This 1970 Plymouth Superbird is the real deal and has led quite a life. After spending the first couple of years of its life in competition, it then spent more than 15-years sitting in various fields. It has now been painstakingly restored, and the owner has made the difficult decision to part with this beauty due to ill health. The Superbird is located in Middletown, Maryland, and is listed for sale here on eBay. The auction has been set to open at a cool $250,000, and while there haven’t been any bids to this point, there are currently 73 people who are watching the listing.
When you look at this Plymouth today, it is hard to believe that the car spent all of those years sitting out in the elements. The original owner purchased the car in 1971, and for the next 2-years, it saw some pretty full-on competition use. He parked it in his grandmother’s yard in 1973, and the current then purchased it, and it spent the following 15-years parked in his father’s field. There’s a bit of a pattern emerging here. In 1988, he started on the restoration but had a pretty bad experience with the first shop that took the car on, and he found himself out-of-pocket for a considerable amount of money and left with a badly unfinished car. Another attempt at restoration was commenced, and the end result is the car that you see before you. Finished in Alpine White, the body of the Superbird looks to be largely original. The distinctive nose is a reproduction item, as the original had deteriorated quite badly. However, the owner still has the original item, and it is included in the sale. The owner does say that the headlights are suffering from a vacuum leak, so this will need to be investigated. The rest of the car is spotlessly clean and straight, and according to the NASCAR Registry, this particular car is 1-of-13 that was finished in Alpine White.
As befits a meticulous restoration, the interior of the Superbird is spotlessly clean and so close to perfect that it is impossible to find any real faults. For those who are interested in the numbers, a Superbird finished in Alpine White with a white bucket seat interior is a pretty rare beast. This car is one of only two that are known to exist. The interior has been restored to its original state and features such desirable items as the Tic-Toc-Tach and the awesome pistol grip shifter. There are no aftermarket additions, and the only faults that the owner identifies are the gas gauge and oil pressure gauges not working. Those are two items that I would be attending to fairly quickly.
I wish that I could tell you that this is a numbers-matching car, but unfortunately, it isn’t. The original engine was blown during the car’s early competition life, as was its replacement. I get the impression that this is why the Superbird was originally parked all those years ago. However, the VIN verifies that this car started life fitted with the 426ci Hemi V8, complete with a couple of 4-barrel Carter carburetors. That is precisely what you will find under the hood again today. This monster engine produces 425hp, which is sent to the 3.54 Dana rear end via a 4-speed manual transmission. While the engine and transmission are not original, I believe that both are date correct, and have been painstakingly rebuilt. About the only real deviation from original is the fact that the Superbird has been fitted with electronic ignition. The owner says that he did this for reliability, but there is no reason why it couldn’t be converted back if the next owner so desired. Since this restoration was completed, the Plymouth has only accrued 3,797 miles, which means that the engine is barely broken in. The owner also encourages potential buyers to personally inspect the car, because he feels that they won’t be disappointed by it.
While it might not be a numbers-matching car, this 1970 Superbird is still something pretty special. It presents beautifully and is a car that is pretty hard to fault. It has a couple of minor items that need to be addressed, but these aren’t really deal-breakers. It is by no means a cheap car, but is it one that you would like to park in your driveway?
Holy $$$ batman…beautiful car..wish I had a 1/4 mill laying around. Then again if I had this car and someone happened to touch it..they would have to disappear never to be seen or heard from again!!
I love Mopar, but these are hideous looking.
for a quarter of a million dollars I would expect working gauges and no vacuum leaks. just sayin
The cars no one wanted, not even this guy.
I’ve read stories where dealers had to take one or two of these and they sat on the lot. More than one dealer got creative and replaced the front end with a standard grill plus pulling the rear spoiler. If they only knew and held on.
I’ve read of at least one person that found one of these cars and put it back to the Super Bird configuration.
I remember there were two sitting at our local dealership when I was a kid, for what seemed like two years. My mom’s cousin owned the lot, so we stopped in frequently to visit and I drooled over those cars (one white and one red) and my dad would always laugh and say they were outrageously expensive. If he only knew then what we know now.
And it’s not rocket science to troubleshoot this either. With the ignition on but not running, you disconnect the wire from the sender and check for voltage. The temperature, gas, and oil pressure share a common voltage regulator so if the temp gauge works it’s not the regulator. The old Chilton books told you to ground the sender wire for a second to see if the gauge moved.
Wouldn’t it be better to fork over 10% of the price for a nice 1970 2 door HT with a 318 and go for nice cruises to get ice cream and such? No worries about door dings, no crazy people asking questions to bother you, no worry about someone trying to steal it. Good running, reliable, and to top it off, a comfy bench seat so your honey can sit nice and close to you for a good cuddle. Now, that is what fine motoring is all about!
I remember the first time I saw one of these. It was in Chicago in 1970 and it was pulling into the original ‘Superdog’ up on the far northwest side of the city…….as it pulled in off the street it scraped and damaged that front spoiler on the nose of that thing. It reminded me of a cartoon clown on wheels…………still does.
Superdog? Only guys from Wisconsin eat at Superdog :)
The rest of us eat at Poochies !!
Never had a Superdog or been to Poochies, but we do have Portillo’s now in Wisconsin!
I knew the Wisconsin boys could read, I’ve seen their lips move :)
SuperDOG?…if you’re going to dis my favorite place, you might as well get it right…Superdawg!
Give me liberty or give me death…
Give me Hubs or give me death :)
I am sorry Rik, I stand corrected. Just got excited for a moment. Was thinking about a ‘Whoopsiecheesie’ They got me through High School.
Where were you in 1969? Was that Poochies or Poopies? LOL……….If you were from that era and that area you would also remember Taste-Haste dog “A meal on a bun”
1969? Going to 5th grade near Lawrence & Pulaski :)
Brad G., 1969 I was 18 living near Milwaukee Ave and Lawrence.
In 1969 I had a draft notice in hand. It was cancelled due to the lottery being implemented, but it was only a short reprieve. I went a few months later anyway.
Ironically I was so under weight for my height I was not able to volunteer for the service. Funny thing was if drafted, all you have to do was be able to breathe, everything else was irrelevant.
This is becoming Hotdog Finds!
You can only say so much about a Superbird :)
And about time Glen, those I can afford………..and always satisfying. Try one with a beer! For $250K I could feed most of Davenport!
Always thought these were rather cool from a purposeful standpoint, yet ultimately quite odd looking…never thought them to be a good outcome aesthetically. I’d rather a Ford Talladega if I truly had to satisfy my stock car itch.
A friend of mine had a ’70 Alpine white one like this with a 440 6-pak, 4sp. He sold it in ’87 for $30k! He used that to buy a brand new Peterbuilt semi cab & started trucking when left CT for AZ as an independent trucker. Back in 07-08 he had to pick up a car to bring to a Barrett auction in Vegas. The car was identical to his in every way, even the color that he had to check the last 4 of the vinyl to make sure it wasn’t his 20 yrs later lol. He said he had to stick around to see what it would get and said then, it sold for $100k. I asked if he was sick about it, said not really as he had a great 20+ yr earnings because of that sale.
would like to thank the person who wrote this article. Owner of car
They could not give these cars away back when they were new, now it’s still ugly but it’s a rare Mopar with a street HEMI. I know they were built to go racing on the big speedways but pricing is just crazy on these cars. The Mercury’s and Ford’s of that era are not bringing near the money. Gurney and Talladega what gives?
Faulty gauges? Not numbers matching? Mods? All for $250,000 ask?
That’s like saying “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”
For that kind of money you could purchase several classic 1980s Ferraris and have some real fun!
If somebody were to tell me that the oil pressure gauge doesn’t work then I would never start the engine until it did! I would also want to know for how long the engine did run without an oil pressure gauge. I rebuilt my 1933 Calthorpe 500 motorcycle and on the first start up 20 years ago the oil pressure gauge didn’t work so I immediately stopped the motor, disconnected the pipe to the gauge and fired it up again. The oil squirted out about 20ft so I new that it had pressure so started it again but the gauge still didn’t work then and still doesn’t work now, and the engine has never been started again, however, I have stripped the engine and rebuilt it in the past 2 months and am hoping that when the fuel tank is re painted and back on the bike, it will work. Holding thumbs!
If not. Will it still sit?
Sorry , while I love it to no end …but let’s be honest here..
NOM and damaged nose as well as a field car meaning new body panels and floors doesn’t equate to 250 thousand dollars to me in my opinion .
No pictures of the field car shape either makes me just be a nice car admiring person.
One can spend 179s to 290s for a matching number car four speed with maybe a smaller engine but..matching for resale .
https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1224056/1970-plymouth-superbird-for-sale-in-beasley-texas-77417
Good luck on sale of this beautiful beast !
Single purpose car built to satisfy NASCAR rules, that’s it. I don’t blame anyone for avoiding these at the dealerships really, but I’m sure a lot of Ford racers wished they’d never been built either. Absolute circle track screamer….I don’t care what Boss engine Ford used they couldn’t compete with these on the super speedways, along with the Dodge Daytona.
If someone really likes these, it’s mainly an appearance package on the street that will draw Lots of attention. So much it’s undrivable, especially for that kind of money.
I’d rather have a GTX, with some day two mods, with the street worthy 440 over this any day of the week and twice on Sunday, for driving.
It’s a beautiful unique car there is a whole lot of racing history in this car and the amount of labor and money that went into this restoration has to be huge! With that said WHY doesn’t something as basic as the oil pressure gauge NOT work? How can everything look so beautiful and some important basic pieces be left inoperable? All that makes me think is what other things like that don’t we know about??? Big question!!
I had the opportunity to buy a 33,000 original mile sister to this car back in 1980 for $6,600. I didn’t do it. Do I have any regrets? A few, but it really wasn’t my cup of tea.
If I was willing to spend a quarter mill for a pristine classic, I would expect it to be numbers matching. The seller’s price seems overly optimistic.
Too much dolla.
I grew up and still live in Chattanooga, TN and in 1970, when I was 10 years old I had a great appreciation for fast cars. I never recall seeing one of these on the streets although I saw plenty of Road Runners and GTXs. We lived in a typical middle income family neighborhood then and I don’t think one of these would have ever fit into our garage or any of the neighbors’ garages either. This is a nice car, however, for that kind of money I think it would need to have all original body panels, still retain its born at the factory with drivetrain and have every electrical and vacuum component working as new.
You should remember a DJ named Rome Benedict from WGOW 1150 and his Superbird. There’s a good story about it if you Google it.
Would the car be worth less $ if they swapped in the optional sport steering wheel? Not crazy about the stock wheel.
Too bad the fat tuff wheel was not introduced until later years.
Maybe I’m being picky, but for a quarter million starting bid, EVERYTHING should work perfectly. There’s a dealer down the road from me that sells these cars for less than half what this guy is starting at too.
I don’t see how this totally restored, high-priced car can be considered a “barn find”. Based on this, any car in the world that’s for sale can end up on this “barn find” website. Kinda loses something for me….
Nice example of a superbird with the hemi and 4 speed but not numbers matching and the headlights don’t work for $250 K!!!! I would expect to get a perfect example for 250K!!!
But but but it’s a HEMI! Calling all Mopar freaks, come and get it, sell your house, get rid of the wife and kids, sell the dog, empty your bank accounts! Why? Because it’s a HEMI! Wow! Haha……
Not this one. Maybe I’ll spend the rent money on one that is rustier.
Right Keith?
Go back to Fieroland.
PRA4SNW…..You so funny!
Zero bids. No longer available.
Pardon me for repeating myself.
A friend has one of these. I’m going to confirm it with him the next time I talk to him but it’s something like this:
Car was sitting in a used car jockey’s lot circa 1974-ish. Winter was coming and said jockey needed a snow plow. My friend traded an old Willy’s Jeep – like 40’s Willy’s Jeep – with a manual plow for the Superbird and CASH! I’m thinking it was like $300 or $500 in cash.
He still has it. It’s been stored indoors mostly so it’s still pretty good.
July was to be ‘dedicated to Superbird restoration’. Not sure which July but it wasn’t this one :)
have to say there are a lot dreamers out and that is a good thing, this was my dream that took over 20 years to complete.fact #1this car does not have 3,900 miles it has 3,900 miles on the body .Fact#2 the engine was started and ran on a engine stand to brake it in with 60 ponds of oil pressure.Fact#3 this car has been setting in a garage for 2 years and motor has maybe 20 miles on it . the gauge just stoped working.Fact#4the nose has been repaired and in primer.The car is not perfect but close. Fact#5 the hose was lose on carb for the lights.SO keep dreaming and I WILL keeping enjoying the car. the proud owner PHIL
Ouch :)
For a painstaking Restoration they did not do vary good work. 100k maybe it still needs proper restoration.