New photos - Hamilton Bird really the original Petty Bird !!

[odcics2]

Found these on the Nascar Modeling site.
Sometimes the smallest, overlooked details can tell a story. I know there was talk about welds on the tunnel, etc. on the car.
Look at the vintage photo and notice the dent in the cage.   It's still there today, but now hidden under #40 stickers and
modified front bars under the hood. Not sure when in 1970 that the Richard Petty Bird got the curved passenger side bars installed. The vintage photo is from late in the season.

[Aero426]

Shhhhh!!!!    you just blew my newsletter scoop.

So, I guess what you are saying is that all three of the original one #43 Superbirds still exist.  

The above pic is said to have been taken at the end of, or shortly after the 1970 season.  

[tan top]

    

[moparstuart]

    slap a little more blue paint on it and a new set and decal   

[Daytona Guy]

I see that the tires rubbed the fenders all the way off

Dane

[Ghoste]

Probably used the street fenders without the hole cut in the top.

[odcics2]

So, I guess what you are saying is that all three of the original one #43 Superbirds still exist.  

I'm saying nothing.  The vintage photo of the only original Richard Petty Bird and MoPar Muscle photo, taken during the creation of a #40 Superbird, says it all!

I would say that the owner of the #40 re-creation would be happy to know he actually owns Petty's real Superbird. Just swap some stickers, correct the bars under the hood to how they were and change the spoiler.     

[Ghoste]

It was Petty's shop that restored the car, no?

[Dave Kanofsky]

I see that the tires rubbed the fenders all the way off

Dane

[Aero426]

It was Petty's shop that restored the car, no?

Yes, that is correct.

[Ghoste]

You would think they would know which cars they were dealing with then?

[tan top]

You would think they would know which cars they were dealing with then?

   perhaps they did  , but might open a can of worms , as to who owns supposedly what car now ,

[Ghoste]

Hmm, perhaps the can is opened then?

[Redbird]

For those of us that just can not remember how many cars exist or still exist. What is the current thinking of which car was originally which based on the roll cage, headrest faring, floorpan and anything else?

Hamilton-Just 1 car?

Petty-1 or 2 Superbirds pre and post Darlington?

Petty-1 or 2 short track cars pre and post Darlington?

[Aero426]

This is my opinion of how it was and now is.

One #43 Superbird all season for Richard (probably the existing car painted as #40).
One #40 Superbird all season for Pete (reportedly sold to Hershel McGriff on the west coast - unaccounted for).
One #43 short track 70 Road Runner (wrecked at Darlington, discarded out back, rebuilt for Hugh Hawthorne in 1977 as a Superbird).
One #43 short track 70 Road Runner (new car built after Darlington, retained as a race car through 1972, show car in 1973, converted to Superbird trophy room car about 1976).

I don't know whether the two Superbirds were ever swapped around between Richard and Pete.  

There is no evidence to suggest there were more than two Superbirds in the shop in 1970.   The cars only ran something like 16 races and if I recall, rarely or never on back to back weekends.  This means they had time to turn the cars back around.  Pete did not run any short tracks.   The Chrysler owned Engineering Superbird sat idle at the shop after mid-season until it was sent north to USAC in 1971.  Because it was painted Corporation Blue, it has often been mistakenly quoted as being a Petty car.   

[Redbird]

I believe Pete's Superbird was crunched in the front at the last superspeedway race at Rockingham in the "American 500". The crash is shown in "The Hard Chargers". If Pete's car had the substantial bracing for the cone, that might explain the extent of damage to the front of the car.

I think Pete drove Dick Brooks '69 Plymouth a week later in the "Tidewater 300", a .395 mile track. So who knows what the Pettys did with the Superspeedway car, probably not a lot, after the last race with it.

Then too, there are several 1971 cars claiming to be Petty cars that have surfaced in California.

[Aero426]

I believe both Petty Superbirds went to the west coast the next year as 1970 Road Runners.   McGriff got one and Doc Faustina the other. 

[odcics2]

Then too, there are several 1971 cars claiming to be Petty cars that have surfaced in California.

More than Richard ever had!   

[odcics2]

Another angle of the 43 - turned Hamilton bird.
Green arrow points to cage dent.

[tan top]

I believe Pete's Superbird was crunched in the front at the last superspeedway race at Rockingham in the "American 500". The crash is shown in "The Hard Chargers". If Pete's car had the substantial bracing for the cone, that might explain the extent of damage to the front of the car.

just been watching the hard chargers dvd ,  not good picture but is this the one you mean  ?

[Redbird]

That is the sequence I was mentioning. Pete comes down from the banking and hits the infield guard rail almost straight on to the nose, accident rolls across the nose-passenger and driver's sides , maybe a little more on the passenger side than the driver's side. It seems when you slow the video down you can still see the red painted nose center section as the accident happens.

That portion of the DVD also has Richard in what is supposed to be the last race at Rockingham in 1970. As the edited sequence starts, it looks like Richard had just tapped the outside guardrail with his passenger side or got loose on the high banking, he comes down off the banking and collides with Dave Marcus. The collision with Marcus mashes the driver's side of Richard's car and they pound it out in the pits and he gets back in the race. Richard's nose is visibly damaged, more so on the driver's side, but it doesn't get crushed in the center. The driver's side of Richard's car is crinkled. His trunk lid looks undamaged but the trim piece around the rear tail light area is bent when seen from behind. Richard's car has the white pinstripe and the "Southern" decal over the rear wheel, which looks remarkably like the attached side picture in this thread, with the exception that the Goodyear decal is on the wing in the video.

[tan top]

 
pete hamilton #40

sorry not very good pictures , had to take a picture of monitor with digital camera & resize them

[tan top]

 

[Ghoste]

I imagine it happened too fast for any other reaction but when I look at that one still and put myself in the cameraman's seat, the first thing that enters my mind is, "this is going to hurt... me".

[tan top]

richard petty wreck #43 same track