Petty Speaks on the Superbird

[Aero426]

I'll leave this right here...

https://grrc.goodwood.com/festival-of-speed/video-pettys-200mph-superbird-drives-for-first-time-since-1970#UtscVsYu8rS4XjYI.97

[Mopar Nut]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[JB400]

It'll be great when they get it up to speed at Goodwood. 

[68X426]

"That was a good day for Plymouth."

Great video, thanks for posting. 

[taxspeaker]

Outstanding! Thanks

[tan top]

  good stuff  , thanks for posting 

[DeltaV]

Awesome! I feel rejuvenated. Thanks so much for the post.

[oldcarnut]

Why was there no A-pillar deflectors on it?

[wingcar]

That was Super (no pun intended..ok, maybe a little bit).  I will be going to the Petty shop next week...can't wait.   Great to see and hear the bird once more come to life.   

[Aero426]

Why was there no A-pillar deflectors on it?

The #43 Superbird shown in the video is really the surviving short track 1970 Road Runner.  It was converted to a Superbird for the trophy room about 1975.    They may not have had the parts at the time.

If you listen closely, Richard sort of dances around the history of the car.    

[68pplcharger]

Awesome

[66FBCharger]

Very cool!

[odcics2]

Why was there no A-pillar deflectors on it?

Because the "Superbird" was never a real one, just his old short track car converted, as stated above!!

The King speaks with forked tongue.

[Redbird]

Just curious, I know I have heard that the wing on the showroom car is slightly out of place, and I don't know if it is or not.

How did the race shops locate the wings on the race cars in 1969 and 1970? Was there a template, did they just measure off of street cars, or was it blind chance?

If this car was not built until the mid 1970's, those in the shop could likely not have been too careful by then. After all no one was going to race it or check it by NASCAR standards.

Whatever the wing location method in 1970 was, it could easily been missing in by the mid 1970's.

It does not seem like anyone will convert this to a Road Runner, so it would be nice if the wing location and A pillar were correct while people are still alive if anyone wants to do some research.

[odcics2]

I'd think they used a template for location of the wing.
I don't think the location on the car now matters at all, since its a clone anyway. Anyone copying it, is copying an incorrect car.
But then, that would be good, since it couldn't be passed off as real later!
 

[Aero426]

Very recently, I heard a story about the #30 Marcis getting worked on at Nichels Engineering in 1977-78.  This was when it was being converted from a 69 Charger back to a Daytona again.    At Nichels, there was an area dedicated to flat files containing various prints up above the engine rooms.     There, they obtained a template for the wing mounting.    I am told the mounting for the uprights was not symmetrical fore and aft from left to right side.    The right side was positioned slightly forward to get the the upright in an optimum position.    The story was told to me by the former owner of the #30 car who bought it from Dave Marcis and restored it. 

[hemi68charger]

Thank was pretty cool.... I'm sure Level Cross, NC sees this as a somewhat normal occurrence... hahaha 

That's it !!! I'm converting my Daytona to manual !!!

[Ghoste]

Interesting Doug.  I wonder if the racers figured that out or the engineers slipped the idea to them.

[odcics2]

Very recently, I heard a story about the #30 Marcis getting worked on at Nichels Engineering in 1977-78.  This was when it was being converted from a 69 Charger back to a Daytona again.    At Nichels, there was an area dedicated to flat files containing various prints up above the engine rooms.     There, they obtained a template for the wing mounting.    I am told the mounting for the uprights was not symmetrical fore and aft from left to right side.    The right side was positioned slightly forward to get the the upright in an optimum position.    The story was told to me by the former owner of the #30 car who bought it from Dave Marcis and restored it. 

Perhaps someone can measure the K&K Daytona and see if that wing is 'tweaked'...

[BROCK]

I want to measure more on Isaacs car than the wing.  The salt flat version is more appealing to me than NASCAR spec'd.  Petty's is closer to that than NASCAR as well.  Short track cars saw more racing than did high banked wing cars.  Petty rebuilt his well raced short track chassis into a high banked oval version.  All of any racer's chassis get done to them whatever is deemed necessary for the next race.  It is a real race car modified by a real racer.  Did it once race in NASCAR as a Superbird?  Moot points to me.  Lesser value than the actual winner, but still more valuable than anything I would create & offer to the public.

[odcics2]

I know for a fact that the #71 in the Museum has the body set 1.5 degrees nose down, meaning it was build after DC-93 (original 88), which was the first Charger 500 to feature that speedway modification. I'd think the 201mph -Bonneville car was built the same, with many additional aero improvements as pointed out.

Too bad John pointer died. He'd be the guy to know about the wing tweak and if Engineering developed it, Nichels did, of if in fact it's just a rumor with no documentation to back it up.  Been playing with race wing cars to long to just accept it all without factual documentation to back it up. Could be as simple as the Marcis wing was put on a bit crooked...   

Sure would like to see those wing location blue prints!!