Superbird SIGHting!

This past weekend my husband was driving us to his brother's house. As we turned through the intersection on our way out of town, he seemed to lose all function in both his speech and his gas-pedal foot, because our truck slowed down to a near-stop and he made garbled noises while frantically pointing out the window. I turned and instantly recognized one of my favorite cars of all time: a Superbird! It's rare to see one going down the road, much less have one turn up in a wee little town like ours (and not passing though on a trailer, either). We were turning into the post office, but quickly decided that getting our taxes in the mail wasn't a priority compared to following the car and hoping it would stop so we could drool a bit longer. (I mean, we had all night to mail the tax forms... and his brother's family could wait. This was BIG! Literally!)

The 'Bird did stop at a gas station (go figure) and I asked the owner if I could take a photo for this blog. He nicely agreed, though in my excitement at seeing the car I didn't ask for his name. His wife told me the car had the 440 engine. It was a real beauty, this beast. Shiny-clean and seemingly immaculate, didn't spot any dings or dents during my all-too-brief walkaround. My former employer owned a 440 'Bird in the same color scheme, and he let me drive it a couple of times, an experience I will never forget. I think that was even better than riding in his Hemi Superbee... I even have a "Winged Warriors" poster from NCARHOF with illustrations of all the raced wing cars... but I digress... Here's the SIGHting of the Month and a bit of background on the Superbird. Much thanks to the couple for the photo op! Gentlemen (and ladies), start your drooling!


The Plymouth Superbird was created for the same reason as the Dodge Daytona -- a full on high speed race machine designed for the NASCAR races. Initially Plymouth built the car to lure Richard Petty back to the brand; due to something called homologation, wherein a race car had to have a stock version available to the general public, 1,920 Superbirds were produced. (By comparison, only 500 Daytonas were built.)

From www.musclecarclub.com:

Trying to capture some of the success that their Dodge brothers had in 1969 with their Daytona, Plymouth tried the same thing in 1970 with their creation, the Plymouth Superbird. Although similar in appearance, the Superbird was actually quite different from the Daytona. The Superbird was based on the Plymouth Road Runner and the nose, airfoil, and basic sheet metal was different between the Daytona and Superbird. The special nose added 19 inches to the overall length (the Daytona's was 18 inches), and the trunk spoiler was more angled and higher than the Daytonas. On both models, the spoiler was two feet high so that the owner could open the trunk. (As a secondary result, it helped keep the rear wheels on the ground at higher speeds, from what I was told by a 'Bird owner. -CJ) Although it created quite an impression on the street, the wing did almost no aerodynamic good under 90 mph.

NASCAR only required 500 copies to be built in 1969, but in 1970, NASCAR required a manufacturer to build one unit per dealer. In the end, Plymouth built a total of 1,920 SuperBirds. SuperBirds were available with three different engines. The most popular was the basic Super Commando 440 V8 with a single four barrel carb rated at 375 bhp. Next up was the 440 Six Barrel (Dodge's Six-Pack) rated at 390 bhp. At the top, and ordered by just 93 buyers, was the mighty 426 Hemi, rated at 425 bhp. Despite the success of the SuperBird on the tracks, 1970 would be the only year it was made.

Production: 1,920 :: 440-4: 1,162 440+6: 665 Hemi: 93
Engines: 426 V8 Hemi 425 bhp @ 5000 rpm, 490 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm.
440 V8 375 bhp @ 4600 rpm, 480 lb-ft @ 3200 rpm.
Performance:440/390: 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, 1/4 mile in 14.26 seconds @ 103.7 mph.
426/415: 0-60 in 4.8 seconds, 1/4 mile in 13.50 seconds @ 105.0 mph.