10 Unique Features Of The 1970 Plymouth Superbird

Aug 04, 2023

Despite being a short-lived muscle car, here's why the Plymouth Superbird is a sought-after American classic car for many collectors.

The Plymouth Superbird is one of the most outrageous-looking muscle cars of its era, and it was all thanks to its aerodynamics. Introduced in 1970, this winged warrior was Plymouth's take on the Dodge Charger Daytona. Plymouth built the Superbird to dominate NASCAR stock car racing and take on Ford, who started the "aero wars" in 1969 with the sleek Torino Talladega and Mercury's Cyclone Spoiler II. These proper wind cheaters had managed to lure Plymouth's star NASCAR driver Richard Petty to Ford. Therefore, the Superbird in part, was to woo him back. And it did.

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Only in production for a single year, Plymouth churned out 1,935 Superbirds for the public. But the Superbird failed to capture the hearts of many average buyers because of its unconventional features. Many sat collecting dust in showrooms, as they were less practical in daily driving and had exorbitant insurance costs. While very similar in aerodynamic design and profile to the Charger Daytona, the Superbird was unique as Plymouth developed all the wind-piercing parts to fit the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner body.

The Superbird is a dream car for many Mopar fans today, and has become one of the most sought-after American classic cars for collectors. Sporting an iconic and unapologetically macho design, here are 10 unique features of the 1970 Plymouth Superbird.

Modeled after the Daytona made by Plymouth's sister brand, Dodge, the Plymouth had a similar towering rear wing. Made from aluminum, it stood over 5 feet tall, with the pedestals moved further up on the rear deck. Furthermore, they weren't as close to the rear end as in Dodge's application. The rear wing massively increased the Superbird's downforce and rear stability, enabling it to stick to the pavement on NASCAR's superspeedways.

Since the pitch angle of the spoiler was adjustable, it was possible to further fine-tune the Superbird's aerodynamic balance. Despite all of these features, the Superbird's top speed was 185 mph, trailing the Daytona by about 3 mph.

To slice through the air effortlessly, the Superbird had a unique feature upfront that isn't all that common in muscle cars – an aero nose cone fitted to the front fenders. Shaped in the wind tunnel, it helped immensely reduce drag and front-end lift while providing more front downforce. Below it is a front spoiler that's pretty hard to spot, but also contributed to aerodynamics.

The unique protruding snout used steel and, like the wing, came painted with a clear lacquer coating. Plymouth also redesigned it to be longer in length compared to the Charger Daytona. This, coupled with a longer hood borrowed from the 1970 Dodge Coronet, made the Plymouth Superbird sleeker and better-looking than its sister car.

A hallmark of '70s muscle car exteriors were hoods and tops with contrasting body colors. So while the Superbird's body had seven-color acrylic enamel paint options, all streetcars had a different-looking Boar Grain vinyl roof.

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The main aim of the vinyl roof was to hide the welding seams and metalwork scars on the Superbird's top, cutting down on painting time. And since the vinyl material created the texture of the natural grain found on boar leather, it also added a luxurious touch.

While inspired by the Charger Daytona on the outside, the Superbird was similar to its stablemate, the Road Runner, on the inside. The interior design was simple, with the bench seats of both rows, the carpet, steering wheel, headlining instrument, and shelf panel in black. There were three different steering wheels, with a standard Lower Half Horn Ring Wheel, while a Woodgrain Sports and 2-Spoke Rim Blow Steering Wheels were optional.

Other options included an AM/FM radio, accessory floor mats, a lock and key console, deluxe seat belts, rear shoulder belts, an electric clock, and six-way adjustable front bucket seats. But the most unique feature inside the Superbird was the trademark horn, lifted from the Plymouth Road Runner. The horn's fun and catchy "Beep Beep" tone referenced the Road Runner cartoon. This was a beloved character from the popular Looney Tunes cartoon series made by Warner Brothers (1930-1969).

The Superbird had bold and unique graphics and decals to make the rabid racer stand out on the track. A nod to the Road Runner cartoon character, they added a unique style and personality to the Superbird.

Licensed in name and likeness, you can spot the cartoon bird standing and holding a racing helmet left of the flat-black headlight panel, sides of the rear wing, and the deck lid strip. Additionally, there were large "Superbird" decals adorning the rear quarter panel, adding more visual punch.

Plymouth made the exhaust system in the Superbird just for it. The pipes measured 2.5 inches in diameter, with high-flow mufflers included. These allowed more unrestricted flow of exhaust gases, reducing back pressure for better engine performance. Of particular note, Hemi-equipped examples boasted resonator canisters for sound attenuation. These came fitted right before where the pipes come out from under the back of the car.

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The Superbird's dual exhaust tailpipes had an "H" shape, with a short piece of pipe connecting the left and right pipes. All Superbirds sold in California, plus a few others, had down-turned exhaust pipes. The chrome tips option, mainly for enhanced aesthetic, was a very popular choice among most Superbird buyers.

The Superbird's driveline was extra heavy-duty all around. It came fitted with a Hemi suspension featuring larger front torsion bars and rear leaf springs. There were also firm ride shock absorbers, making for a suspension that could handle the heavy demands of high-speed closed-circuit driving.

Stopping power came from power brakes featuring front discs and heavy-duty drums on the rear. Other notable features included a Sure Grip limited-slip differential and quick-ratio power steering.

Unlike the standard Road Runner, the Superbird had pop-up headlights which weren't near the grille. They sat in front of the nose cone, adding nineteen inches to the length of the car.

Protecting these unique headlights were fiberglass housings, with the surrounding area painted black. Since they were well integrated into the front, they brought aerodynamic benefits of increased airflow and lower drag when retracted.

The Superbird's rear window was much smaller and slanted more sharply than the standard Road Runner. With it flush-mounted with the surrounding body panels, the area around was perfectly flat, creating an aerodynamically curved rear end with no disruptions.

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This gave the Superbird a swoopy fastback wind-cheating rear profile that minimized the air resistance and a very clean look. While the rear design could cause a rear lift at high triple-digit speeds, the enormous rear wing counteracted this. Buyers could choose a rear window defogger as an option, and while they could choose to have the windows tinted, the rear window was never tinted.

A trio of engines was on offer with the Plymouth Superbird. Standard was a 440 Super Commando four-barrel V8 cranking out 375 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque, linked to a 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission. The optional 440 six-barrel V8 with 390 hp and 490 lb-ft could come mated with an A833 four-speed manual.

But the engine option Mopar gearheads lust for up to this day is the big-block 426 Hemi V8 using dual four-barrel Carter AFB carburetors. Of the 1,935 Superbirds Plymouth put together, only 135 had the Hemi engine. As a result, the Hemi-powered Superbird is the rarest and most collectible. It churned out an astounding 425 hp alongside 490 lb-ft of torque, good enough for the Superbird to hit 60mph in 5.5 seconds and run a quarter mile in 13.5 seconds.

Sources: Aero Warriors, HowStuffWorks, Car and Classic, Heacock Classic, American Muscle Car Museum, TrustAuto

Dennis Kariuki is a tech enthusiast who writes for Hotcars.com. Previously, he wrote for the.car .He likes covering the marriage between technology and cars. Besides that, he is big f1 fan. After working tirelessly through the week, you can be sure that on Sundays he is most likely enjoying and following motorsports events.