1988 Dodge Daytona Base 2.5L Non-turbo from North America

Summary:

Find one in good shape or spend some money to fix it up and it would be great fun car to drive

Faults:

Front left bearing is bad, causing a loud vibration at speed.

Engine cuts out at random intervals, and then starts fine again after sitting for a few minutes. Still don't know where to begin to fix this.

Leaking oil from the lower portion of the engine.

Breaks failed once, the right rear drum brake seized up.

General Comments:

With a little money this could be a nice car, I have had fun the few times that I have gotten to drive it in the three weeks of my ownership.

The back seats are small almost to the point of uselessness. I have to fold myself in to the drivers seat, but once inside it is comfortable.

Would love to have driven this car in it's prime, feels like a fun well performing car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th May, 2004

1st Dec 2006, 21:15

I purchased a 1988 Daytona new in black and really enjoyed the looks and handling. The only problems I had was the a/c stopped working and the map computer sensor went bad twice.

I sold the car in 1995 for a larger car, but I did like the car. It was a good car at a reasonable price.

1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z 2.2 turbo ll from North America

Summary:

Dirt cheap used an absolute steal for the price

Faults:

This Daytona Shelby Z was purchased by me from a local salvage yard. Everything was wrong with it, It was an absolute mess. That's to be expected from 151K hard driven miles, and a stint in the junk yard. The car is currently undergoing a full restoration, and is completely disassembled. I am rebuilding everything to new specifications. I am rebuilding / upgrading a 2.2 Turbo II from a donor car to 20 PSI boost and 300HP status just for good measure. The good thing is I found no rust holes anywhere on the body, even the floors were solid.

General Comments:

I owned a Daytona Shelby Z that I bought brand new back in 1988. I really loved it, However I had to sell it in 1992. This one is its replacement. I loved the first one and will never sell this one.

The Daytona Shelby Z with the inter cooled turbo ll and 5 speed is pretty darn fast. Even with a stock unmodified Turbo II it surprises many V8 cars at the stoplights.

The interior and enthusiast bucket seat for the driver make it possible for you to taylor fit the seat just the way you like it.

Good thing is there were a lot of base model daytonas made, and many of the parts interchange, like glass, interior trims and sheet metal parts.

Plastic interior trim pieces are cheesy and break easily, especially the hatch area plastic panels. Good thing theres many base model donor cars to get trim pieces off of.

Shelby Z specific parts can be expensive and hard to find new. You may want to hit the salvage yards and pack rat spare parts for one of these cars if you decide to buy one.

There is a small aftermarket for these cars since it is a niche market vehicle. Most of these places that cater to these turbo mopars can be found on the net.

There are many clubs around the country dedicated to turbo Mopars, including the Daytona Shelby Z.

The interior of the 1988 Shelby Z is very well laid out, and very comfortable. It looks as modern to Me today as it did back in 1988.

The rear seats however are only usable for small children, and the rear cargo plastics creak and squeak. I plan on fixing this by using foam backed tape at all the overlapping plastic panels in the hatch area to quiet this problem down.

I have no intentions of ever selling this car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd November, 2003

5th Jun 2004, 09:23

I am in the process of buying a fixer upper 88 Shelby Z, So to have someone speak nicely of them is good. I am also a former owner of a 87 turbo daytona who regrets selling it.

21st May 2008, 10:09

I now own 2 1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z's. I drove 1354 miles one way to pick one up. My first one had an accident with a busted fuel line that will take days of combing over junkyards to find all the pieces to put it back together, but my newer one is rocking and rolling down street. The guy I bought it from just replaced thr turbo in it about 2,000 miles ago and I've had it boosted up to 10. They are very nice cars. I like the interior of the 90, but the body of the 88.