CarBrandLogos archive · Plymouth · 1970

PlymouthSuperbird

A nose cone, a two-foot wing, and one season of NASCAR before the rules changed.

Photo: BUTTON74 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Plymouth history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Plymouth Superbird, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Superbird exists because of Richard Petty. Plymouth had lost its most valuable driver to Ford for 1969, and getting him back required a car capable of winning on NASCAR's fastest superspeedways. Chrysler's aerodynamicists, Gary Romberg among them, had already proved the concept with the Dodge Charger Daytona; the Superbird applied it to the Road Runner.

Richard Petty Roadrunner · ckirkman at flickr · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

The changes were extreme and entirely functional. A pointed steel nose cone extended the front of the car and cut drag; a rear wing was mounted on tall vertical struts, positioned high enough to work in clean air above the turbulent roof wake rather than for effect. Flush rear glass and a modified bonnet completed it. Under the skin it was a 1970 Road Runner, with a 440 Super Commando V8 as standard and the 426 Hemi optional, four-speed manual or Torqueflite automatic, built at Lynch Road in Detroit.

Moteur Superbird · Lebubu93 · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

NASCAR required manufacturers to build road-going examples to homologate the design, and that is why the car exists in showrooms at all. Dealers found them extremely difficult to sell. The styling was too much for ordinary buyers, some cars sat unsold for a year or more, and there are documented cases of dealers converting them back into conventional Road Runners to move the metal.

Plymouth Superbird · Dennis Elzinga · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

Petty returned, the aero cars won, and NASCAR ended the experiment for 1971 by restricting engine size on winged cars to the point of uncompetitiveness. The Superbird was built for a single model year. Its road-car reputation reversed completely: the thing dealers could not give away is now one of the most valuable and instantly recognisable American cars of the era.

At a glance