If ever there were a cartoon car, it would be the Roadrunner with a giant wing on its tail—really an aerodynamic aid that got the car near 200 mph on the NASCAR circuit while enabling showroom marketing and advertising as fierce as the battle on the track. There, Chrysler, with the Dodge Charger Daytona 500, took the driver’s championship with David Pearson in 1969, with the manufacturer’s going to Ford. But the Plymouth Superbird came on strong in 1970, similar to the Daytona but much different in detail. Just 1935 were built, most with 440 ci V8 engines and only 135 with the holy-grail 426 ci Hemi. With its radical nose cone and two-foot-tall tail, the Superbird was a tough sell in dealerships, especially at a nearly $4,300 base price. Many languished in dealerships and had to be heavily discounted, but are six-figure cars today.
From the article by Robert Ross, Bryan Hood, Erik Shilling
