i can't believe they didn't sell a lot more of those cars. i love the way they look.

 

Sorry guys, I meant to put this in the lounge. :drunk:

Brian

 

i can't believe they didn't sell a lot more of those cars. i love the way they look.

They are as wild as you can get!

Brian

 

A friend of mine just sold one with original paint. Brian did you notice the crude decklid stops they welded in to limit the decklid travel so it doesn't hit the spoiler. These cars were thrown together fast.

 

Moved to the lounge.

i can't believe they didn't sell a lot more of those cars. i love the way they look.

Believe it or not but dealers couldn't give those things away back then. Everyone knew they were built just to qualify for Nascar and the prevailing opinion back then was that they were just weird looking.

Just goes to show that sometimes what people think is junk is eventually worth big $$$$ and everyone wants one.

 

Growing up on the base my dad was stationed, an officer had a Superbird. My Air Force brat buddies and I used to laugh at it. We didn't understand what the hell the deal was.

I don't laugh anymore and I fully understand now.

 

Bob, I didn't notice that. I did notice how the hood was lengthened. But it absolutely blew me away when I noticed the spot welds on the back side of the nose. I had always thought the darn thing was glass.

Centerline, yep, could you imagine if you knew what was going to happen? I had the chance to buy an all steel 32 Roadster for $4000 and a totally done beautiful Phaeton for $10,000 about 1976. But the ones that blow me away the most are the TWO 289 AC Cobras that my brothers boss sold around 1978. One was one of only four automatic cars ever made. It had four side draft Webbers on it, a show quality car, $18,000. And the real kicker, a factory sponsered race car, trailer and all for $10,000. But it might as well have been the $million it's worth now, I am not any closer to buying it!


Brian

 

The rear window opening was left unfinished/crude and was the reason for the vinyl top to hide it.

1970 TORINO KING COBRA

 

Another little known item is that they also made a '70 Charger with a regular nose and no wing but with the "bubble" rear window, I believe it was called the Charger 500. Saw two of them years ago at the CC Street Machine Nats parked with several Daytonas and Superbirds.

 

The rear window opening was left unfinished/crude and was the reason for the vinyl top to hide it.

1970 TORINO KING COBRA

Yeah, the owner of that car mentioned the vinyl top thing to me. If you look close on the one in my post you can see a little "wahoo" next to the window. A number of cars did that back in the seventies. Late seventies Dodge "Magnums", and some other models had quarter window changes where it was a plastic "adaptor" that was stuck into the larger hole in the roof, "glued" in, then a vinyl top put over it. Nice!

Now, the "King Cobra" is one that I know nothing about, I have seen them, but know nothing. Was it sold like the Daytona?

I have seen a number of "Taladega" Torinos, it two was a hodgepodge of parts. It had extended fenders with a header panel out in front of the hood where the regular Torino had none, and then the kicker, a narrowed rear bumper in the front! They did what they could with parts laying around didn't they?

Brian

 

Moved to the lounge.



Everyone knew they were built just to qualify for Nascar and the prevailing opinion back then was that they were just weird looking.

Don't beat up on me too bad but I still think they're weird looking. I know they're worth a lot of money but if I were going to keep it I'd rather have the Charger in the first picture. I just think it's a much nicer looking car.

Danny

 

Did you Know that its the Road Runner/Super Bird that the E .P .A .bought to Follow behind commercial jets to collect hydrocarbon samples?

In a way the Road Runner/Super Bird had a hand in the end of the muscle car era. I sure wish I could remember where I saw this obsolete fact..


DOH!!! HERE IT IS!

Go Figure

R :thumbup:

 

Don't beat up on me too bad but I still think they're weird looking. I know they're worth a lot of money but if I were going to keep it I'd rather have the Charger in the first picture. I just think it's a much nicer looking car.

Danny

I agree entirely. I've tried to like these cars for years but still think they look like some boyracer's project.

Rob Keller, they have had a segment on one of the Powerblock TV shows about that car a few times now. It's one of the favorite reruns they seem to show.

 

Here's a Charger 500. I believe it was the predecessor to the Charger Daytona. Notice the flush mounted rear window and flush grille. The grille was from a Coronet.
http://www.musclecarcalendar.com/CarShows2004/LasVegasMopar/MoparsP6.htm

 

The above CHARGER 500 seems to be in direct competition with the 1969 TORINO TALLEDEGA/1969 CYCLONE SPOILER-

-Brief History of The TORINO TALLEDEGA-

-NASCAR Aero Wars Statistics-

1969 MERC CYCLONE SPOILER-

1970 MERC CYCLONE SPOILER II-

 

KULTULZ Yes that is most likely correct.
Take into account I Can't Remember S#it & I was a mere toddler when these cars were being produced & burning rubber on the streets.

I always love these type of threads I get to learn so very much its way kool.

When it comes to Muscle Cars I always wish I was born 10 ~ 15 years earlier

Thanks to everyone for the Kewl thread :thumbup: :thumbup:




R :thumbup:

 

I saw a genny nascar Daytona in ...New Zealand! .I understand it was an ex Buddy baker car and was on some sort of promotional tour around 1972. local Hot Rod magazine editor Rob Campbell actually got to 'road test ' it!! Around pukekohe race way.
I remember it as being pretty scruffy and painted in a shade of petty blue.
The steering wheel was wrapped in isulation tape and the shifter was this huge lever sticking up in the middle of the floor.
The real thrill was being able to get in under the hood and checking out the full house 426 Hemi with the ram manifold.....
I know all about how they were impossible to sell ,even 'down south' where Nascar was king.i also understand that the introduction of the charger 500 was a result of unsold cars ,and many were actually Daytonas without the nose and wing.
There are two here in OZ,a Superbird and a Daytona which have been here for decades.
Tjhis Buddy Baker qualifying in 1970 at 200+mph!!

 

My ex-wife's brother still has his '69 Dodge Daytona that he bought years ago, similar to the one below. I knew him before I knew her because of the car. He's the original owner and yes it still runs!

 

Good stuff, Brian! Rob, don't feel bad, I was there and I learned more today about these cars than I knew when they were new, I thought they were flat-out ugly in those days. I lived in Mn. at the time, they were as practical as sandals in a snowstorm. A friend of mine bought one, he was a weight lifter, worked for the railroad, could have pinched my head like a ripe pimple, but I and buddies gave him so much grief he pulled the wing off. Comments like "I need to dry some clothes, our dryer is busted" were common. Good thing he had a sense of humor! He also tried a bunch of different carb set-ups, it just wouldn't outrun some of the hotter cars in the area. Very interesting post, I'm going to show some of my buddies this one. Dan :thumbup:

 

".....Believe it or not but dealers couldn't give those things away back then. Everyone knew they were built just to qualify for Nascar and the prevailing opinion back then was that they were just weird looking.

Just goes to show that sometimes what people think is junk is eventually worth big $$$$ and everyone wants one......."


Back around 71-2 a buddy of mine bought a used low mileage (like 3000 miles or so) Superbird. It was a 440 4BBL/4 Speed car. We took it out and thrashed it one weekend....not a bad car but we were more interested in drag/street racing at the time and the added weight of the Superbird parts did not help that a bit. He kept the car for 6 months or so then traded for a 69 1/2 Super Bee 440/6 Pac car.

 

Take into account I Can't Remember S#it & I was a mere toddler when these cars were being produced & burning rubber on the streets.

I always love these type of threads I get to learn so very much its way kool.

When it comes to Muscle Cars I always wish I was born 10 ~ 15 years earlier

These cars were mostly an oddity. The TALLEDEGA would have been more popular if it came with a BOSS instead of the CJ (IMO).

True muscle cars of the era were 440 Super Bees/Road Runners, 396/375 Novas and notchback FAIRLANE CJ's (and those damn pesky 390 Javelins... ).

It was a great time. You saw just about anything back then on the street, from a 289 Supercharged HAWK to a 327 VW BUG.

An 'ol boy had a 66 NOVA 283 with a slip and slide and that thing ran. He came into work one day with a new Road Runner 383 and that thing did run...

Back then you could buy or build.

 

I did notice how the hood was lengthened.
Brian

If I'm not mistaken, The hood and fenders on the superbirds actually come from the '70 coronets.

 

I always understood that Chrysler built the Charger 500 first after wind tunnel test showed that the tunnel grill and standard rear glass with sail panels were hurting MPH. They did the flush grill and the revised back glass (reminds me of the 4 door B body back window). Ford countered with the Talladega.

and then the kicker, a narrowed rear bumper in the front! They did what they could with parts laying around didn't they?
QUOTE] Ford found out in the wind tunnel that the rear bumper was more aerodynamic than the stock front bumper. Ford seems to have a tendency to do this. I think it was Bob Glidden that discovered the Pinto was more aerodynamic if put in the wind tunnel backwards. Back to NASCAR. The Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird were in response to the Talladega. The King Cobra and the Cyclone Spoiler II were going to be the answer to the Chrysler offerings, but before they had a chance to start, NASCAR said enough, and that was the end of an era. Please remember, these are the recollections of aging grey matter.

Two more things. First, the college where I obtained my degree did some of the wind tunnel testing for Chrysler in the Aeronautical Engineering department. I remember seeing the photos of scale models of the Daytona Charger/Superbird. Second, I just saw a Charger 500 and a Superbird up close at the Garlits museum in Ocala. If you are ever in the Orlando area, do yourself a favor and spend a day in Ocala.

 

The blue one i saw 35 years ago in new Zealand is the one in the NASCAR museum.
heres a bit o' youtube..with some good old Aussie rock at the end for mood effect.
Bills Super bird

 

Here one for sale check this out

http://www.wildwoodnjclassiccarauction.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=73

1970 Superbird 426 Hemi. The car comes with build sheet and the original sticker. This car was used in the notorious, actual robbery as the get-away car from the Harrah's Casino in 1970. Complete ownership history including FBI information about the robbery comes with the car. 28,605 miles, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and bucket seats.