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Young Noob
Registered: December 2007
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LA's Best The short-lived Plymouth Road Runner Superbird, a sister design to the Dodge Charger Daytona, was designed to beat the Ford Torino Talladega at NASCAR stock car racing and to lure Richard Petty back to Plymouth. Both cars famously featured a protruding, aerodynamic nosecone and a massive rear spoiler.
However, NASCAR's homologation requirement demands that vehicles to be raced have to be available to the general public and sold in sufficient numbers. In 1970, NASCAR raised the production requirement from 500 examples to one for every 2 Manufacturer's dealers in the United States; for Plymouth, that meant having to build 1,920 Superbirds. 1970 would be its only production year.
"Superbird" decals were placed on the outsides of the spoiler's vertical fins featuring a picture of the Road Runner cartoon character holding a racing helmet. A smaller version of the decal appears on the driver side headlight door. All Superbirds used for racing were fitted with the 426 Hemi engine. Street models used the 440 Super Commando with a single 4-barrel carburetor, the 440 Magnum Six Barrel with three two-barrel carburetors while only 135 models were fitted with the 426 Hemi. As the 440 was less expensive to produce, the 426 Hemi engine was homologated by producing a minimal number that was optioned in several different Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth vehicles.
On the street, the nosecone and wing made quite an impression, but the aerodynamic improvements hardly made a difference there or on the drag strip. In fact, the 1970 Road Runner was a slight touch quicker down the quarter mile. At 90 mph or greater, though, things were quite different.
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