Petty Superbird

[charger500440]

Not sure if folks have seen this. Great video of the famous 43 coming alive again. You'll want to turn the volume up...

https://youtu.be/-PL8-_G8JVc?si=bXJl3DQmascqvm41

[Aero426]

Check it out and you will see the car is running a 3-speed trans.   There is even a label on the dash.

[tan top]

Not sure if folks have seen this. Great video of the famous 43 coming alive again. You'll want to turn the volume up...

https://youtu.be/-PL8-_G8JVc?si=bXJl3DQmascqvm41

not seen that video ,  thanks for sharing the link   

that sound as  awesome as open headers & or straight pipes are on a V8  ! finest sound known to man well to me anyways & gives me goose bumps every time 
nothing will ever come close to these cars! 

  at 2 minutes into the video  the sound of a mopar starter cranking especially when it fires up  a healthy big block with open headers gives me goose bumps too , i'm nuts i know  love the original mopar starter sound  cant mistake that sound  of whats about to fire up  

Check it out and you will see the car is running a 3-speed trans.  There is even a label on the dash.

i saw that too ,am i right in thinking that was the short track roadrunner or am i remembering something totally different

[Aero426]

Yes the car at Goodwood is the short track Road Runner built in May 70 after the first short track car was totaled out at Darlington.   It was converted to Superbird trim about 1974. 

[tan top]

Yes the car at Goodwood is the short track Road Runner built in May 70 after the first short track car was totaled out at Darlington.   It was converted to Superbird trim about 1974. 

 oh right,  thank you for the information , appreciated   


interesting i remember reading / hearing it was converted because Richard wanted a superbird for the museum  &  he gave or sold cheap  his original race bird to a friend

[metallicareload99]

Check it out and you will see the car is running a 3-speed trans.  There is even a label on the dash.

Why a 3 speed?

Yes the car at Goodwood is the short track Road Runner built in May 70 after the first short track car was totaled out at Darlington.  It was converted to Superbird trim about 1974. 

Excuse my ignorance, but what happened to the first SpuperBird?

[Aero426]

Excuse my ignorance, but what happened to the first SpuperBird?

There was only one #43 Superbird and one #40 Superbird that raced in 1970.   Both cars were converted to standard Road Runners at the end of 1970 and eventually sold to the independent drivers on the west coast.    Doc Faustina bought the 43 car.   It was eventually updated to a 1974 Charger and retired.   Petty's Garage initially restored it as the #40 about 2009, but further research by owner Todd Werner determined it is the #43.   It has since been changed over to the 43 Superbird and is in Florida.    The #40 car was sold to Herschel McGriff who raced it in Winston West.   It was eventually sold and was reported to have been eventually scrapped.

The first 1970 Petty short track Road Runner that was badly damaged at Darlington was completely stripped out,  thrown away out back in the Petty junkyard and was eventually restored as a Superbird for Petty family friend Hugh Hawthorne in 1976.    He still owns it.    The final car is the Petty museum Superbird which was the replacement for the Darlington wreck.    It was converted from a Road Runner to a Superbird about 1974.

So there were four Petty team cars in 1970.    Three exist today and all of them are currently configured as #43 Superbirds

[tan top]

Excuse my ignorance, but what happened to the first SpuperBird?

There was only one #43 Superbird and one #40 Superbird that raced in 1970.   Both cars were converted to standard Road Runners at the end of 1970 and eventually sold to the independent drivers on the west coast.    Doc Faustina bought the 43 car.   It was eventually updated to a 1974 Charger and retired.   Petty's Garage initially restored it as the #40 about 2009, but further research by owner Todd Werner determined it is the #43.   It has since been changed over to the 43 Superbird and is in Florida.    The #40 car was sold to Herschel McGriff who raced it in Winston West.   It was eventually sold and was reported to have been eventually scrapped.

The first 1970 Petty short track Road Runner that was badly damaged at Darlington was completely stripped out,  thrown away out back in the Petty junkyard and was eventually restored as a Superbird for Petty family friend Hugh Hawthorne in 1976.    He still owns it.    The final car is the Petty museum Superbird which was the replacement for the Darlington wreck.    It was converted from a Road Runner to a Superbird about 1974.

So there were four Petty team cars in 1970.    Three exist today and all of them are currently configured as #43 Superbirds

   thank you for sharing this information , love reading about this stuff  appreciated