Lost Muscle Cars. Wes Eisenschenk

June 1969, Chrysler CEO Lynn Townsend began the changes that brought Richard Petty back to Plymouth by creating the winged car. Petty also requested that all of Plymouth’s racing program go through Petty Enterprises. The deal was done and Petty signed a contract to return Plymouth after the 1969 racing season.

      With a 1969, not a 1970, hardtop Road Runner donated by Chrysler, Creative Industries of Detroit began the task of building the Superbird. This donor car was either Alpine White or Sunfire Yellow based on the photos saved by Dick Padovini. Options appear to have included V7X Black Longitude Stripe, V1 Vinyl Roof, V21 Performance Hood Paint, G31 OS RH Manual Standard Mirror, C55 Bucket Seats, U64 F70-15 White Stripe Tires, W15 Deep Dish Wheel Covers, and M25 Wide Sill Molding.

      The front clip featured a clay-molded nose with simulated fender scoops and what appears to be filled-in side markers, although the location isn’t quite where the stock markers were. Out back, the aero Bird’s rear glass was removed and fitted with a smaller piece to make it more aerodynamic. The Bird’s primitive, clay-molded rear wing wasn’t adjustable and had to be braced for stability. The 1970 Superbird was a resounding success with Richard, who notched 18 total victories across 40 races, although he also competed in his Road Runner hardtop. It may have been a championship season for King Petty had he not been involved in a violent crash at Darlington that sidelined him for eight contests. The Superbird also notched key victories in superspeedway races at Talladega and Daytona, including a coveted win at the Daytona 500.

       The clay is well massaged and smooth and braces provide stability for the new nose cone. The hood features pre-fabbed fender scoops. (Photo Courtesy Richard Padovini and Winged Warriors Car Club)

      NASCAR eventually handicapped the Chrysler winged cars with engine-size restrictions, which rendered them uncompetitive. Today, Superbirds, especially those with the Hemi engine option, routinely sell for more than $300,000.

      What happened to the 1969 Superbird concept car? Virtually nothing is known about its status. Whether it was destroyed, converted back to 1969 Road Runner specs, or let loose to the general public remains a mystery. So, if you see a funky-looking 1969 Road Runner sporting a nose cone and a rear spoiler, don’t mock the car or the owner. You might well be looking at one of the most important cars in the history of motorsports.

       Chrysler also called on Creative Industries of Detroit for the development of the 1969 Charger Daytonas. Note the Charger hoods and Daytona nose cones still lying around at Creative. (Photo Courtesy Richard Padovini and Winged Warriors Car Club)

       Held up by bracing, the 1969 Superbird nose cone looks the part of an aero warrior. On the wall in the background are sketches of the prototype. I’ll take one, please! (Photo Courtesy Richard Padovini and Winged Warriors Car Club)

       Ford Show Cars of the 1960s

       By Kevin Martin

      Automakers have been creating special show cars (concept cars, idea cars, dream cars) since the 1930s to draw the buying public to their booths at the major annual car shows. Some of these cars were created to elicit the public’s reaction to styling elements contemplated by the carmakers; others were teasers to show what was in store for upcoming production models.

      Ford touted its 1969 show cars as the “Ford Better Idea Show.” They weren’t too extreme, but they were good props for shapely young go-go–booted hotties with come-hither patter. Ford’s offerings were pretty tame this year because they were based on customized production models.

      1966 Ford Fairlane GT A GO GO

      When the words Ford, dream car, show car, and 1950s are mentioned in a single sentence, you can’t be faulted if images of bubble-top gyroscopically balanced automotive concepts pop into your mind. Or vehicles that looked suspiciously like UFOs. That’s not surprising because the chief of Advanced Styling for Ford from 1952 through 1963 was Alex Tremulis, the garrulous Greek who designed, among other lasting automotive monuments, the 1948 Tucker Torpedo. Some think that Tremulis was the greatest automotive designer ever.

       The Fairlane GT A GO GO was constructed to help call attention to Ford’s revamped midsize model. It was designed by the Corporate Projects Studio and built in California by customizer Gene Winfield. (Photo Courtesy Chicago Auto Show)

      George W. Walker, the designer of the 1949 Ford, brought Tremulis on board to inject some much needed pizzazz into another of Walker’s creations, the Ford Corporate Design Center. The Corporate Design Center was Walker’s response to Harley Earl’s Art and Colour Section at General Motors, created in 1927.

      Fairlane GT/GTA

      By the early 1960s, Ford wanted to explore styling concepts that related more to what it wanted to build and sell rather than just to titillate the sci-fi crowd. So out with the Gyronaut and in with shrunken T-Birds. The first actual production car, rather than design element, which came out of this line of thinking was the 1964½ Mustang. It goes without saying that in 1966 Ford wasn’t having any trouble moving Mustangs off the showroom floor, but its Fairlane GT/GTA was getting its butt kicked by just about every muscle car out there (except for the Buick Skylark GS). Sales were anemic (6,908 cars), as was the car’s performance.

      The Fairlane GT (the GTA was the automatic version) could barely get out of its own way let alone the likes of the Pontiac GTO and the Chevelle SS 396. The Fairlane’s power was supplied by Ford’s tried-and-true FE 390-ci 320-horse trailer-towing engine. On the street, it was well known that even a 4-speed 300-horse 327-ci small-block Impala left a Galaxie 390 in the weeds. The same went for the 325-horse 383-ci Dodge Coronet/Plymouth Satellite.

      That’s not to say that with some judicious tweaking, the FE 390 couldn’t be persuaded to give a GTO a good run for its money. It could, and if you bought your new Fairlane GT from Tasca Ford in Providence, Rhode Island, the dealership probably had a package that could wake up your Fairlane 390 GT. But not every gearhead had a neighborhood high-performance Ford dealer named Tasca.

      Backward Designing

      Ford must have caught on that the Fairlane GT was a dog early in the sales year, because by the time the 1966 Chicago Auto Show rolled around, Ford had an answer to pick up its lousy sales. It was called the Fairlane A GO GO. (Cue the laugh track.)

       Automotive design guru Gene Winfield built the Fairlane GT A GO GO based on sketches supplied by Ford. This is one of the few color photos showing the vibrant blue interior. (Photo Courtesy Chicago Auto Show)

      Ford, for what may have been a first in corporate history, created a show car in reverse. It took an arguably crisp and nicely designed 1966 Fairlane and added some styling features (such as eight fake chrome air intakes on the hood) that were bound to turn off its intended, performance-oriented market. As hokey as this styling element was, Plymouth picked up the idea for its 1967 GTX. And to pound home the performance theme, the A GO GO came with side-exit open exhausts controllable by the driver, known as cutouts. Drive to the dragstrip with the exhaust routed through conventional mufflers, hit a switch, and still get beat by everyone, only make more noise.

      The real showstopper, however, was the interior, which featured acres of shiny blue metalflake vinyl. Fortunately, this design element never found a place in production car interiors, but was a big favorite in ski boats, choppers, and banana seats on kids’ bicycles. To finish this all off was a metallic white paint job with