Amelia 2010 - 1970 Superbird

[pmossberg]

Moving on to 1970, today's treat is, of course, the Superbird.

This car is owned by a gentleman in Virginia and normally resides...get this...IN HIS DEN! I want to see this guy's house!

The first couple shots were taken indoors, at "The Three Greats" seminar. The reminder are outside on the show field. I do not know if this car runs.
The owner was not present and the "caretaker" did not know. It was PUSHED up the Ritz-Carlton's driveway and onto the show field.

This shot includes a teaser for future postings. That's the nose of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits' Swamp Rat 1.









Love the Made in Level Cross sticker!



Superbird Hemi Power!



Richard's View...not a bad string of Porsche 917s over there on the right!

[ricklou]

Paul your shot's show great detail. I am going to contact someone to see if details are available about these cars.

Great stuff bro

[pmossberg]

If the guy that transported and was attending to the car is correct, and this car really does "live" in someone's house, then my bet is it is restored but has no fluids in it.

Also...I'm an idiot sometimes. The show promoters provided very nice placards with a brief history for each vehicle on the show field. I failed to take pictures of the placards for the Petty cars. Major duh on my part.

[warbird7]

I was at Amelia and got a good look at the Petty Superbird. The story above is true, and that it is owned by Hugh Hawthorne of Richmond Virginia. It was really nice to see this car as it has really never been out of its' nest so to speak.

In general, the car is very similar to the Petty trophy room Superbird. I believe that both of these cars were built up at Petty Enterprises in the mid 1970's, after the racing days of the Superbird were over. There are some PE shop photos from about 1976-77 showing Richard's trophy room car, and another car in the shop nearing completion. It appears to be Mr. Hawthorne's car. Mr. Hawthorne was interviewed by phone some years back and stated his car was built in 1977 and he was at the shop to help build it.

Exactly out of what cars they are built, I cannot say. However, the original Superbird race cars are believed to have been sold off after the 1970 season as they had some value as used racing cars whether converted back to standard body, or sent to USAC where they were still legal. According to an old Stock Car Racing magazine report, a Hamilton Superbird was converted back to standard Road Runner trim and sold to Herschel McGriff on the west coast. Another Superbird was sent to USAC driver Norm Nelson. Maybe there was one more over the course of the season, but who knows? Period shop photos you really only seem to see two Birds at one time.

Construction of the Richard's trophy room car, and the Hawthorne car reflects mid-1970's thinking at PE, with the rounded upper hoop under the hood. Period photos of the Superbird underhoods are quite different. Compare the 1970 photo taken at Daytona below to the underhood in the Amelia photo. Pics in the Meet Richard Petty album also match the 1970 photo. I do not recall if the Hawthorne car has removeable (unbolt them from the cage) doors, but real 1970 built cars have this feature.



Underneath the Hawthorne car, the area between the nose and Kframe is open, and should be filled in. The fender scoops should be completely open underneath the entire width of the scoops. Also, you would never see the mounting studs hanging down towards the tire.

I wish to point out, that in no way am I demeaning either of these Superbirds. They are real Petty cars, but probably did not race, at least as Superbirds.

[pmossberg]

Thanks Warbird.

Yes, the valance panel between nose and k-frame member is missing. It was back in the trunk, along with the front lip spoiler. The "caretaker" said he didn't put them on. He did not elaborate, but I suspect the spoiler is attached to the valance panel and must be removed to get the car up the trailer ramps. I thought it was a tad lazy, at best, to not reinstall them.

[pmossberg]

And, the theory as to PE selling off the raced birds makes sense. heck they had to build the next year's cars!

See a couple photos at the Petty Junkyard: www.superbirdclub.com/pettyjunk.html

[warbird7]

Mar 19, 2010 18:27:50 GMT -5 pmossberg said:

Thanks Warbird.

Yes, the valance panel between nose and k-frame member is missing. It was back in the trunk, along with the front lip spoiler. The "caretaker" said he didn't put them on. He did not elaborate, but I suspect the spoiler is attached to the valance panel and must be removed to get the car up the trailer ramps. I thought it was a tad lazy, at best, to not reinstall them.

The lip spoiler in the trunk was not at all correct. It was just a tiny little thing about 16" wide with no bracing. An authentic spoiler would run the width of the nose. I own the #7 Superbird that was in the general race car field at Amelia. My car has the same spoiler it last raced with in 1972 (USAC). It is bent a bit, but you can see the size.

[warbird7]

Mar 19, 2010 18:31:34 GMT -5 pmossberg said:

And, the theory as to PE selling off the raced birds makes sense. heck they had to build the next year's cars!

See a couple photos at the Petty Junkyard: www.superbirdclub.com/pettyjunk.html

The junkyard photo is of the Darlington wreck Road Runner. It's not known what happened to this car, but I would be kind of surprised if it was rebuilt. It was pretty hammered. Going from memory, in an 1977 interview, I believe Richard said it was not the trophy room car, or the other one under construction (now Hawthorne's car).

[warbird7]

Mar 19, 2010 18:31:34 GMT -5 pmossberg said:

And, the theory as to PE selling off the raced birds makes sense. heck they had to build the next year's cars!

This is exactly right. They had no use for them at PE, but a year old Petty car would be valuable as hand-me-down to someone else. In those days at PE, I am sure there was no thought of collecting or saving anything. These cars were tools, weapons, whatever you want to call it. Even today, you heard Richard at the Gala talking about the Smithsonian car and all the rigamarole they had to go through to get it back. "It's just a car, we built it, we can fix it!"

[pmossberg]

And just like Carroll Shelby talking about selling a Shelby Daytona Coupe for $4,000; just a used up race car, and he needed cash for the next car.

Closer to home, I have a buddy who used to drag race. Never a full time vocation, but certainly not a weekend door banger either.

At one point he had three Superbirds, one Hemi and two 440s.
When he was done with them, he sold 'em as used cars.
His retirement would be rather different had he held on to them!

[pmossberg]

Warbird...I didn't mean all the photos at petty junkyard.

The first shot is part of the nose off Hamilton's #40. And in one of the Satellite photos, there is a hood leaning on the car that the writer speculates MIGHT be the hood off a 'Bird.

[pmossberg]

Warbird...your car is very cool!

I'm sure you know better than me, but from old photos, Richard did not always run a full width spoiler, likely depending on the track. Notice the difference between Richard's and Hamilton's spoiler configuration. Hamilton's is like the one on your #7.

[warbird7]

Mar 19, 2010 19:01:15 GMT -5 pmossberg said:

Warbird...your car is very cool!

I'm sure you know better than me, but from old photos, Richard did not always run a full width spoiler, likely depending on the track. Notice the difference between Richard's and Hamilton's spoiler configuration. Hamilton's is like the one on your #7.

I am in complete agreement. All those photos you posted, I will call a "full width" spoiler, even though some are wider than others. The only time I can think of when Richard ran anything smaller was at the Daytona 500, and they were still figuring out the Bird's aerodynamics. My car ran a small front spoiler at the February Daytona races, and was changed shortly thereafter. Just about every Superbird at Daytona that year ran something unique from car to car.

[pmossberg]

Funny, I was going to ask about your "warbird" screen name...then saw your post of your car.

In many respects, nicer than the showroom Petty bird, as it was actually raced. Really beautiful car!

[revilo]

I am so happy to be on this forum so I can be a part of the vast amount of knowledge that many of you possess. It is quite a thrill to live vicariously through your wonderful experiences. I feel like the new intern learning at the knee of the master. What a great place. Paul, thank you so much for your pictures and stories. Welcome warbird7. We are always happy to hear from a MOPAR man, even though our team now races those cars that start with F.