Think the Mclaren Senna was the first time a no-rules race car was made road legal? Guess again, because the folks at Mopar were doing it five decades ago. The Plymouth Road Runner Superbird owes its existence to the high impact and high-speed world of 1960s stock car racing.

This period of NASCAR is looked back on as the first golden age of the sport, a time when massive engines and sleek aerodynamic lead to speeds once unthinkable. In a time when most cars struggled to crack 90 mph, the Superbird was inching in on territory not seen in road-legal sports cars for at least another 20 to 30 years. The production version isn't as fast as the stock car of course, but that doesn't make it any less wicked to our eyes.

 Today, let's take a trip back in time to see how the Plymouth Superbird changed the game in so many ways.

A Beast From A Bygone Era

via Wallpaperup

We tend to forget just how radically different people in the 60s and 70s thought. In a world where safety's overtaken performance as the number one priority, a car that can crack 200 mph with rear drum brakes, rear leaf spring suspension, and no airbag would make a car like the Super Bird impossible to recreate today.

NASCAR plymouth gtx
via pinterest.com

The Road Runner Superbirds 440Ci V8 would also be one of the last firebreathing monsters produced for road cars before American cars were stricken with emissions regulations they would struggle to fight against for the next 30 years. All in all, the Superbird is a perfect time capsule of a period before common sense and public safety became the forefront issue of both passenger cars and racing cars.

Related: Phoenix Hosts NASCAR Season Finale For The First Time

The Aero Wars

wikiwand.com

The Aero Wars represented the period in NASCAR where the envelope was pushed possibly the farthest it ever has. Alongside icons like its sister car, the Dodge Charger Daytona, the Ford Talladega, and Mercury Cyclone, this period saw more iconic models participate in the sport than any point in the history of stock car racing.

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NASCAR was running into a bit of an issue in the late 60s. As horsepower ratings grew higher and high, and speeds got faster and faster, the aerodynamic resistance they were encountering was enormous. Especially when compared to their sleeker, lighter Grand Prix counterparts, it was obvious that something needed to be done about these heavy, boxy stock cars.

These wing cars used their enormous rear spoilers and full aero to slice through the air like a hot knife through butter. With a drag coefficient of around .28, it's more aerodynamic than a modern Mclaren P1. This paired with a complete monster of an engine meant records were bound to be smashed to pieces in these cars. Buddy Baker was the first person to crack 200 mph in an official NASCAR sanctioned race, piloting his Dodge Daytona past the hallowed barrier. It wasn't long before other icons of the period like Richard Petty were breaking that barrier routinely. Even by today's exceedingly high standards, that's gosh darn impressive.

Related: Plymouth Superbird Richard Petty NASCAR Gets Modern Rendering

Racing God Turned Street Machine

1970 Plymouth Superbird Road Runner White Muscle car
Via supercars.net

Believe it or not, there was a time when stock cars were truly stock in every sense of the word. In Fact, NASCAR rules mandated a short production run of each vehicle in its field of cars during the late 60s and early 70s.

John Cena’s ’70 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird
Via: Trending Car

That meant that whether Mopar wanted the public to have their race cars or not, they were contractually obligated to produce at least 500 of every model they entered into the NASCAR Cup. This meant rolling out double the stock in order to cover the dues for Plymouth and Dodge. In reality, it's believed there were around 1,900 Superbirds made, and around a thousand still in existence today.

A Choice Of Famous Engines

The late 60s and early 70s aren't seen as the golden age of Mopar for no reason. The Superbird had full access to Mopar's list of high-performance V8 engines. No economy six-cylinder option was available on these purpose-built road racers, only the biggest and baddest found their way under the hoods of these icons.

Mecum Plymouth Superbird 3
via Mecum Auctions

Most common was the monstrous 7.2 Liter 440 Ci "Super Commando" V8,  a fitting name for a beast of an engine. These engines came with either four or six barrel carburetors and made up the majority of the Superbird production run. In this configuration with a three-speed torqueflite automatic transmission, the car could make 390 horsepower to the rear wheels. Expect the four-speed manual to be even more powerful.

The Best Place For A Hemi

red 1969 Dodge Hemi Charger engine
Via Hot Rod

Of course, though, the most desirable Superbirds have the 426 Ci 7 liter Hemi V8. We won't bore you with why Hemi's have a knack for making big power, but long story short, the Hemi is an iconic engine in its own right but feels most perfectly at home under the bonnet of this car. Even if they only made 135 Superbirds with this fire-breathing monster, we still reckon it's well deserving of its moniker as one of the most famous road-going race cars.

Sources: HotRod.com, Youtube.com/SaabKyle04

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