Cross Country Travels with my Superbird

[hotrod98]

Two more things on my bucket list...Hotrod Power Tour and Woodward Dream Cruise in the bird.

Great pics.

[limelightsuperbird]

We have a great spot for Woodward. Main drag right in the middle of all the action! All wing cars welcome FREE!

[limelightsuperbird]

Racers at Winged Warrior Meet '96

[limelightsuperbird]

Kansas City Party ! We are parked near right lower corner of white tent, main isle.   pic 1

Vegas roundy round.  pic 2

Always runnin' to the store !  pic 3

Climing the steep Rocky Mountain grades.   pic 4

[limelightsuperbird]

1986, St. Ignace, Superbird minus nosecone blackouts!! Gotta love Petty Blue!  pic 1


Orange bird spotted at Car Craft Super Street Meet, National Trail Raceway, Columbus, OH.  1996. Red plymouth next to bird is original hemi car.   pic 2


Blue daytona at Nationals '95. It has license plate on front like bottom car.  pic 3


Same daytona at Woodward years later with different tires?  pic 4

[limelightsuperbird]

Striking daytona taken at Mopar Nats.  pics taken 8-13-89. To me, the dark tinted rear glass really adds a more stealthy look for sure! I have seen plenty of black ones , this one definitely stands out.

[limelightsuperbird]

Some more Woodward.

[limelightsuperbird]

And more!

[limelightsuperbird]

Recall wheels!   pic 1

440 , 4 speed bench seat car. 1996. Then owned by Harold Sullivan.  pic 2

Jim Shermans' superbird. 440 six pac, auto on column.  pic 3

Local custom silver superbird with airgrabber hood taken at Woodward.  Note chromed body parts/trim including 1/4 panel scoop inserts and tailight bezels.   pic 4

[limelightsuperbird]

Autorama mid 80's

[moparstuart]

This is a reply to MOPARSTUART about yellow Superbird air grabber hood. It is identical to the green hood you posted. Same raised ridge faded into air grabber. Pic was grainy, wouldn't load clearly. I can see it good in person though, Jim

the green one is the one i built for my car , my original hood had a six pac scoope crudely installed so it had to change , 

[moparstuart]

my clone was built with real steel superbird parts from a car that was crushed way back in 1979

[moparstuart]

Recall wheels!   pic 1

Local custom superbird with airgrabber hood.  pic 2

440 , 4 speed bench seat car. 1996. Then owned by Harold Sullivan.  pic 3

Jim Shermans' superbird. 440 six pac, auto on column.  pic 4

that is my buddy milt woods  custom superbird with the air grabber , once i saw his car I knew that was how I was going to fix my hole in my hood problem.

[nascarxx29]

Striking daytona taken at Mopar Nats.  pics taken 8-13-89

This car lived near me it was a bucket seat column auto
 TheXX29l9B402971 black on red daytona when George H owned it

[limelightsuperbird]

You did a ton of hard  fab work on that hood  and it looks spectacular. Great job!!  I've done all of my own custom welding too since the late '70's and I'm very impressed with your metalworking skills. Not everyone can pull it off!

Also, thanks for the info and pic of black daytona. My motto has always been the more pics and info on these cars the BETTER! Can't get enough, Jim

[nascarxx29]

The black daytona from the nats.The blue daytona with different rims just a guess Dennis Fortins car
The black red car was on ebay and was a orig A4 silver column car.I have its vin and other info I recorded from it.I saw it in Houston TX.It later got sold in 87 in TX .Then it came to the east coast .And I saw it again .And met the guy who had it in NJ  was Pat D had owned it. and sold it to George.Who turned out to be the guy who sold my friend. Bill the white on red on daytona seen in supercars book.his name was George Harrison like the famous beatle  .He had the car in a mopar magazine 80- or 90s wearing PA plates 69 WING XX29L9B402971.When George had it was black with tinted windows centerlines.And after market floor shifter.

[limelightsuperbird]

I can't get enough! Thanks so much for the article. I've never seen it. I try to put cars and owners info to memory too. Helps me to get to know all the winger wonders! Thanks again, I am the Birdman

[nascarxx29]

I collect original newspaper dealer selling ads owner to owner car historys pictures magazines etc to document the cars historys

[limelightsuperbird]

 Your archives must be incredible. I would love to give all that material a good look over.  

Here is the car that sold Me!!! I had grown up seeing it when it would be parked at Direct Connections side lot (now Mancini Racing) riding in the car with my parents. I had only seen 1 before, a yellow bird driving in front of us that quickly turned never to be seen again. I was 11 and just thought some guy had customized a car with a painted wooden wing. I didn't even get to see the rest of the car. All I could remember how tall that wing was and the standing roadrunner bird on the rear quarter extension.  First time I saw it that limegreen superbird I was in aw! At first I said to myself " I can't believe they really make that car". When I saw the front end I really took it in !  Then and there I thought this car is different from any other, looks like it only has 1 purpose- GO FAST! Better than even the ferrari and lambo posters that hung on my  bedroom walls.  I love ALL old cars, but having one of these winged cars surely meant owning it until death. Once old enough to get my license I would routinely drive my '69 caddy convertible up to Direct Connection  to stare at the green bird  and talk about it with owner, Mike Shank. He was always patient with my long line of questions, and would always point out all the special attributes and pieces of his bird. I would always catch up with him at local car shows like Carnival of Cars at the Ford Proving Grounds in Shelby or Freedom Hill Park in Sterling Hgts. Seeing Mikes' bird when he was still here, I always couldn't help but think why did the winged cars sit unsold for so long like he would say..    pics are from these 2 shows, 1986

[limelightsuperbird]

Carnival of Cars, still '86. Yellow bird has Ontario, Canada front and rear plates. This style bracket mounts low on the nosecone.   pic 1

Whte bird with daytonas.  pic 2

Another yellow bird. Sleepy eyes.  pics 3 + 4

[limelightsuperbird]

Hope this next bunch of pics really pumps up anyone getting ready to build their wing car. Who's building them?  Near Michigan?  I'm interested.

The following pics are the beginning stages of the buying and build of MY superbird as it happened in 1994-1995.. I was lucky the framerails and inner wheel wells were usable. The rest of the rear sheetmetal was turning back into earth. They didn't make 1 piece trunk floor back in '94, only 2 piece. Painstaking to remove all that bad metal and duplicate spot welds in their original locations. Well worth it though, I can see progress even this early in the build. Finishing the installation of the second quarter panel already. Sooooooo  excited!  Again these are from 1994-1995.  I am these posting to pump everyone up on their  own projects and give bird builders some reference pics.

[limelightsuperbird]

Here is the day we brought the car home. A guy I used to work with in the early '90s and his brother would cruise the back country roads EVERY weekend in search of classic cars. When he mentioned this to me I told him if he ever ran across a 1970 road runner to let me know. For the next 1-1/2 years he would periodically come in excited of a find. Every time I would say " it has to have a scoop on the 1/4, you better double check". This played out several times, meanwhile I worked on my other classics. Finally the day came, I was handed a piece of paper with a phone number and price...$200. He said he was lucky to have spotted it so far back even with binoculars while his brother took his turn driving. It was 1/2 mile back in a farmers field, No tires and sinking in the ground. I eagerly called back 5 times until I reached the owner and set up a meeting for that same evening. The car was 40 miles away, it would be dark and I didn't know what to expect.. Oh Yea, this will work, This is gonna be MY bird. Hurried up and payed the man. Came back the next day with shovels, 4 tires, a big jack and trailer.

[limelightsuperbird]

Boy, somebody went to town on the cars interior. Tore up everything, even a softball size hole in the windshield. Some thing besides just mice have been calling its interior home. Now I'll have to save some more money to get this dream car build started. I painted the car yellow just so it wouldn't rust outside while I spend the next few months saving more money and getting my bird kit ordered from Ted Janak. I had researched this years before finding my bird and I knew Ted needed lead time to build the parts for the kit. During this time I will also pick up a 1973 imperial lebaron for its 440 to rebuild and install in the bird. It was hard to not just tear it apart right away, but I had already restored enough cars to know how to have a plan and do it right. "Don't disassemble until your ready to build ", I kept telling myself. So for now I Will order tons of parts from year one , build a six pac motor and find a donor car for a 4 speed transformation. I love it when a plan starts to come together!

[limelightsuperbird]

Ted called after a few months and said the superbird kit will be ready in about 8-10 more weeks.  I have by now already built the 440 six pac I always wanted with TRW 10.5-1 forged pistons, 509 Mopar purple shaft, hi volume oil pump, double roller timing set, ported 452 heads, lightweight Competition Cams pushrods, brand new six pac setup with aluminum intake Jet Hot coated silver and the hi-po exhaust manifolds Jet Hot coated cast gray. Also installed a Pertronix pickup in the new distributor and Holley fuel pump with all stainless fuel lines to the carbs. It's painted, oil primed and ready to fire. Later, once the car is done I end up ripping apart the stock replacement motor mounts, so I ordered Mighty Mount brand because they claim they can't come apart. Never had a problem again. Here I have started removing the front sheet metal, 318 with m/t valve covers and the interior. This is just the beginning!

[FJ5WING]

really cool read...I just read the thread start to finish.