BEEP BEEP — ZOOM!: This is a very rare bird indeed. It’s a 1970 Plymouth Superbird Roadrunner which followed on from the similar, but not identical, Chrysler Corp bedmate, the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. No prizes for guessing that these cars were designed with oval NASCAR events like Daytona in mind, but they were also for general, if limited, sale.
The extra length to the nose and the high rear spoiler worked, as a Roadrunner lapped Daytona at 181miles per hour. Very fast for 1970!
For years it was thought that the height of the rear spoiler had been carefully worked out using aerodynamic calculations, but in the nineties a Plymouth engineer blew the legend when he said the height was calculated by how much room was needed to open the boot properly! Guessing and wetting the finger and holding it to see which way the wind blew were pretty much how aerodynamics were calculated back then. These are big, big cars and wouldn’t have been terribly practical as a roadie.
This example was photographed at the Dunedin Autospectacular show last year and is the second example I have seen in New Zealand. Back in the mid seventies I saw a blue one in Wellington. But then, maybe this is that car? Any comments?
