Plymouth Superbird
The Plymouth Road Runner Superbird was a sister design to the Dodge Charger Daytona, an automobile that existed for two reasons - to beat the Ford Torino and win at NASCAR, an American stock car racing series. It was also created to get Richard Petty back to Plymouth in NASCAR. Both cars featured NASA inspired shark noses to sharpen up designs which were basically boxes, and never-topped goal-post wings, and still draw stares wherever they appear as such cars disappeared almost as soon as they were developed. The wings were a subject of debate as to whether they were that size for aerodynamic reasons or simply to allow the trunk to open; it does appear as though they were built so large to keep the rear tires firmly on the ground at high speeds.
When the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona came out, Richard Petty asked for something comparable, but because Dodge and Plymouth were separate racing divisions at the time, Plymouth didn't have a "wing car" at the time. Petty became angry and quit driving a Plymouth for the rest of that year and instead drove a Ford.
As a result, Chrysler engineers designed a Plymouth version of the Charger Daytona with a 1970 Dodge Coronet hood and fender. At that time though, NASCAR took the 'stock' in stock car racing seriously - vehicles to be raced had to be available to the general public and sold in sufficient numbers, a requirement known as homologation. In fact, in 1970, NASCAR raised the production requirement from 500 examples to one for every 2 Manufacturer's dealers in the United States; for Plymouth, that meant having to build 1,920 Superbirds. 1970 would be its only production year.
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