, all attempts to contact Mr. Dorris so far have failed. He is not returning calls left on his answering machine nor replying to letters. Hopefully someday the Cal Gas Daytona will be reunited with its original parts that made it a legend in the winged car world.


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