In 1971, the dealership owner, frustrated at seeing the car every day, had his parts man check the dealer inventory for all the parts needed, and had it converted into a “regular” Charger.
The nose cone, front clip, and wing were removed. On went a proper 1969 Charger front clip, a 1968 Charger grill, and a 1969 Charger hood.
The car was also given a fresh coat of resale red paint. No one knows what became of the original nose cone but the wing went back to the dealer where it was found to be used as a hand wheel chock for the guys in the service department.
In 1974 Frank bought it, and sold it for $700 to his kid brother 6 years later so he could buy a lawn and garden tractor.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/nobody-wanted-69-daytona-not-even-dealer/
Back in the late-70's I regularly called on Plymouth dealer that still had a couple of Superbird nose cones and wings in the parts department that came off Superbirds that were converted back to regular Road Runners in order to sell them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many guys have bought a dirty old Road Runner project then looked at the data plate?
ReplyDeletegood question. I've never seen a magazine article on a Road Runner that was found to surprise the owner who discovered it had been a Super Bird... and I'd think anyone learning they just struck the gold mine would try for a magazine article on it, same thing for some big auction house
DeleteI have an inlaw that was a policeman in Australia's last wild fronteir, The Northern Territory in the 70's.
ReplyDeleteAt the height of the muscle car glory, the Northern Territory had an open speed limit policy.
The gun and drug runners would run straight down the middle of the country on open limit highways in cars simply bombed up with all the latest go fast bits and the cops couldnt catch them.
1972 was the last year of the muscle car good stuff because the media started a scare campaign of 'these dangerous 160 mph supercars on our streets' followed by a fuel crisis. And just like that, the big three stopped their development programs.
Ford was about to release their new Phase four GT beast. Only one road car made it out of the factory in time. 200 were earmarked for assembly.
As the story go's, At an industry night. A Ford Exec asked 'How do you find the product?'
The reply was , 'their good, but their getting away from us'.
Ford said' Dont worry, we can fix that.'
So, The N.T got one and South Australia got one.
2 new 1972 Ford Falcon 500 sedans in white as Highway cars. These were different from any existing Police cars at the time although some Departments already had GT cars. These 2 were built out of the Phase Four program.
These white sedans sat low on 7" steel rims with Falcon 500 caps, badged as 500's, an unbadged GT spotlight grill was the only give away from the outside.
Full race spec underpinnings, 351 Cleveland with 4 speed and all the race goodies, they would smoke the tyres up through fourth and would do a set every week.
No badges, no stripes, no shaker, no spoilers, no wheels. 'Delete' everything except the GT dash with police dials and vinyl bench seats.
One backfired one morning and burnt. The car was hauled off and disposed of.
Somehow I can see a guy in a wrecking yard somewhere yawning as a truck arrives with a plain jane white 500 sedan suffering an engine fire.
But Im sure raising the hood would have involved a 'Well that shouldnt be there' moment, followed by a cascade of expletives as other discoveries are made. The staking of a claim on the carcass warding off all others would have been the next coure of action with threats of physical violence and harm thrown in as part of the deal if your lucky.
Wouldn't you think that if you were working in any scrapyard or junkyard you've be looking in every car for cool stuff? I sure would
DeleteEspecially back when the odd factury special was known to sneak out.
ReplyDelete