Looking for Hidden Blue Iroc R/T!

[Blue Iroc R/T]

I was cleaning out my email box the other day and came across a email that I received a long time ago, that I never did much of a follow-up on, so I decided to post the story a couple of places to see if we could possibly find the hidden Blue Iroc R/T.

I have it from a very reliable source that there could be a Blue
Iroc R/T out there hiding under Emerald Green paint. So, if you
have or know of a Emerald Green Iroc R/T, please check the body tag
for the paint code. http://www.pbase.com/rmscott/image/8118556
The paint code is on the next to bottom line. The first three
digits are paint application code, 2nd three digits are Primary
Paint code, and the 3rd set of 3 digits is the secondary paint code.
Emerald Green Code = PGF QGF
Electric Blue (Banzai Blue) = PC3 QC3

And Now For the REST of the story (in my Paul Harvey voice):
It seems that one of the Chrysler Exec's working on the Iroc R/T
program, wanted Chrysler to add Emerald Green in 93, but wasn't
having any luck. So, he took his personal Exec. car and had the
paint shop re-painted Emerald Green, then parked it out front of the
main office. The response was so great that they did include
Emerald Green for 93. The car that he had repainted was originally
Electric Blue. My source spoke directly with this Chrysler Exec.
So, it is possible that there may be a Green R/T out there with PC3
QC3 paint codes on the body tag. If anyone comes across this car
please let me know.

[2.216VTurbo]

Kind of on topic Did the stolen Blue one ever turn up? I look everywhere I go for that one and the red ones, and the white ones, and the green ones, and the...

Alan

Used to be a nice red one locally, an older woman driving it, left a note on it about 3 years ago if she wanted to sell. Still waiting for the call.

[BadAssPerformance]

Thats a pretty neat story... I'll keep a look out!

[Blue Iroc R/T]

Kind of on topic Did the stolen Blue one ever turn up? I look everywhere I go for that one and the red ones, and the white ones, and the green ones, and the...

Alan

Used to be a nice red one locally, an older woman driving it, left a note on it about 3 years ago if she wanted to sell. Still waiting for the call.

It's been about a year since I talked to Jeff (owner of the stolen Blue R/T). Nothing has ever been found. At least not confirmed. At one time, someone claimed to have found it in a junkyard (i believe it was in Virginia, but could be wrong on that), But by the time Jeff got there, or sent someone there (a few days after the call about it), it was gone and everyones memory was wiped clean. Convienently no one knew anything about a Blue Daytona.

[green IROC R/T]

It's been about a year since I talked to Jeff (owner of the stolen Blue R/T). Nothing has ever been found. At least not confirmed. At one time, someone claimed to have found it in a junkyard (i believe it was in Virginia, but could be wrong on that), But by the time Jeff got there, or sent someone there (a few days after the call about it), it was gone and everyones memory was wiped clean. Convienently no one knew anything about a Blue Daytona.

I am sure that stolen one has been crushed if the yard found out it was hot.

[sdac guy]

Hi Ralph,
Here is the email I sent you in Sept of 2003,

Originally emailed by Barry.
We were at the GL meeting today which is at a restaurant on Woodward Ave. A guy in a Viper (1st gen) with an "M" plate, meaning it was a Chrysler owned vehicle, drove up and started talking to us. There were a half dozen of our members there with our cars and Will Long was there and he drove his Emerald Green IROC R/T (Will also has one of the rare Blue ones).

So we're talking to this guy and he says he was involved in the IROC R/T development back then (he is in the Viper group now) and he also discusses his racing history and he knows many of the folks I do at CTC that were into the racing scene in the 80's.

Anyhow he gets back to talking about the IROC's and says he was responsible for the color of Will's car. He said he had a company development mule at the time and he was pushing for green to be added to the color choices but no one at HQ wanted to consider it. He said he took his company car and had it painted Emerald Green and then parked it in front of the HQ building and it became an instant hit.

So we talked a little more and we happened to mention how rare the blue ones are. Without hesitation he says, "Oh that's funny, it was a blue one I had painted green".

Interesting huh? Just thought I would share it. I don't have any reason to doubt what he said, but who knows for sure. He did know about half a dozen folks I know out there, the ones that raced in the 80's, and some others.

As I recall the conversation with the guy, it was a mule, not an exec car. Exec cars get sold as used, mules usually get crushed.

At the time, that conversation led me to wonder if the mules get tallied in the production figures (if so, maybe only 7 blue ones were sold to the public?). I have a friend at DC that has a different mule to drive every day and I asked him if he knew if the mules vin's ended up in the production totals.

He didn't know, but pointed out that some mules are pre-production vehicles, and some are emmission test vehilces and other special purpose vehicles pulled from the production line process, possibly to be fitted with a drivetrain under development (many of the ones he drives are like these). He felt that the pre-production mules built in the prototyping shops probably are not tallied in the production numbers.

So the million dollar question involving the blue IROC R/T repainted green, was it a pre-production mule or not, and was the VIN (and fender tag) on record as one of the 8 blue ones? I don't recall anything of his conversation that would give a clue to that. It was a happenstance event when I talked to the guy, and have no way to do any follow up with him.

Hope this helps clear it up some.

Barry

[Blue Iroc R/T]

Thanks Barry,
That was the email that I ran across the other day and I thought that maybe a post on a couple of boards just might put a little light on this mystery. I guess I didn't fully understand about the "company development mule". That more makes sense, if it was a test mule, he could get it re-painted fairly easily.
Ben Bently is doing a Vin registry on the Iroc R/T's and a preliminary check shows that only ONE Blue Iroc R/T was built prior to the 1st Green Iroc R/T and it was a Pilot Car (however he did say that his list is still incomplete). I know the owner of ONE Blue Iroc R/T Pilot Car and I don't believe that there are any signs of it ever being painted Green.

A test mule that possibly never made it to production status would make more sense. But it still wouldn't hurt for people to check, the way Ma Mopar does things, who knows. Thanks Barry.

[oldgregg]

So what's a "mule" car?

[sdac guy]

A mule is term that is generally used to describe a car the manufacturers put together for testing or evaluation purposes. It may or may not be similar to production models. My buddy that drives a different mule (home & back) every day usually gets current year production models that have been taken off the line and refitted with a future engine/trans combo that is under development. This will allow drivability evaluation of the drivetrain.

Occasionally he gets a future year model that has been built in the prototyping shop as he does NVH problem assessment also. Those mules will likely have nearly everything correct except for minor interior or exterior trim and options. Mules cannot be sold to the public after their use, they are usually scrapped (crushed). There is a parking lot at CTC full of them waiting for the crusher (of every model type). Yep, SRT/4's, SRT/8's, SRT/10's they've all had mule models that have been crushed! There are a few interesting parking lots around Detroit (for all the manufacturers).

Sorry for the thread stealing Ralph.

Barry

[Directconnection]

It's been about a year since I talked to Jeff (owner of the stolen Blue R/T). Nothing has ever been found. At least not confirmed. At one time, someone claimed to have found it in a junkyard (i believe it was in Virginia, but could be wrong on that), But by the time Jeff got there, or sent someone there (a few days after the call about it), it was gone and everyones memory was wiped clean. Convienently no one knew anything about a Blue Daytona.

Interesting... but it sounds like that was possibly his car. Someone who saw it at the yard probably over-reacted out of excitement and the yard owner got suspicious and crushed it. Hard to keep your calm finding a Blue IROC R/T. I know I almost lost it when I stumbled across what is my 91 R/T now. I even get that tingly feeling when stumbling across T-II cars. Never found an actual #rd Shelby, but still hoping for a 1989 CSX in the yard or a GLHS.

[86Shelby]

I even get that tingly feeling when stumbling across T-II cars. Never found an actual #rd Shelby, but still hoping for a 1989 CSX in the yard or a GLHS.

I hear ya, I got the feelling after finding a GLHS and a CSXT in a couple yards a few years ago. The GLHS, '87 #305 was rescued and many parts Supercrackerbox and myself pulled were traded/given to the owner who got it out, too bad there have been some titling issues. Leftover choice parts were pulled from the CSXT.

[Turbo224]

This may even steer this thread even more off topic, but I have been looking for info on this sort of stuff for years. I have a Daytona R/T that has a second fender tag reading "Daytona RT PVP Pilot Car" I personally know two other guys with the same thing. (One actually ended up here in Salt Lake with mine!) Mine is red, the other in town is white, and I know a guy with a black one back east.
Anyways, I tried to research this when I first got the car and just got dead ends. So I kind of gave up. But the intersting thing about my car is that the build date is actually 11/91. To my understanding, the R/T option was only available in mid year of 92. So my car had been around a while. While doing a car fax report, it turns out my car was sold at a chrysler auction in late 92 with 1,200 miles on the clock. So this has always led me to believe it was used for some sort of pre-production testing.
Another interesting thing is that the other two Pilot Cars are fully loaded, all the options. Mine happens to be one of seven (i think) that had a "no option" code on the fender tag. So mine has a/c, abs, airbags, and thats it. All standard equipment for an R/T.
At one point I was given an email address for a Kim Lyons. I was told he was involved with the original development for these cars and would probably be able to help me figure out what my car was used for. However the email didnt work and I have long since given up the search.
So I have always had hopes of meeting up with an expert on this topic that can enlighten me in the ways of the pilot car. So if anyone has any info, I would sure appreciate it. If not, thanls for reading my random post!!

Btw: I bought my car out of Chicago back in 2000. So maybe some one has seen it before.


Tyler Larsen~Salt Lake

-92 Daytona R/T (PVP Pilot Car)
-89 Shelby Daytona
-87 Shelby-Z
-97 Jeep Wrangler
-82 Jeep CJ-7
-70 Plymouth Cuda 440-6pk

[sdac guy]

From what I've been told, pilot cars are usually very early production vehicles (the first ones?) of that model or option package to come down the line. The pilot tag on the fender, is a reminder to the folks doing the inspection at the end, that the car deserves a little closer inspection than normal to make sure it is what it is supposed to be. That would include checking the fender tag against the build sheet info, and an overall in depth quality check. And there may be a few pilot cars produced until the production line "gets used" to all the variants in the model.

If the IROC R/T's were introduced in mid 92, then the build date of 11/91 is pretty much dead on for that timetable. The 92 Daytona was introduced in September, but production started in late July or early August. So a couple months lead from build to model introduction would be about right.

Barry

[Lotza Boost]

So is the car you are looking for a 92? From what I've read the car has to be a 92 due to his wanting green in the line up for the 93's coming out.
I have a green 93 but mine was built late into 93 but i'll look at it when I get to my shop just for kicks.
wouldn't that be cool to own a green 92 IROC R/T...who would care if was painted blue before green as long as mother painted it that way before they sold it...talk about rare...1 of 1.

[Blue Iroc R/T]

So is the car you are looking for a 92? From what I've read the car has to be a 92 due to his wanting green in the line up for the 93's coming out.
I have a green 93 but mine was built late into 93 but i'll look at it when I get to my shop just for kicks.
wouldn't that be cool to own a green 92 IROC R/T...who would care if was painted blue before green as long as mother painted it that way before they sold it...talk about rare...1 of 1.

The car in question would have been titled (if it was a production car and not a mule) as a 93 because the car that got repainted was Blue. The blue ones weren't made until the 93 model year. It might have a 92 "Build date", but it should be a 93 model. After all the research, I believe that it was probably a mule that got repainted and has subsequently been crushed.

[rich tideswell]

using this site: www.pbase.com/rmscott i was able to figure out most of the production numbers EXCEPT 1992 EXPORT? anyone got inof on this?

Here is what Ive been able to come up with:

Total US and Export Productions Numbers are 1992 = 341, 1993 = 212 for Total US & Export Production of 553 Daytona IROC R/T's.

Only 431 Daytona IROC R/T's were made in 1992 & 1993 for US Production.

US Production Statistics for the 1992 Daytona IROC R/T: 115 Red, 75 White and 60 Black. Total US for 1992 = 250

Export Statistics for the 1992 Daytona IROC R/T: ?? Red, ?? Black, ?? White. Total export for 1992 = 91

The total US & Export break down by color for 1993 is: 99 Emerald Green, 38 Black, 43 Red, 22 White, 10 Banzi (Electric) Blue. Total for 1993 = 212

US Production Statistics for the 1993 Daytona IROC R/T: 90 Emerald Green, 34 Black, 32 Red, 17 White, 8 Banzai (Electric) Blue Metallic. Total US for 1993 = 181

Export Statistics for the 1993 Daytona IROC R/T: 9 Emerald Green, 4 Black, 11 Red, 5 White, 2 Banzai (Electric) Blue Metallic. Total export for 1993 = 31

The export models were built to different safety standards and were badged as "Chrysler Daytona IROC R/T".

[sphlieger]

Interesting story.

[Lotashelbys]

This thread again....

I have been working on a 93 VIN list with the help of a few fellow board members and I have all but 5 93 R/T cars accounted for. That is if the 212 number from Chrysler is legit. I can say that there are 9 US blue cars and 1 export. One for them being the Pilot car so that could of been the reason for Chrysler saying there were only 8 production blue cars.

Now this story could still be as the first green R/T was built 43,000 cars after the first blue R/T........

[Directconnection]

This might not be much of anything.... but I remember either here on TM in it's inception about 5 years ago.... or it was on TD (pre-nazi ban days) that someone new to the forum posted a picture of their ride.

Now I cannot remember if it was a T-III car, or a T-I, but it was a '92- '93 Daytona painted red, even the engine bay.... BUT, you could clearly see under the heavy scratches that the car was indeed originally Bonzai BLUE!

I seem to remember being the one to notice this, and wondered if it was possibly the stolen blue IROC with a re-paint..... or maybe it was this pre-production blue car we are talking about and my memory is that bad as it was emerald green over blue?

[jonnyb]

If my memory isn't too far off, your memory isn't too far off either Steve.

I recall that it was determined that it was originally a blue v6 car that had a turbo motor transplant done to it. The car was painted red, but the entire engine compartment was still blue.