Plymouth Superbird

The ultimate Road Runner in 1970 (or ever) was undoubtedly the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird. To understand the origins or existence of the Superbird (and similar cars like it, such as the 1969 Dodge Charger (B-body Daytona, a little history lesson is in order.

Back in those days, many muscle cars such as the Dodge Charger R/T, Ford Torino GT and Plymouth's Road Runner not only served many faithful civilian owners with cheap-speed, bang-for-the-buck value, but many served double duty for race car drivers on the NASCAR circuit as well. Back then, car companies took their relationships with NASCAR very seriously. The old adage "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" was never more true in the 1960s and 1970s. For a car to legally compete on the NASCAR circuit, a like-model had to be available to the general public, and as a general rule, a minimum of 500 copies had to be available. NASCAR racing meant big advertising bucks for the car companies. After all, what could be a more ringing endorsement for a car company than having a big-named driver such as Richard Petty or Cale Yarborough win the Daytona 500 in a car made by your company?

And speaking of Richard Petty, it was he that was indirectly involved with getting the Superbird project off the ground, so to speak. In 1969, Richard Petty, who until that time had driven and brought numerous racing victories in Plymouths, did the unthinkable and defected to Ford that year. Petty was supposedly not happy with the way the new-for-1968 Plymouth Road Runner bodystyle was aerodynamically unfriendly compared to the equivalent Fords. Plymouth saw what race driver Buddy Baker was able to do with his outrageous '69 Charger Daytona race car, such as set NASCAR records by reaching an unheard-of 200 MPH speed record and as such, Plymouth was determined to win Petty back and was willing to pull out all the stops to do it.

And so, after Dodge discontinued the Charger Daytona after 1969, Plymouth applied largely the same technology to the Road Runner in 1970... to win Richard Petty back.

Now that you know some of the "why" of the Superbird, here's a rundown on some of the "what" of the car itself:

While there are some obvious similarities between the '69 Charger Daytona and the '70 Superbird, the only real things they truly have in common are the windshield and the front fenders which, like the Charger Daytona, were borrowed from the 1970 Coronet (these fenders, however, did become standard on the 1970 Charger). Their fiberglass nose cones and tall rear wings look identical, but they weren't interchangeable. For example, the snout on the Superbird points downward more and the grille is on the underside, where it's in the front center section on the Daytona. The headlight "buckets" and turn signals are different as well. The rear wing on the Superbird is also more swept-back on the Superbird, but it is adjustable like on the Daytona. Another Superbird exclusivity is that they all had standard vinyl roofs. This was due to a modified rear window that created unsightly seams around the rear bottom portion of the window, so in order to hide these blemishes, a vinyl roof was installed to cover them up.

Although this was known as the Road Runner Superbird, the Superbird was really more of a GTX than a Road Runner (but perhaps Plymouth didn't feel GTX Superbird rolled off the tongue like Road Runner Superbird did). For example, the Superbird shared the GTX's dashboard and interior that was standard on upper-level Satellites. Its drivetrains mirrored the GTX as well, such as the 375 hp 7.2L (440 cid) Super Commando V8 was standard (instead of the Road Runner's 335 hp 383 V8), with the 390 hp 440 3x2 Six-Pack and 425 hp 426 2x4 Hemi V8s as options. A 4-speed manual (with the ultra-cool pistol-grip shifter) or 3-speed automatic transmission could be had with any engine, and the automatic could have a column or floor console shift. All Superbirds had power front-disc brakes and the split top/bottom taillights as standard equipment (again, like the GTX), but unique decals such as the large PLYMOUTH decals on the rear quarter panels and the Road Runner cartoon character holding a racing helmet surrounded by the words ROAD RUNNER SUPERBIRD in a circular pattern left no doubt as to what this car's intentions were and where it came from.

Although Plymouth made many more Superbirds than Dodge made Charger Daytonas (the unofficial number is 1935 vs. the Daytona's unofficial number of 500), that doesn't mean Plymouth had better luck with the buying public than Dodge did. In fact, like the Daytonas, scores of Superbirds lounged on dealer's lots well into the 1971 (and even 1972) model years. In fact, it's been documented that some dealers on the east coast actually removed the Superbird's rear wing and fiberglass nosecone and installed standard Road Runner front ends to move them off their lots (a main way to tell a "converted" Superbird is if it still has the unique Superbird rear window and plugs on top of the rear quarter panels where the wing was removed).

Even though the Superbird was a dud with the buying public when new (just like the Charger Daytona), true-to-form, it is now one of the most valuable and sought-after Mopars ever made. Even a "base" 440-4 matching-number Superbird can command well into the $50-60K range, and they go up from there. Plymouth would probably have been glad to give a leftover Hemi Superbird away back in 1971, but today they can fetch well over $200,000 and up.

Long lived the Winged Warriors!