Dodge Charger purchased for $5,000 could be worth a mint

A car enthusiast bought a rare 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona for $4,776.46 — and now the ride could be worth a mint.

Ron Smith, 71, purchased the car so he could have some fun before his deployment to Vietnam, he told Barcroft Media.

Smith returned safely to the US and used the car again until its inevitable breakdown in 1980.

He kept it in his dad’s Washington state barn and didn’t give it a second thought for over two decades.

Then a few years ago, a handyman spotted the aging wheels and suggested Smith call car restoration whiz Marshall Woolery.

“I went to see the car as a favor to a friend but never in a million years did I believe there would be a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona in there,” Woolery said.

“Originally Ron asked me to do a full restoration but that would have cost him more than $100,000 and you would have lost a lot of what the car was,” Woolery continued. “You can’t recreate all the time that has passed since this car was built — so we just fixed it.”

Smith spent about $12,000 on repairs, and used original parts where possible.

The car still has touches from its heyday, including a bumper sticker with an old blue-and-green Seattle Seahawks logo and a large “Spirit of 76” bicentennial  decal on each door.

The ride is an instant attention grabber — with a torque stabilizer wing on its back — whenever Smith takes it out for a spin.

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A very rare, fully refurbished Charger recently sold for $900,000, Woolery noted — referring to the one bought by actor David Spade earlier this year.

“If you get two guys in an auction room who really want this car, then the sky is the limit,” Woolery said.

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