Super Bird/ Daytona Sales

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My little story about this topic is from Late 1969. I was only 2 years old but later in life my Dad would tell me the story almost anytime he saw a winged car.

We lived outside of Detroit at the time and my Dad went past the Hamtrack Plant frequently in the course of his job (he sold office supplies). Well, seems we needed a new car and my Dad was looking into either a Camaro or a Challenger. He went to the plant to take a look at the Challenger and said he saw "rows and rows" of Winged Cars (must have been Daytonas). When he asked about them, he was told he could get one for $1800.00! He said he gave it some thought but figured my Mom would shoot him if he came home with "one of those big, ugly, monsters." He ended up buying a 70 Challenger SE B5 Blue, White Vinyl Roof, White Interior 318 for about $2900. That's right he spent more 50% more to get a 318 Challenger when he could have had a Six-Pack Daytona!

Bottom Line - as pretty as we think they are now, back then, they were downright fugly
 
I guess I could add some to this discussion. I still think that another part of the equation why these cars didn't sell, other than looks, price and practicality was that people generally didn't understand the reason for the wing and nose. In those days aerodynamics was rocket science for the average joe in car buying mode. About 20 yrs ago I actually drove a friends 69 Daytona, 440-6, O.D. tranny and I'm guessing 3.25 gears (real low). That monster would do 100MPH in third. At the same time I drove a 69 super bee, 440 2x4, 4 speed and even though that tank was around 4000#'s the nose would start to get lite around 120, to much air getting under the front end and not a comforting feeling. At 120 that Daytona was glued to the highway and at about 1 inch past the 150 mark it was still stuck. I do remember though that the air leaks around the doors and side windows got annoying at anything above 110MPH. What a rush.:-D
 
I looked at buying one of these cars when I got out of high school. It was unsold and new in back of a local dealership after setting 5 years. Most of the cars were low option cars just to meet the sales numbers for NASCAR racing. I believe none had A/C, they overheated from the factory, brakes were a joke(most cars were at that time)and you were a easy target for
local law enforcement.
They also were heavy and slow driving around town, a interstate car at its best. Fuel cost and insurance were also a factor in a person keeping one of these cars.

My opinion not the Gospel

Whip
 
demon seed said:
I guess I could add some to this discussion. I still think that another part of the equation why these cars didn't sell, other than looks, price and practicality was that people generally didn't understand the reason for the wing and nose. In those days aerodynamics was rocket science for the average joe in car buying mode. About 20 yrs ago I actually drove a friends 69 Daytona, 440-6, O.D. tranny and I'm guessing 3.25 gears (real low). That monster would do 100MPH in third. At the same time I drove a 69 super bee, 440 2x4, 4 speed and even though that tank was around 4000#'s the nose would start to get lite around 120, to much air getting under the front end and not a comforting feeling. At 120 that Daytona was glued to the highway and at about 1 inch past the 150 mark it was still stuck. I do remember though that the air leaks around the doors and side windows got annoying at anything above 110MPH. What a rush.:-D
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Thats what I keep hearing, above 120 the car would just sink down and become a high speed monster. I have had my '68 newport up there and let me tell yha the floating nose is not a fun feeling, I cannot wait to get my daytona built and drive it!
 
Let us not forget why the Superbird only lasted 1 year.... The aero on the 1971 Plymouth B Bodies was 25% (or so) better without the Nose and Wing so no 500 car production number to please NASCAR required as it was basicly a regular street body!

I also had a Dealer event over a Superbird back in the day:
I had worked a summer on fishing boats in 1972 and ended up with $9,000.00 in my pocket at the ripe old age of 15. At the mopar dealership there was a Red Superbird still unsold but with around 800 test drive miles on it. Sitting next to it was a 1971 GTX with 1800 miles on it. Dealer told me $1800.00 for either one. So out I go in the 'bird for a test drive..... then out in the '71 GTX..... GTX kicked the Superbird's *** seat of the pants performance wise! So I bought the GTX.

Oh Well.... I sold the '71 GTX about 8 months later due to the cost of insurance (15 year old male + 440 performance car = $$$$$ even then) more than anything else.

Later,
Bruce B.
 
res1vw21 said:
Thats what I keep hearing, above 120 the car would just sink down and become a high speed monster.
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A high speed monster on crappy Bias Ply tires.

A guy I worked with told me about having his 70, 440 Cuda at 150 mph (This was a 35 year old story and I'm sure he has added a few mph over the years).

He was on bias ply tires and he said it was all he could do to keep it on the road.
 
I can imagine, I have only driven on bias plys a few times in my life and that is quite enough for me.

1968FormulaS340 said:
A high speed monster on crappy Bias Ply tires.

A guy I worked with told me about having his 70, 440 Cuda at 150 mph (This was a 35 year old story and I'm sure he has added a few mph over the years).

He was on bias ply tires and he said it was all he could do to keep it on the road.
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I remember the good old bias ply Goodyear Polyglass GT that a lot of these cars came from the factory with. I still can't believe the speeds we took those crap tires to, they were scarey but wasn't much else in town before the radials first came out. Then the first couple years that radials came out they liked to fly apart to (all brands), biggest problem was not running enough air pressure in them and overheating.
 
Quote: So out I go in the 'bird for a test drive..... then out in the '71 GTX..... GTX kicked the Superbird's *** seat of the pants performance wise! So I bought the GTX.


Ya in those days you could get the GTX with the Dana and 4.11 gears and those cars would go like a scalded cat especially with the 6 pack 440.8)
 
What did you think of the Torino Talledaga? Mercury had one too but I can't remember the name. I don't think Chev came out with anything very unusual during those years but I could be wrong.



I think "Cyclone Spoiler" was the Mercury model
 
69swinger340391 said:
What did you think of the Torino Talledaga? Mercury had one too but I can't remember the name. I don't think Chev came out with anything very unusual during those years but I could be wrong.



I think "Cyclone Spoiler" was the Mercury model
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The others still looked like "Normal" cars. The winged cars were like nothing on the road at the time.
 
Here's my two cents.

I restored two of these and they are indeed really awesome cars. Both are gone now. Both Superbirds.

My former B5 'bird sat almost a year on the lot in Jacksonville, Florida...firmly in NASCAR country. If memory serves it was something like $4400 new...a bunch of money compared to a normal 'runner.

I think it had more to do with the long nose, which is sheetmetal. Very easily damaged, and invisible from the driver's seat. It adds something like 20" to the length of the car. All of this adds up to a difficult car to deal with on a regualr day-to-day basis compared to a regular 'runner or Duster.

As others said, it was also simply outrageous in appearance which was tough for a non NASCAR fan. We have to remember that even in 1970 NASCAR was nowhere near as popular today and in many areas still considered a bit, well, "rural".
 
I remember when I was around 7 or 8 years old sitting in the back of my Mom's Chebby station Wagon driving past the Chrysler / Plymouth Dealerships on the North Shore of Massachusetts and looking with wide eyed amazement at these wild looking cars with the cartoon bird on the back of the car with the huge wing, I wish I was older because I always thought that these were some awesome looking cars. Especially when seeing all the different colors of Birds, Runners,Challangers, Cudas, Dusters, etc... lined up on the front of the dealers lot. Kind of like the new chally's of today that are lined up outside the dealers with the old school colors and the "Hot Rod" looks. When I was older I could have realistically have bought a Bird in the early 80's with the money I had saved in my bank account but in hindsight I am glad I did not because I was pretty reckless and went through a lot of older cars with my wild side and did not appreaciate what a real Muscle car was at that point in my life. But these were one of a kind cars and they do garner my respect for the courage that Chrysler had to put these on the dealers lot and even though sales were poor, you have to admit that these were true Muscle Machines and in my opinion, I think that these were some of the most beautiful and wild cars ever produced by Detroit.
 
OK, so I have a question, the factory had to produce 500 for public sale of each model. Does anyone know how many were actually produced including the ones that were put on the race track?
 
I don't think anyone really knows EXACTLY how many were made &what percentage turned into racecars. I heard a story about when some Nascar officials came to inspect the required number Chrysler was abit short & kept bringing some of the same cars past the officials & telling them: "See! We made enough for racing!" and NASCAR bought it. Eventually enough did get built & as I recall something like 1500 (?) wing cars were built in all.
As an aside to this, I once had a co-worker who sold cars during the first gas shortage. I asked him if he ever sold any Hemi cars of any type out of the dealership. He said he didn't recall any but DID remember getting a Hemi powered/4-spd Daytona in on trade. Now remember these cars were"undesirable" when new & during the first gas shortage when everyone was panicking, you couldn't give 'em away. He said the dealership gave the guy about $800 for the car & he was happy. So in the interest of seeing just what the dealership had now acquired, my friend took the car to the edge of town to see what it could do. He said he played with it,launched it a few times, power-shifted it, etc., etc. then decided to see what it'd really do. He gets it up to about 85mph then floors it! He said the car got sideways, going all over the palce until he regains control. At that point he decided to head back to the dealership as it was just too much for him! (the wuss!). He was truly impressed & has been a Mopar fan ever since.
 
JMO, but i'm of the mind set that they are really cool cars, but i would never want to own one. They do nothing for me when i think of ownership.

I put it in the same class as the lambo countach(sp?) A very cool car to look at, but not terribly fun to own/drive for a variety of reasons.
 
production #s were around 503 daytonas and just under 2k birds, don't know about the race cars
 
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