1966 Ford Mustang Hemi Daytona Freak: Can This Thing Be Real?!

Like all the other lookie-loos at Roadkill Nights powered by Dodge (at the Strip at Las Vegas last March), we were pretty much blown over by the cars we saw, but one in particular had our head on a swivel: the 1966 Ford Mustang Hemi Daytona parked under the tent reserved for extra-special vehicles. This home-built machine is the work of Daniel Dhont and his wife Amee, and comes to us out of the deep-freeze of a time machine, from 1978, when 60-year-old Daniel was just 15 years old.

So … WTF Is a ’66 Mustang Hemi Daytona??

You are right to ask, dear reader, what the heck is a 1966 Ford Mustang Hemi Daytona?! No such thing existed, but it's really a pretty cool idea, especially coming from the mind of a teenager, who realized even then how important both the fastback Mustang and the Dodge Daytona would become.

Fiberglass Daytona Nose

There are a ton of custom touches to Daniel Dhont's Hemi Mustang, the oddest one being the Daytona nose, which was built in limited quantities by a company called Fiberfab. According to Dhont, Fiberfab made just 50 of the fiberglass Daytona nose cones, which were designed to graft onto the front of an early Mustang like his. (There's apparently a registry of Mustangs with Fiberfab Daytona noses you can peruse .)

Waiting on a Daytona Wing

Keep in mind, this was a daunting 45 years in the past. Dodge put an end to the Daytona nose knock-off game decades ago, but not before Daniel Dhont got his hands on one. The matching wing, however, wouldn't take form until decades later when he found a guy in Washington State who made reproduction Daytona wings; he just needed one the right width for a 1966 Mustang.

Combining Emblems

A look from the front reveals not just the Mustang's classic galloping pony emblem, but a Chrysler Fratzog symbol, the first sign that something truly amazing lurks under the hood.

Half Ford, Half Chrysler

Dhont fished a short key from his pocket, inserting it into the locking hoodpins at both front corners of the hood, and revealed to us a work of art: a vintage 1956 Chrysler 354ci Firepower Hemi . Here, we have to marvel at the presence of mind that a late-1970s teenager must've had to seek out what would've been a financial stretch, a real—if not the ideal year model—Hemi powerplant. From the looks of it, Daniel Dhont has perfectly split his loyalties evenly between the Ford blue oval and the Chrysler pentastar.

Related:The 1969 Dodge Daytona Was Designed to Win Races

The Daytona Mustang’s Legal Battle

We took a look around and glimpsed a sandwich board which had been prepared for the car in 2015 upon the initial reveal of the Daytona Mustang about eight years ago. It tells with limited detail the astonishing story that the car could not be shown publicly due to a legal beef Ford had with Dodge over displaying the Mustang with Chrysler intellectual property. (Dodge was on a mission at the time to dominate NASCAR .)

Litigation? Spies? Stealing?

For reasons unknown, that prohibition was lifted in 2015 when the two sides—Ford and Chrysler—settled some sort of litigation surrounding a Ford spy who had stolen a wing from Dodge during the Daytona's development in 1966.

How Much of That Is True?

Is it all true? We'll never know, but it makes an interesting tale.

Daytona Mustang's Custom Vibe

Today, the Daytona Mustang has the vibe of a custom car that has emerged from a deep sleep, rather than one that has been recently completed and would ordinarily have all the stylistic telltales of current trends. This presents a certain ambiguity, or even ambivalence, that viewers can sometimes be heard voicing as they walk past.

Amateur Junk or Priceless Culture?

For some, it's juvenile, provincial, uninformed, or poorly executed relative to today's top show-winners, but to others—including us—it's unfettered, unadulterated, free-form expression straight from the teenage mind of a now 60-year-old man. That's us. In this sense, Dhont's Daytona Mustang is a priceless work of art and car culture.

The Daytona Mustang Galvanizes, Titillates …

As we circulated around the Hemi Daytona Mustang, we picked up on some custom touches that would galvanize purists and delight the young-at-heart. Take, for instance, those crazy 1950s-style bullet taillights, which could've come from any number of jet-age-styled cars of the late 1950s.

’50s Motorama Style

Combined with some perforated industrial plate and some baloney-cut tubing, the tail panel of the Daytona Mustang looks pure 1950s Motorama .

Serving Mixed Metaphors

Yes, the mixed metaphors given off by the creation are puzzling but would nonetheless look right at home on Bruce Wayne's daily driver. The five-inch-diameter side pipes have a similar galvanizing effect, their pie-sectioned curves proudly giving up the secret to their fabrication.

Hot-Tub Time-Machine Interior

Inside the Dhont's wacky racer Mustang is an interior that is mostly stock, given that its upholstery looks original, albeit well-maintained. On the leftmost corner of the instrument panel is an odd emblem of a Fratzog underscored with the letters "EXP" for experimental. Could this be from one of the few rare Chrysler Turbine cars of 1963 , the year of Daniel's birth? Or is it from the malaise era, snatched from a '77 Polara just as it was eaten by the jaws of a crushing machine? Vintage tuck-and-roll diamond pleats adorn the door panels and headliner, and a vintage Mooneyes gas pedal and instrument-panel gauges from an old competition car clash with a custom switch panel made of extruded-aluminum paneling. An eight-track tape deck completes the cavalcade of decades spanning the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Get Your Daytona Mustang Groove On

No doubt, some of the so-called experts will hold their noses at the Dhonts' Hemi Daytona Mustang Fastback, but most of the car-curious will want to know more.

More Info on the Hemi Daytona Mustang

For those who, like Neo in the Matrix, choose to swallow the red pill, we refer you to Daniel and Amee Dhont's official website on the Hemi Daytona Mustang, www.HemiStang.com .

Show It Off!

Daniel does owe a debt of gratitude to his wife, Amee. She tells us, "It sat in the garage with primer on it for 20 years after we got married. I finally said, 'Are you ever going to get this car out and show it?'" Thanks to Amee, we know the answer!

Photo: Daniel and Amee Dhont with their two pet Chows at Roadkill Nights powered by Dodge.