With Ford stepping its game up and releasing the aerodynamic Torino Talladega and Mercury unleashing the Cyclone Spolier for NASCAR competition, Plymouth was in serious trouble in 1969. The marque even lost its star driver, Richard Petty, who left to drive the new Fords after being refused Dodge's new Charger Daytona.

So for 1970, Plymouth took their Roadrunner and grafted on a new rear window and similar nose cone and tall wing of the Charger Daytona to create their own high-speed aerodynamic warrior they called the Superbird. The Superbird kept with a similar theme of the Roadrunner, using Warner Brothers' famous character for graphics on the wing sideplates and on the nose. As a result, Richard Petty returned to Plymouth for the 1970 season and had a phenomenal year despite missing a few races due to an injury suffered at Darlington. The life of the Superbird in NASCAR would be a short one; rule changes for 1971 choked the horsepower of the fast avian, nullifying all aerodynamic gains and making the cars uncompetitive. The winged warriors disappeared from the scene quietly at the start of the '71 season

Plymouth's fortunes for the road-going version were no better. To make the car legal to race, a total of 1,920 Superbirds had to be made available to consumers, and the wild looks and high price tag made the cars languish on showroom floors for months, and even years. Today, a mint Superbird is worth a fortune, often reaching well into the six-figures at auction.


This Revell kit is an older model that didn't get the licensing for the Roadrunner character, which is why those graphics aren't on the sideplates