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Published: 14 March 2015 Super User Hits: 7134
Texas Big Bird was a Petty Blue Plymouth Superbird drag racing car. It was built and competed in the late 1990's by Matt Tolbert of Austin Texas. The body was created by pulling fiberglass molds off a full-size Roadrunner mocked up as a Superbird, and creating body parts to cover a full tube chassis. The car was powered by an Alky 525 CI Hemi with a Kolbelco Blower, built by Indy Cylinder Heads. The transmission was a 3-speed Lenco and the clutch a multi-disc Boninfante.
The car was very popular with the Mopar crowd, and featured in many Mopar magazines.
Matt ran the car in the ProMod class in IHRA in 1999 and 2000, running the quarter in the low 6-second ranger at a little more than 220 MPH range. It was the largest car running ProMod -- mostly competing against much lighter and faster 7/8 scale Corvettes and Camaros. In 2001, Matt put the Texas Big Bird up for sale.
In 2003, with the encouragement of many MoparStyle Members, Dave Schultz bought the car from Matt. Jeff Prock set up and mapped the fuel and blower system, and Monte Smith was the shoe. In 2005, Dave threw in the towel and put the car up for sale after not having any luck finding a sponsor. The car was sold to a Frenchman Herve Caan wanting to run in Europe -- and shipped to Dick Landy to have him go through. The body molds were sold to someone in Iowa -- who has since made a few more bodies. Rumor has it that Caan owed Dick some money -- and so the car was sold to Duncan Watts, Crew, England as a roller and the drive-train going in another direction. Duncan planned racing the car without a blower engine i the UK, but never come around to do it. In 2010 the car was then bought by Karl Dag Gursli and taken to Norway
You Tube Video of Car making a pair of 200mph passes
Published: 13 March 2015 Super User Hits: 7356
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The Car
The Superbird and Racing
Plymouth was determined to win the Manufacturer’s Cup in NASCAR in 1970, and conceived a race car that would be the most aerodynamic and fastest stock car ever built. The basis for this car was their Roadrunner, so they named it the Superbird. Among the Superbirds features were a sloped nose, flush mounted rear glass, and a high rear wing. All of this allowed the Superbird to cheat the wind while having great rear down force — allowing the car to make 2 mile laps at over 200 miles per hour.
NASCAR had a requirement that defined a “Stock Car” as any American built car that the car manufacturer built at least one street version to be sold for each of its car dealers. In 1970, Plymouth had 1,920 dealers, so they made exactly 1,920 of these “Loss Leaders” available to the public.
The NASCAR version had the fabled 426ci HEMI engine and many drivers, including The King (Richard Petty) who became that year’s Grand National Champion, drove them. These cars were so fast, and other manufacturers screamed so loud that NASCAR would not allow the Superbirds to run the HEMI after the 1970 season.
The Street Superbird
Many Muscle Car Collectors consider the few remaining street examples as the Holy Grail of Mopar Muscle Cars. An average example of a street Hemi Superbird bid to $165,000 on eBay in April 2003 — but didn’t reach the Seller’s reserve price. Texas Big Bird
Our Texas Big Bird is a one-of-a-kind full race car built to compete in the Pro-Mod ranks of IHRA. It is a full cage chassis, hand-laid carbon fiber body, with an aluminum 526ci HEMI motor making in excess of 2,300HP. This car cost $186,000 to build and there are no others like it. It raced from 1998 until 2000 and quickly became a Racing Icon. It has been featured in many magazines and is instantly recognizable to most drag racing fans.
MoparStyle Racing has recently purchased Texas Big Bird to race in the very popular NMCA’s (National Muscle Car Association) Pro Outlaw Street division in 2004. This division is the 200+ MPH class where the cars look like the street cars. It is available for exhibitions in 2003.
Original Texas Big Bird Specs
1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird Body by |
