Why are Superbirds worth so much?

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Oh the Joe Dirt car is a former award winning show car! I used to know of a site online that showed how they transformed it into Joe's car....what a shame!! I believe it was Plum Crazy too! :angry7:
 
mullinax95 said:
At what time did they actually became unwanted???
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When they were new, dealers could not sell them. My Dad bought his 1st (& only) Challenger in late '69 from a factory showroom in Detroit. He told me that they had rows and rows of Charger Daytona's that they were selling for just $1800. He was really tempted to buy one but knew my Mom would have killed him if he brought one home, so he spent $1400 more on a Challenger. He always regretted not buying 2 Daytonas instead of the Challenger. If he had, who knows, I might be DaytonaGary now LOL:cheers:
 
This one was sitting outside a Bowling alley in Milwaukee last year.
I always thought it was cool that the color of the Collector Plates matched the car :)

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They were just bad ***. A good friend of mine had one in 70. We went from WPB to Daytona for a race and I remember on I-95 he ran it up and you could feel the backend drop at about 100. Crossing 120 the front end dropped what felt to be a foot. Coming up on traffic there was a bus in the left lane with a car in front and back in the right lane. In a smooth move he threaded through them like it was on rails. At 165 I hit the floor, that was fast enough for me. 440, six pack, 13 to 1's and it chewed up starters about once a week.

Thanks for the memories Bob!



Jim
 
I have a friend that had an orange one in the late 80"s. It was a 440 four barrel, paid either 5 or 5500 cant remember which. He only kept it a couple years, just think what it would be worth now
 
Thanks to member here I got to sit in that real nice yellow one he posted(limelite70)
I also have been in that white one that Matthon posted the rear quarter of.
And I have been in a orange 440/6 4spd that a friend sold a couple of years ago.
I still remember a white one that ran around my home town when I was a young Clown,they had their own appeal to some and no appeal to others.
I can't afford one and probably would never own one(not my style)But I will agree that when one is driving by you on the road it gets your attention.
 
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This is one is local to me and makes most, if not all the local shows and area parades. I believe he bought it in the late '70s after an accident and needed another car to bring it back to life. So he had a lot of foresight. 440-6/4speed, Pistol Grip. I asked for his permission to put it up over on FBBO, so I'm sure he'll be cool with it being posted here.

As far as being worth so much, most here have nailed it: supply and demand. Just like the '71 Hemicuda convertibles, no one wanted them when they were new. I'm sure Chrysler would have been happy to build a million of them. But the homolgamation rules for NASCAR showed the needed to produce just a handful to keep them on the track.

Remember, too, that the 'Bird was a direct answer to bring Petty back into the fold. He wanted a winged car to race, but Plymouth didn't have one in '69. Anyone remember this pic from '69 when Plymouth couldn't give him a winged car?

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I personally think that the Superbird and Daytona were one of the most beautiful looking muscle cars ever produced.I was and still am very fond of all of the old Mopar cars, these vehicles were the most stylish and beautiful vehicles ever produced. Man I remember when I was about 7 -8 years old driving by Lynnway CP in Lynn, Mass. with my 6 brothers and 1 sister in the back of my Mom's 65 Chev Wagon looking out at the beautiful cars with the cartoon decals on them all lined up in front on the lot looking pretty and saying WOW!!!!! while we gazed in wide eye wonderment at these awesome looking cars with the shiny awesome wild colors. Too bad I was too young to afford to buy a car back then. If I was born sooner, I would have cut off my left arm to own one of these cars. Man, they were and still are awesome!!!!!!!!
 
A local guy here in town had 2 birds a yellow one and an orange one both 440 4bbl. auto cars. He sold the yellow one to a close "friend" or so he thought. The guy told he that was all he and his wife had wanted, 1 week later he sold it and dobled his money on the car. The story goes that when the people came to buy the yellow car , that a guy at a gas station pulled in and said would you like to buy another one? So they wound up buying the yellow one and a B-5 blue car at the same time. This was all in the late 80's. The original owner of the yellow and orange cars still has the orange car, and drives it every so often. Matt
 
They are big, kind of goofy looking but they were built for speed and I think they had a drag coefficient roughly the same as a C5 Corvette. That by far out did any other car from the era and would give them a theoretical top speed of at least 170 mph with enough gearing and a stock hemi or 440. Would be a cool car to clone and do a restomod but only with an efi supercharged 440 or hemi and a nice 6 speed to really give it top speed potential..
 
They dominated nascar till they were banned for going too fast and having the wing to help make that possible.

Kinda makes them a historically rare and significant piece of Racing history, the turning point so to speak.

1st to go 200+mph....
 
Car and Driver magazine did an article, I think it was December 1988, about a 69 Charger Daytona. According to the article, In it's not so glory years, a guy used it for hauling plywood, from the roof to the wing!

Still makes me cringe.

I've always liked the winged cars, and still dream of finding one tucked away in a garage somewhere.
 
Not a real pretty car to a lot of people but it was very fast and proven on the track. Back in the day that's what sold performance cars.
 
Alright, a special thanks to Fishy for helping me with the following pics.

Pic #1 is from Page AZ. This is where those of us from the northwest met up with the SoCal guys and the Kiwi's

Pic #2 is from the same day in Monument Valley. The two B5 cars are from the Pacific NW, the Red with black butt stripe and the Neil Castle #6 clone car are from Palm Desert, CA and the Orange with the white butt stripe is the New Zealanders that shipped their car to LA.

Pic #3 is from the lineup at Talladega right before we took a parade lap around the track

ok sorry only the 2nd pic will load up

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Wylde1 said:
There should be a poll on this thread.

Which do you prefer?
Daytona
SuperBird



Wylde1.
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A poll? For me this would be the Daytona. In my opinion, the nose and spoiler seemed to fit the Charger better than the Runner, with the higher "shouldered" quarters, it just seemed like a natural blend from tip to rear, and gave the car a lower, sleeker look.
 
That guy who ran a 68 Charger in the first season of Bullrun, built a Daytona clone for the Cannonball. I don't have the link right now, but I believe it's Mr. Angry.com or something like that. I saw it over on FBBO. Wicked little ride.
 
My brother had a Superbird in the early '80s. It was an awesome car, and as someone else said earlier, after about 100 mph it would srart to squat down and stick to the road. Now that's an awesome feeling.
He bought it in '83 for $8000, and sold it in '85 for $8000, he kept the 15 by 7 rallyes and the broadcast sheet, the new owner didn't want them believe it or not! The guy still has the car. 440 auto console lemon twist.
Hey, post #70 on this topic, good luck or what?
 
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