Petty Plymouth Superbird coming up for auction

Richard Petty’s Plymouth Superbird is coming up for auction on January 18 in Kissimmee, Florida, courtesy of Mecum Auctions.

The 440-powered car has an automatic transmission; it’s white outside and black inside, and does not appear to have actually been raced. The car was owned by Richard petty from 1982-2013, and was shown at his museum; it was restored in 2014 by Petty’s Garage, which added his profile to the seats and his signature under the clearcoat of the trunk. Richard Petty also signed a letter saying it was the only Superbird he owned personally (the cars he raced belonged to his racing company).

The speedometer only goes up to 150 mph, but it’s round so the buyer may be able to bring it  back around to 0. The odometer shows less than 30,000 miles on the clock.

The Charger 500 and Ford Torino started the aero-car wars at NASCAR; the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona and 1970 Plymouth Superbird effectively ended them. The Charger Daytona stunned the racing community with lap times close to 200 mph at Talladega, and later set a record there with an official 200 mph lap. The car is more than it seems; for a look under the skin (and at parts of the skin that are not readily apparent), see motales.com’s Superbird secrets.