Plymouth Superbird

Superbird at a glance

The Superbird is a version of the Plymouth Road Runner, which Plymouth sold from 1968 as its budget muscle car.

Built to bring Richard Petty back

Richard Petty left Plymouth for Ford in the autumn of 1968 and finished second in the 1969 Grand National points in a Torino Talladega. Chrysler's answer that year was the Dodge Charger Daytona. For 1970 Plymouth wanted an aero car of its own, and Wikipedia says the Superbird was designed largely to lure Petty back. It worked: Petty returned to Plymouth for 1970.

NASCAR's homologation rule had also changed. Until 1969 a manufacturer had to sell 500 examples of a model through its dealers. For 1970 the minimum became one car for every two dealers in the United States, which meant 1,920 Superbirds for Plymouth. Chrysler memos from September 1969 planned for exactly that number.

The nose, the wing and the scoops

The Superbird's body was refined from the Daytona's, not copied. The fibreglass nose cone with pop-up headlights added 483 mm (19 in) to the car's length. The wing sat on tall vertical struts so that it worked in clean air above the roofline; Wikipedia calls the popular story that it was set high to let the boot lid open an urban myth. On the Daytona, the rear-facing scoops above the front wheels let air out of the wheel wells; on the road-going Superbird they were only decoration.

The aerodynamics paid off only at speed. Wikipedia notes that the regular 1970 Road Runner was quicker in quarter-mile and standard acceleration tests, and that the Superbird's advantage appeared only above about 97 km/h (60 mph). Inside, the car kept the Road Runner's character, including its "beep, beep" horn, which the Daytona did not have.

Engines and performance

The 440 was cheaper to build, so Plymouth produced only the minimum number of Hemi cars needed for homologation. Wikipedia quotes 0–60 mph in 5.5 seconds for the Hemi. By our calculation only about 7 % of the cars had the Hemi, which is why those cars bring the highest prices. Wikipedia adds that this engine split is questioned by some researchers.

Sports Car Market lists power steering, power brakes and a vinyl roof as standard. Interiors came in white or black, with either a bench seat and column shift or bucket seats and a floor shift.

NASCAR season 1970

On the track the Superbird did what it was built for. Petty won 18 of the 40 races he entered in the 47-race season and scored nine more top-five finishes. He missed seven races after a crash at the 1970 Rebel 400 and finished fourth in the championship.

NASCAR then closed the door on the winged cars. From 1971 aero cars had to run engines of no more than 305 cu in (5.0 l) or carry much more weight. The penalty made them uncompetitive, and Ford abandoned its own planned aero car, the 1970 Torino King Cobra, which had a Superbird-style nose.

Hard to sell, easy to love

In the showroom the Superbird was a problem. Its styling was too extreme for many buyers, who preferred the ordinary Road Runner. Some cars still stood on dealer lots as late as 1972, and some were converted back into regular 1970 Road Runners to clear stock. Sports Car Market tells of a Six Barrel car bought off a lot in Washington state for US$1,700 (about 1973).

Values reversed long ago. Sports Car Market recorded US$36,650 for a 440 automatic at Mecum in 1999, US$169,500 near the 2006 market peak and US$529,200 for a Hemi at an RM sale in 2007. In August 2017 a 440 four-barrel car sold for US$154,000 at Bonhams Quail Lodge. Wikipedia, as read in October 2026, puts current prices at US$200,000 to 450,000 in 2026, depending on engine, gearbox and options.

Superbird buying guide

Sports Car Market's 2017 profile gives practical points for checking a car:

• Numbers: the VIN plate is on the driver's side of the dashboard behind the windscreen, and the engine number is on a pad on top of the block near the water pump.
• Engine and gearbox: with only 135 Hemis and 716 Six Barrels, the paperwork must back up the engine; a four-speed Hemi is one of just 58.
• Body details: check that the lower front valance lines up with the wheel opening, the headlight trim is decaled, not painted, and the bonnet pins are set correctly.
• Correct parts: the right radiator and hose routing, original-type battery, jack and spare tyre; the last two are expensive to find.
• Nose and wing: stories of cars that had them removed are mostly unproven, but Sports Car Market says a few existed.

The owners' club is the Daytona-Superbird Auto Club; its estimate of more than 1,300 survivors is quoted by Sports Car Market.

Superbird or Charger Daytona?

Both cars are covered on 1CARS: read the story of the Dodge Charger Daytona, its 1969 predecessor, and compare it with the upscale B-body Plymouth GTX. The American muscle car guide places them in the golden age, and our Plymouth catalogue lists every Superbird engine; the car rankings show how its power compares.

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