WIND RUNNER: This Superbird illustrates how far Chrysler was willing to go to win races

January 7, 2019
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

Written by independent automotive journalist Steve Statham

This matching-numbers 1970 Plymouth Superbird (Lot #1370) will be crossing the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction block at No Reserve.

One of the most celebrated periods of the muscle car era was the free-for-all now referred to as the “aero wars.” Detroit’s automakers competed across several marketing battlefields, but the struggle to dominate stock car racing in the late 1960s led to peak muscle car excess. Chrysler Corporation and Ford Motor Company released street cars that incorporated outrageous aerodynamic enhancements designed for the track. Corporate management took the belief they could “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” very seriously.

Today those cars are collectible classics, and it would be hard to find one that represents the aero wars better than the 1970 Plymouth Superbird (Lot #1370) that will go across the block at No Reserve at Barrett-Jackson’s 2019 Scottsdale Auction. To understand why, let’s take a dive into what went into creating these wind-cheating machines.

NASCAR’s rulebook at the time required stock cars to be pretty much just that – stock bodies and production engines. To keep prototypes and ringers out of the mix, they required a minimum of each car to be built and offered to the public (set at 500 for several years, until the number was raised in 1970). Chrysler’s 426 HEMI V8 had even been banned after its introduction in 1964, until the company started offering it as a street option in 1966. Ford’s 427 SOHC V8 was likewise banned for not being a production engine.

Besides horsepower, aerodynamics was key to leading the pack, and the age of the fastback was in full swing. On the Chrysler side, while the 1968 Dodge Charger was one of the company’s enduring styling successes, the tunnel-back rear glass and deeply recessed grille proved problematic at speed on the racetrack. To clean up the aerodynamics, Dodge released the Charger 500. It had a flush grille and smoothed back glass to help it punch a cleaner hole through the air.

Ford released its own aero warriors, the Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II, with flush grilles and dropped noses. General Motors, of course, had disavowed directly participating in racing during the 1960s, and sat out this round of one-upmanship.

Dodge raised the ante even further in 1969, when it released the Charger Daytona, the first of the corporate duo to feature towering rear wings and extended, wind-cheating noses. Plymouth followed with the Road Runner Superbird in 1970, in part to lure Richard Petty back into the Plymouth stable, after he switched to Ford’s streamlined Talladega in 1969.

Although the Superbird mimics the Daytona’s profile, there are numerous differences between the two. The Superbird’s nosepiece is unique from the Daytona’s, except for the headlamp doors. At a glance, the wings appear the same, but they have different heights and angles.

The semi-concave back glass used on the basic Road Runner was not optimum from an aerodynamic standpoint, so the roof was modified and a flush rear glass was fitted. That’s much of the reason all street Superbirds came with a black vinyl top – it hid the scars from the sheet-metal surgery. The Plymouth lettering on the quarter-panels was the same as on Richard Petty’s race car.

The example offered for sale in Scottsdale at No Reserve is a matching-numbers car, restored to a very high level. It comes with extensive documentation, including production Build Sheet, aftermarket Window Sticker, newspaper article about the car, photos throughout the years, full restoration CD, and a Wise Vehicle Validation Report from Dave Wise, managing partner of MMC Detroit, specialists in Chrysler vehicle authentication.

This Superbird is equipped with the optional 440 Six Barrel engine, factory-rated at 390 horsepower. Only 308 Superbirds were built with the 440-6/4-speed powertrain. It has the classic muscle car combination of bench seat with Hurst pistol-grip shifter. Options include the A33 Track Pak, with Dana 60 rear end, 3.54 gear and Rallye dash.

Superbird owners through the years have reported that the car’s aerodynamic enhancements can definitely be felt above 80 mph or so. The aero wars may have been about image and sales, but cars like this Superbird were not pretenders – they were truly built for speed.

For up-to-date information on this vehicle, click HERE.