the fact that they literally brought in people from their MISSILE division to design the superbird is one of the coolest backstories to a design I can think of
i own 2 SuperBirds and let me dispel a few myths about them. my father and i also owned the very first Chrysler wing car ever sold to the public: the red with white tail 69 daytona charger serial #000006. now in the possession of Larry Bell of Indianapolis. ALL SuperBirds have a hidden "J code number" which tells the owner exactly which one he has. also separates the Birds from all other 70 Chrysler B-bodies. and the rear wing? it is internally braced by a series of very large trunk floor mounted brackets....it is at its particular height and size to get it into clean air that rolls over the drooped roof and bubble rear window of the SuperBird...and the factory added small trunk lid stops to the hinge area so that the lid would not strike the wing when opened.
Mine too. 200+mph, a wing before the F40, exotic looks, room for five, a trunk. One of my lottery-win dreams is having a modernized version built for me. 😁
I agree, nascar is boring compared to the old stock car days. The idea of the competition between manufacturers trying to make the best car was so much more inspiring and entertaining than everyone getting told how to make their cars. like today where they are all basically identical. Boring! We want to see every shape and size out there on the track and then be able to go buy one just like it.
I seen a couple photos of one of my old bosses buying a winged car from a car lot, and also of him side by side with pettys winged car and his winged car racing. my old boss still has a winged car in his garage.
We had two of these one a four speed four barrel the other 6 pack automatic these. cars handled so well it was a lot of fun driving them the 6 pack car would run right at 230 or better back then not that much traffic on I5 LOL THE 6 pack car we restored when we installed the wing we didn't think about the pitch so the first time we drove it we went to Portland swap meet frm Olympia wa we get out of the car the back quarter panels were totally black ,it had so much down force it shreaded the back tires we had to stay a extra day to get new tires put on we got lucky to get there lol the 6 pack car was stolen still haven't found it last seen at Portland swap meet a few years back by the time I got there it was gone I miss her
I watched an interview a few years back, with one of Chrysler's engineers at the time the winged cars were developed. And perhaps the most important element of the wing design NOT discussed here in this video, is the following: The engineer explained how it turned out that the best feature of the wing in the back, was each SIDE of the wing. The race car drivers stated that at high speeds on the big banked ovals of Daytona and Talladega, as they were exiting the turns at higher speeds than ever before, the rear end would start to get loose, causing the rear to "yaw" to the outside, but because of the car NOT being in a straight line due to being loose, with the rear starting to "yaw" those blade shaped sides of the wings would then CATCH the air, and literally push the rear of the car right back in line with the front of the car. One racer swore: "I got very loose coming out of the turn & thought I was going to spin out for sure, because I had never drove through those banked turns at such high speeds, but as the car got loose, suddenly, it felt like a giant hand grabbed the rear of the car, and gently pushed it right back where it was suppose to be"......end quote. So as it turned out in actual track performance, it was IN THE TURNS, and THE SIDES of the wing, which are shaped like blades to AVOID catching air in the straightaways, suddenly CAUGHT the air when the rear of the car started to yaw out, thus pushing it right back where it was suppose to be, and it did it every time, like clockwork. Once the drivers got used to how well it worked coming out of the turns, their confidence was boosted for driving much faster through the banked turns .......more than ever before.
This sounds exactly right, except when you feel Yaw in your hands, it's not just a side-to-side motion. It also forces the vehicle to dig into the direction your vehicle is being turned, so you turn and tumble. In a boat, or a plane, or a car, Yaw forces your ass end around and your front to tumble over. Avoid Yaw.
Well, that depends on how the car is set up. There's a multitude of ways to set up a cup car: different springs/shocks, anti roll bar sizes, down-force, even tire pressures. It is generally accepted among the veteran drivers that a loose car is a fast car. But ya have to have the correct set-up in the front of the car to deal with it. If you watch the old footage of the winged cars at both Talladega & Daytona, you can literally see the ass end of the cars just starting to yaw, to the brink of spinning out, but the air pressure on THE SIDE of the wing (the upright section, not the top ) literally pushes the ass end of the car right back in line with the front, so the car is once again under control & tracking straight. Many drivers of the winged cars testified to the incredible performance that wing delivered on exiting the turns at greater speeds, and the video footage proves it as well.
@@howabouthetruth2157 Yes, exactly. Its ass slides a bit, but it doesn't start to roll a bit. It doesn't Yaw, which is a horrible feeling in your hands on a steering wheel. But this also ended real NASCAR, Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday. I still enjoyed NASCAR up to about the mid 70s, you could still tell them apart. Since then, they are all wind-tunnel cars with different stickers. Myself, I was the #21 Purolator Mercury fan.
Some people hate Dodge/Chrysler, but there's so many moments in their history where you wonder if cocaine and hookers weren't involved in the decision making process. Winged cars. The GLH cars. Everything in the 80s/90s with turbos. (Turbo stick shift MINIVAN!) The Viper. The Neon SRT-4. The Prowler. The 300/Magnum/Charger/Challenger HEMI cars. Everything they've stuffed a Hellcat into. Still hoping they snort another line and do a Hellcat powered minivan.
@@johnhufnagel: I'm holding out for the, "All New for 2022! The Dodge Viper Caravan SRT T/A Town and Country edition. A lethal combination of performance and luxury. A 7 liter Twin Turbo V-10 with a dual clutch, paddle shifter transmission with optional line-lock. Brembo disc brakes with 6 piston calipers. Optional Recaro baby seat with 5 point harness and alcantara leather. Color options include Panther Pink and Hugger Orange with woodgrain on the sides. Ok Dodge, call your dealers and get the, "Good stuff"! This ain't your Mama's minivan❗ 🤣😂
The factory support isn’t there. They aren’t going to build special cars just to qualify for nascar. Plus at no point were they racing actual stock cars. The bodies may have been mostly stock, but the rest of the car wasn’t. Even the engines may have been similar displacement and layout, but they weren’t stock engines.
Same tbh. Watching a tube chassis with a basic skin go 300 laps is boring. Watching some tuned up corolla go 140 for 50 laps? Hell yeah, you son of a bitch, I'm in.
@@NBSV1 "at no point were they racing actual stock cars" is a very ignorant statement, especially since Glenn Dunaway was DQ'd from the very first NASCAR strictly stock race for having illegal spring/shock mounts on the rear of his Ford. The rule books and history don't agree with you. The #71 Daytona last raced in 1970, when the rules included - "Engine production requirements will continue to be 500 engines installed in cars", "All parts must originate from stock production castings and forgings which have been machined according to the normal machining schedule utilized for standard production parts. They may be subsequently refined, modified and improved by further machining or rework.", "Section 20-6 -- Transmissions - a. Standard production, which are cataloged and available through regular dealer channels may be interchanged in any model.", Engine - Cylinder blocks must be production with standard external measurements in all respects with the exception of the permissible overbore", "Section 20-15 -- Cylinder Head - a. Must be standard production. Internal changes permitted.", "Section 20-17 -- Crank Shaft - a. Standard production design. Stroke may be increased or decreased. Balancing permitted.", "Section 20-21 -- Electrical - a. Ignition system must be standard for make and model." Even the seats, "Bucket seats compulsory but must be factory manufactured." And side glass, "All side window glass must conform to original size and thickness, and all opening and closing equipment must remain as originally manufactured". Read the rule books at aerowarriors dot com and you will notice quite a bit of the car was stock for the first 40 years or so, which is nowhere near 'at no point'.
Can't wait for more Steve stories. Hopefully he'll do some lemon law or other cool car stories. His channel LEHTOSLAW is really good. Awesome actually.
@@nomadic_tech it is. I mean he's written books ffs. Lol. Most people don't know that. I haven't seen a jump in subs on his channel yet. I was hoping the collaboration would up his subs significantly. Steves an overall good guy. I trust him honestly.
@@joshuagibson2520 You are correct, he's so under-rated on a lot of the things he does unfortunately. An example would be his historical knowledge of the UP, it's staggering but nobody cares because people think history is boring. He is insanely smart but super humble and more people could stand to learn from an even keeled, well versed individual like him.
@@nomadic_tech right on man. He also knows a lot about the outdoors and such. Maybe that what you meant about the UP area though. But yeah, I can't say enough good on the guy. He's a common sense libertarian. That alone is hard not to like. People aren't into history. When I see the trending tab on YT it makes me cringe. The content people are consuming is garbage. I typically only watch things I can learn from. Documentaries, smarter everyday, action lab, and a bunch of science and firearms channels. There used to be a show called tales of the gun on History channel. At the beginning it said to know the gun is to better understand history. Not exactly that, but the jist of it. Idk man. I'm 42 and have no desire to stop learning.
Why I quit watching NASCAR: It used to be "stock car" racing with real sheetmetal bodies that actually looked like real cars at the dealership. Yes, the Superbirds and Daytonas were a bit extreme, but still.... What he didn't mention was that there was a prototype 1971 Road Runner Superbird. Some say that the infamous "Coke Bottle" body design of the 1971-1974 B-Bodies was a direct result from the aerodynamic testing and the desire for a more slippery body for racing.
@@UltraCasualPenguin no, but it would have been interesting to see it in the period versus the Ferrari Daytona in such places as Le Mans or Spa-Francorchamps.
@infoslinger actually the "hemi" as a Drag racing motor was from Big Daddy Garlits racing a 392 Hemi from a 1950's 300 back in the early 60's. He was the one who figured out the timing problem they were having with Hemi motors as well. As a bonus he also was the one who figured out how to move the engine from the front to the back where it wouldn't kill you when it blew. Edit: spelling sucks and i most likely missed something... oh well...
Stock car racing is still awesome and fun. It just isn't on TV and not the apex of racing in America. Go to a local dirt track, plenty of rubbing and cool cars which we all drive.
Go back to the late 60s early 70s and see how many cars dropped out with mechanical problems. It wasn't unusual for half the field or less to be running at the end.
One of the aspects that Steve didn't bring up is that dealers had a really hard time selling the winged cars. I have been told that some dealers went as far as removing the wings and nose cones just to get the cars off their lots. If only we had known.... 🙄
I was in the middle of watching Steve’s law video when this popped up. Sorry Steve I will watch the rest of yur other video when this is complete. Just curious did you hide Ben in the background on Vinwiki set, I’m not seeing it.
Just found it, pretty conspicuous but too far in the background to easily spot. I hope he lets Ed keep it there in case someone "wins" it... there's not many hiding spots left in Steve's bookshelves.
The first factory Daytona for the retail market was shown at the New York worlds fair. Chrysler held a lottery with the names of all Dodge dealers in it. The winning dealership was Kingston Dodge in Kingston, Ontario, Canada who had that first car sent to them for retail. That car was purchased by a local resident and still exists.
I begged my dad to buy one when I was a kid. I told him it would be worth money because it was rare. I told him Hemi 4 speed Daytona. He bought a New Yorker.
There's actually a really cool podcast about the team owner who entered that Daytona in 71 with the small block. The story is in the Dork-O-Motive podcast which I highly recommend checking out if you like VINwiki stuff. Basically, the guy had a drag racer build a small block that could turn at like 11,000 rpm and live and was doing really well but mechanical issues or something ruined the race for them. Really cool story.
Pete Hamilton ruined the race for the Mario Rossi Daytona driven by Dick Brooks. He pushed up into the #22 and spun them both while they were running in the T5.
If you want to talk about the greatest exploit in NASCAR, you can't avoid Bill Elliot in the 1987 season. At Talladega that year, he had a major malfunction and was stuck in the pits for two laps. He emerged on the track, raced the entire last half of the race averaging more than 210 mph, lapped the field twice and won the race. You can't tell me he was in any way equal to cars in the field which were supposed to be alike. But not a word, to my knowledge, has ever come out about what was the secret in Bill Elliot's car that year. One thing for sure. It was so superior to the rest of the field that being two laps down didn't matter. The winged cars never achieved anything near that level of dominance. At best they were barely better than the Ford Torino on the big tracks only. Even then they lost as many races as they won.
yes Bill Elliott's 212 mph 87 Thunderbird!!! My dad has told me about that multiple times because he watched it in 87 when I was just a kid and I seen that car at a museum when I was growing up I can't remember where but I got pictures sitting beside it it still exists today! thanks for bringing that up brother
@@trackpackgt877 However, had they been allowed to continue and if Ford followed suit, NASCAR would have been a lot safer for Bill Elliot in 1987! and the REAL greatest exploit in NASCAR history.
some of the conversations that were not supposed to be made public about a few of the cars, like elliots, got published anyway. lots of cheating went on in nascar that was overlooked or condoned by nascar. there are several tell tale books by former drivers etc that tell plenty about it. i was fortunate enough to be around in those years and got quite an earfull listening to the drivers and mechanics.
Definitely an incredible story, and one of the reasons I fell in love with old Mopars. Pretty amazing a car made in 1969, with a carbureted V8, is faster in a standing mile than many modern sports cars
Yes, compare a consumer car with 300 ish horsepower, and weighs a hell of a lot more due to safety equipment, to a lightened racecar from the late 60's with a big block... that's a terrible comparison. Something like a gt2 car is an actual comparison, as they are basically the old school stock car concept don't today.
@@marcusborderlands6177 Got to dispute the idea that daytona's and superbirds were light. As per Nascar rule book back then, "3900 pounds for all cars, with gas, oil and water, ready for racing without driver".
Yessss! I think I actually commented on and found it first. I had little hope. I'm legally blind in one eye and the depth of the Vinwiki set made it challenging for me. Awesome.
@@yadayada752 saweeet. I didn't even think about it honestly. I saw a comment mentioning it and I was off to find it! I got lucky. I can't see too well. Def not like you can on Steves set.
One of the most important aero tweaks to the wing cars isn't mentioned in this vid - the cutouts over the front wheels. While it was claimed at the time to be for tire clearance, what it was actually doing was venting the air pressure build up in the wheelwells that would otherwise add lift to the front of the cars. That single tweak probably did more to stick the front of the car to the track than the nosecone ever did - the nosecone reduced drag, but it didn't reduce lift. The fender cutouts reduced lift much more effectively, to the extent that similar cutouts in the fenders are being used today in top level sportscar (IMSA & WSC) racing.
Another cool aerodynamic feature of the wing being so high, the vertical uprights that held it stabilized the car in the yaw axis. In other words, it kept the car straight and not let the rear end slide out like a drift car. One draw back of producing so much down force from the nose cone and tail wing keeping the car nailed to the track was the tires weren't technologically advanced enough to handle the pressure and would wear out quickly.
I do not consider myself a car guy, but going on 2 years of watching this channel and I know more car history than many "car buffs" that I come across. It is an enlightening and resource fill channel. Keep up this amazing channel.
The issue of Mopar Action Magazine shown briefly with the #71 Daytona is the first issue of that magazine I bought back in 2005 when I was 15. Pretty influential reading about muscle cars going that fast and is a big reason I became a classic Mopar owner (1970 Duster) and enthusiast.
Thee tire companies did not keep up with the cars in 1969 especally at Talladega and the race was a failure . Iremember when Ralph Moody and Bobby Alison tuned a Daytona and won with it the first time out . My favorite MOPAR was the 1969 Charger 500 . They forgot to make a front bumper to stabilize the nose of that car like the Mercs and Fords did when they trimmed the back bumper and stuck it on the front of the Spoiler and the model T Torino .That bumper won a lot of races .
A couple of details not mentioned: Petty left Chrysler for Ford after they refused to let him drive the Dodge Daytona. Plymouth lured him back in 1970 after building the Superbird. Bill France restricted the engine size. In the Winged Cars. The Daytona that was run with the small displacement V8 at the 1971 Daytona 500 was actually very competitive before it was involved in a crash.
I understand the need for safety, but todays Stock Cars are a joke from what they once were. I doubt there is anything on todays "Stock Car" which you could go to your dealership and purchase for your own car. At one time, Nascar racing was a testament to a manufacturers ability to build reliable performance vehicles. Yes, this was where the old adage "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday " came from. Today, you may as well take the manufacturers emblems off the cars and let everyone run the exact same body, drivetrain and frame. It's a joke to say " L.G Brandon" just won the Daytona 500 in his Chevrolet.
I agree that the wing cars were the peak of NASCAR, but there was entertaining racing after that. I think the last day of NASCAR for me was the end of the season in 1987 with the death of the rear wheel drive Buick, Olds, and Pontiac cars. I did watch in the 1988 season but gave up following NASCAR as they moved away from the idea of a "stock car"
Steve it would not hurt for you to bone-up on Ford's aero-wars efforts. Re: " There was rumors Ford was thinking about making one of their cars aerodynamic, putting a nose-cone on one of theirs." A Hemmings quote: " Overall, a Talladega is almost six inches longer than a stock Torino. Front fenders were handmade by Holman-Moody, and extended far out and down to create the famous "drop snoot," keeping air on top of the car and reportedly good for five mph in top speed all by itself, the equivalent of a 75hp gain. The grille was flush-mounted on stamped extensions. The fenders required an additional panel in front of the hood as well; the whole thing came to a slight point." The special front bumpers were made from Fairlane rear bumpers; a chunk was cut out 18 inches from either end in order to narrow the overall width. An additional cut was made in the center of the bumper, adding an aerodynamic "V" shape to the car's front end. The tops of the bumpers were then filled on the ends to smooth out airflow even more.Holman-Moody's other body alteration to the Talladega involved using rocker panels that allowed race teams to run the body lower to the track than a standard Fairlane, 216 mph "stock body" ..... It especially impresses me that the stock bodies were 'large' and based on " intermediate" sized auto's. " Was NASCAR "templeting' yet?
NASCAR then: "We can't have these special homologation-only editions being produced, we need to stay close to the cars everyone can buy" NASCAR now: Camrys and Mustangs are the same shape, and both of them use pushrod engines connected to solid rear axles through a four speed transmission.
8:14 if anyone is wondering what that is (since he doesn't mention it in the video), that is a cover that is used to hide a hole that was cut into the fender. This hole sucks air out of the wheel well and creates a vacuum effect which causes the front to be sucked down even more. I once read that hole did more to improve grip on the car then the wing and nosecone did.
"for some odd reason General Motors wasn't all that interested" - then much later we find out that GM was threatened with Antitrust Legislation. GM was so dominant in sales in the early 60's they were preparing to jettison Chevrolet so they could keep the rest of the company together... and to make sure they didn't get too much market share they banned racing most racing efforts throughout the 60's.
I was in HS back in the ‘70s and my older brother owned a Superbird. Dropped us off at school one day - oh how I wish I had a selfie of that arrival...
I'd love to see Nascar do a stock car series in the modern day where they take Camaros and Mustangs and Challengers and such and basically do what they did in the early days of stock car racing. It'll never happen, but it would be cool to see. I'd start watching again that's for sure.
The British Touring Car Championships still do that kind of "compromised class" racing, and I absolutely agree: I wish more series would go back to that.
A Cobra Jet 428/429 Boss Semi Hemi Wing car would have been sick! I loved the Daytona and Super bird even since I was a kid. 215+ in '71! Imagine if we never had the Fuel Crisis!
Making a road version of a race "stock" car, as opposed to racing a street-legal stock car, was the same stunt that Ford pulled in the 1980's in the UK and Europe - making the Sierra Cosworth 500, which also had a ridiculously large rear wing. It was a stock car heavily modified for racing, then the race version produced in sufficient numbers to meet the homologation requirements. ...... Ford also made the RS200, rallying, which had no road-going equivalent, but was homologated as a road car by making 200 in street-legal specs, and selling them to the public.
I ran the salt flats once and when it was over we loaded our racing machine on the trailor and headed back home to Michigan. But when we got out to unload the hot rod it was gone! All we had left was four tires....at first we were going to call the police and report it stolen....but it wasn't....after racing the salt flats and heading home the hot rod had completely rusted away and the plastic trim that was left behind blew off into the wind....and that was the last time we ever tried to race a late 80s model Toyota truck. Thankfully our haul truck was a domestic and gave us a couple years before it rusted away. It was dodge ram V8 gasoline so all the time it spent broken down in the repair shop helped to preserve it a little longer....we quit running the salt flats and started drag racing Honda where we successfully lost every single race we ever ran.
I completely false story I made up while sitting here smoking pot....not a very good story but hopefully very factual and mildly entertaining. I almost added that our hauling trailor was made from an 1990s isuzu rodeo frame but it would have rusted away before I could finish the sentence.
In 1970 I was thirteen years old, and I did my best to talk my parents into buying a Superbird. I assured them that despite its looks, it was VERY practical. Good trunk space, seating for five, my mom could drive a stick, look a stereo! Richard Petty can't be wrong, I'm sure he drives on every day! I did my best.
B-body fan: 69 RR in '72 & '73; 69 Coronet 500 rag top in 2004-'13, HP383, 727; '70 RR in 2005-'13, HP 383, 727 AIR GRABBER, POST. Favorite was the Coronet rag top. Plenty of other cars, vans and SUV's from various mfg's but Chrysler for a lot of reasons was the ticket. Thanks, learned a few things.
I remember how my Dad quit watching nascar in 1972 over these rules. The France family singlehandley killed nascar with stupid rules. Now we have race cars that do not look like anything you could buy from a dealer. They are all the same! You can tell they have lost customers as the stands are not half full. What we have now is a glorified IROC race car and they take kool-aid rest stops now? Pure dumbasserery.
Bill France is therefore responsible for why there are no Ford, GM, or AMC winged warriors. Had the type been allowed to continue to run, the other makers would have had little choice but to produce them. Imagine a GTO Fontana, or a Javelin High Bank, or a Matador Aero, or a Chevelle Superspeedway... I know GM didn't really have a NASCAR program, but there were independents running GM products. They would have looked so bad on the track against cars that could easily surpass 200MPH that I don't think GM could have avoided production. They would have a "can't keep up" stigma attached to their product line. AMC, I'm sure, would have just ponied right up. In summation, though, a _slew_ of big block winged warriors of all makes and models on the road all over North America that could make 180MPH in purely stock form, on tires and brakes that were _nowhere near_ up to the task, probably would have had a very bad outcome.
More videos like this please ☝- love the racing and dealership stories, but history lessons like this one (and Casey Putsch's views on the world) are what makes this channel special.
I always thought racing was to go faster than the other guy & advance tech. The areo thing started back in 1966 &1967 with the fastback Dodge Charger & nest yr. Ford had a fast back car in the Torinio. Chrysler said let's advance technology & thus the Super Bird & Dodge Daytona & then Ford came out with the long nose fast back Mercury Spoiler.I noticed when politics & big money get into something it goes down hill. NASCAR is no more stock car racking the the IRL. The bods are not stock allot of carbon fiber body parts,rear spoiler with clear in the middle so they are not noticeable They no longer have lug nuts Knock offs like F! & Indy cars. I use to to to Daytona races never missed a Talladega race in yrs.but when Bill Elliott made up 2 laps under green running over 200 mph. NASCAR put restrict-or plates on them. I never went to another NASCAR care. I got to sprint car races & midget racing where it's real racing. I hope NASCAR goes broke & Bill France ruined it. In case you never hung around Daytona,Talladega & notice Pontiac furnished NASCAR cars to drive & it had been Ford,Mercury,Plymouth,Dodge winning all the races & all the sudden the rules favored the GM products politics is what that is called & getting you palms greased by GM to make you cars competitive.DIE FAST NASCAR!!!!!!
In 1969 Plymouth had the chance for their own wing car but decided not to produce one. Hence just the Daytona in 69. Petty knew he was at a disadvantage with Plymouth, so he drove Fords in 69. Plymouth asked him what it would take to get him back and he said a winged car. That's why the Superbird is a 70. But NASCAR was tiring of the games so they required a car FOR EACH DEALER rather than just 500. That's why there are 1600 Superbirds, not b/c Plymouth thought they'd sell that many. Neither was a sales success. In 1971 I was 12 yrs old and we were on our way to CA for vacation. On our 1st day we went past a Plymouth dealership in Grand Island, NE. They had FOUR Superbirds on their lot. They were already a yr old. Bet we could have gotten a deal on one of those.
the fact that they literally brought in people from their MISSILE division to design the superbird is one of the coolest backstories to a design I can think of
Chrysler Aerospace really got us into space. They were quite the engineering group.
i own 2 SuperBirds and let me dispel a few myths about them. my father and i also owned the very first Chrysler wing car ever sold to the public: the red with white tail 69 daytona charger serial #000006. now in the possession of Larry Bell of Indianapolis.
ALL SuperBirds have a hidden "J code number" which tells the owner exactly which one he has. also separates the Birds from all other 70 Chrysler B-bodies. and the rear wing? it is internally braced by a series of very large trunk floor mounted brackets....it is at its particular height and size to get it into clean air that rolls over the drooped roof and bubble rear window of the SuperBird...and the factory added small trunk lid stops to the hinge area so that the lid would not strike the wing when opened.
The Plymouth superbird will always be my dream car
Mine too. 200+mph, a wing before the F40, exotic looks, room for five, a trunk.
One of my lottery-win dreams is having a modernized version built for me. 😁
What a time to be alive! Waaaaaay before my time. Great story....
earlier than Ed to a McLaren F1 sighting
I agree, nascar is boring compared to the old stock car days.
The idea of the competition between manufacturers trying to make the best car was so much more inspiring and entertaining than everyone getting told how to make their cars. like today where they are all basically identical. Boring! We want to see every shape and size out there on the track and then be able to go buy one just like it.
I remember them running at Charlotte Not sure of the year. It was the biggest thing!
I seen a couple photos of one of my old bosses buying a winged car from a car lot, and also of him side by side with pettys winged car and his winged car racing. my old boss still has a winged car in his garage.
I didnt know Johnny Rotten was into cars
Needed to take a few to LeMans
Absolutely love these stories.
We had two of these one a four speed four barrel the other 6 pack automatic these. cars handled so well it was a lot of fun driving them the 6 pack car would run right at 230 or better back then not that much traffic on I5 LOL THE 6 pack car we restored when we installed the wing we didn't think about the pitch so the first time we drove it we went to Portland swap meet frm Olympia wa we get out of the car the back quarter panels were totally black ,it had so much down force it shreaded the back tires we had to stay a extra day to get new tires put on we got lucky to get there lol the 6 pack car was stolen still haven't found it last seen at Portland swap meet a few years back by the time I got there it was gone I miss her
OMG !!! It's the Lockpicking Lawyer !! Or perhaps I'm confused... ;-)
Huh… and I thought Steve was only good for getting my ticket fixed… go figure. Lol #steverocks
I watched an interview a few years back, with one of Chrysler's engineers at the time the winged cars were developed. And perhaps the most important element of the wing design NOT discussed here in this video, is the following: The engineer explained how it turned out that the best feature of the wing in the back, was each SIDE of the wing. The race car drivers stated that at high speeds on the big banked ovals of Daytona and Talladega, as they were exiting the turns at higher speeds than ever before, the rear end would start to get loose, causing the rear to "yaw" to the outside, but because of the car NOT being in a straight line due to being loose, with the rear starting to "yaw" those blade shaped sides of the wings would then CATCH the air, and literally push the rear of the car right back in line with the front of the car. One racer swore: "I got very loose coming out of the turn & thought I was going to spin out for sure, because I had never drove through those banked turns at such high speeds, but as the car got loose, suddenly, it felt like a giant hand grabbed the rear of the car, and gently pushed it right back where it was suppose to be"......end quote. So as it turned out in actual track performance, it was IN THE TURNS, and THE SIDES of the wing, which are shaped like blades to AVOID catching air in the straightaways, suddenly CAUGHT the air when the rear of the car started to yaw out, thus pushing it right back where it was suppose to be, and it did it every time, like clockwork. Once the drivers got used to how well it worked coming out of the turns, their confidence was boosted for driving much faster through the banked turns .......more than ever before.
I've read that too and it makes perfect sense. Probably helped when another car side drafted and took away your downforce too.
This sounds exactly right, except when you feel Yaw in your hands, it's not just a side-to-side motion. It also forces the vehicle to dig into the direction your vehicle is being turned, so you turn and tumble. In a boat, or a plane, or a car, Yaw forces your ass end around and your front to tumble over. Avoid Yaw.
Well, that depends on how the car is set up. There's a multitude of ways to set up a cup car: different springs/shocks, anti roll bar sizes, down-force, even tire pressures. It is generally accepted among the veteran drivers that a loose car is a fast car. But ya have to have the correct set-up in the front of the car to deal with it. If you watch the old footage of the winged cars at both Talladega & Daytona, you can literally see the ass end of the cars just starting to yaw, to the brink of spinning out, but the air pressure on THE SIDE of the wing (the upright section, not the top ) literally pushes the ass end of the car right back in line with the front, so the car is once again under control & tracking straight. Many drivers of the winged cars testified to the incredible performance that wing delivered on exiting the turns at greater speeds, and the video footage proves it as well.
@@howabouthetruth2157 Yes, exactly. Its ass slides a bit, but it doesn't start to roll a bit. It doesn't Yaw, which is a horrible feeling in your hands on a steering wheel. But this also ended real NASCAR, Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday. I still enjoyed NASCAR up to about the mid 70s, you could still tell them apart. Since then, they are all wind-tunnel cars with different stickers. Myself, I was the #21 Purolator Mercury fan.
On an airplane it's called a vertical stabilizer. Some of the 1950s cars had tail fins that actually helped the handling.
“I got an idea but you’re not going to like it” 😂🐐
Some people hate Dodge/Chrysler, but there's so many moments in their history where you wonder if cocaine and hookers weren't involved in the decision making process.
Winged cars. The GLH cars. Everything in the 80s/90s with turbos. (Turbo stick shift MINIVAN!) The Viper. The Neon SRT-4. The Prowler. The 300/Magnum/Charger/Challenger HEMI cars. Everything they've stuffed a Hellcat into. Still hoping they snort another line and do a Hellcat powered minivan.
@@johnhufnagel well said sir, well said 🤘🏾
@@johnhufnagel: I'm holding out for the, "All New for 2022! The Dodge Viper Caravan SRT T/A Town and Country edition. A lethal combination of performance and luxury. A 7 liter Twin Turbo V-10 with a dual clutch, paddle shifter transmission with optional line-lock. Brembo disc brakes with 6 piston calipers. Optional Recaro baby seat with 5 point harness and alcantara leather. Color options include Panther Pink and Hugger Orange with woodgrain on the sides. Ok Dodge, call your dealers and get the, "Good stuff"! This ain't your Mama's minivan❗ 🤣😂
@@johnhufnagel
As long as your lawyer’s pants don’t catch on fire in court everything should be ok.
If you watched Steve’s latest video...
@@theanomalous1401 I LOVE it! I'd buy one! Could you imagine that with just front wheel drive?
I love the idea of actual stock car racing, like it was originally intended. It would be 10 times more exciting to me.
The "window" is quickly closing for a stock based car todo actual racing (thanks Dem voters, Biden's killing performance cars like it's 1971 again).
The factory support isn’t there. They aren’t going to build special cars just to qualify for nascar. Plus at no point were they racing actual stock cars. The bodies may have been mostly stock, but the rest of the car wasn’t. Even the engines may have been similar displacement and layout, but they weren’t stock engines.
Same tbh. Watching a tube chassis with a basic skin go 300 laps is boring. Watching some tuned up corolla go 140 for 50 laps? Hell yeah, you son of a bitch, I'm in.
@@NBSV1 "at no point were they racing actual stock cars" is a very ignorant statement, especially since Glenn Dunaway was DQ'd from the very first NASCAR strictly stock race for having illegal spring/shock mounts on the rear of his Ford.
The rule books and history don't agree with you.
The #71 Daytona last raced in 1970, when the rules included - "Engine production requirements will continue to be 500 engines installed in cars", "All parts must originate from stock production castings and forgings which have been machined according to the normal machining schedule utilized for standard production parts. They may be subsequently refined, modified and improved by further machining or rework.", "Section 20-6 -- Transmissions - a. Standard production, which are cataloged and available through regular dealer channels may be interchanged in any model.", Engine - Cylinder blocks must be production with standard external measurements in all respects with the exception of the permissible overbore", "Section 20-15 -- Cylinder Head - a. Must be standard production. Internal changes permitted.", "Section 20-17 -- Crank Shaft - a. Standard production design. Stroke may be increased or decreased. Balancing permitted.", "Section 20-21 -- Electrical - a. Ignition system must be standard for make and model."
Even the seats, "Bucket seats compulsory but must be factory manufactured."
And side glass, "All side window glass must conform to original size and thickness, and all opening and closing equipment must remain as originally manufactured".
Read the rule books at aerowarriors dot com and you will notice quite a bit of the car was stock for the first 40 years or so, which is nowhere near 'at no point'.
That racing still exists, its now under a different name but sport car racing is pretty good.
"There's nothing stock about a stock car"
-Harry Hogge 1990
Harry Hyde. The real crew chief hogg was based on
Most manufacturers of stock cars are traded on the stock market though! 🤣
Imagine if Toyota Camrys were actually like their NASCAR brethren?
@@theriotartist
Yah, with pushrod V-8s. Of course the last pushrod V-8 Toyota built was a hemi
Put the hammer down Cole
the Daytona's and super birds are by far some of the coolest cars to ever having been made.
They are butt ugly, and they had trouble selling the few that they made.
But, they are VERY cool!!!
@@sludge4125I was about to say that. They had to sell them at a discount to get rid of them. Would they have known..
@@sludge4125 that coming from a generation of people that thought the Scion XB and Nissan Cube were sharp cars...
@@sludge4125the Superbird and Daytona are some of the best looking cars ever made. you dont have to agree with me, but man butt ugly is just a lie!
"And Chrysler had a missile division." Missed opportunity. That should've been the opening sound-bite.
Ford had a spy-plane division during this era as well weird times were the 60's
I had an old GMC fridge. You could hang 300lb or more on the door and not tell it. It sat outside for years. Still works as far as I know.
Shoulda just put missiles on the car for propulsion tbh
@@afriendofafriend5766 They did that actually to a 1965 a jet powered Chrysler (I forget the car name)
That's actually the way it evolves 2 CHRYSLER rocket & missle sketch!!!!!
I always believed the wing was raised that high to allow opening of the trunk lid.
That was also true of the street versions...
That was a very famous theory back in the day but was indeed incorrect, Jay leno covers this in his channel
It was that high to put it in clean air.
Happy accident. Knowing Chrysler, if the trunk did contact they wouldn’t have changed it. And I say that as a happy Ram owner
@Stephen Suter Charger 500 didn't have the wing, they used the pushed out grill and flush rear window.
Can't wait for more Steve stories. Hopefully he'll do some lemon law or other cool car stories. His channel LEHTOSLAW is really good. Awesome actually.
It's great that Steve is able to share some of his car stories with a wider audience
@@nomadic_tech it is. I mean he's written books ffs. Lol. Most people don't know that.
I haven't seen a jump in subs on his channel yet. I was hoping the collaboration would up his subs significantly.
Steves an overall good guy. I trust him honestly.
@@joshuagibson2520 You are correct, he's so under-rated on a lot of the things he does unfortunately. An example would be his historical knowledge of the UP, it's staggering but nobody cares because people think history is boring. He is insanely smart but super humble and more people could stand to learn from an even keeled, well versed individual like him.
@@nomadic_tech right on man. He also knows a lot about the outdoors and such. Maybe that what you meant about the UP area though. But yeah, I can't say enough good on the guy. He's a common sense libertarian. That alone is hard not to like.
People aren't into history. When I see the trending tab on YT it makes me cringe. The content people are consuming is garbage. I typically only watch things I can learn from. Documentaries, smarter everyday, action lab, and a bunch of science and firearms channels. There used to be a show called tales of the gun on History channel. At the beginning it said to know the gun is to better understand history. Not exactly that, but the jist of it. Idk man. I'm 42 and have no desire to stop learning.
Tech ingredients, stuff made here, Ave, um....I could go on and on, but there's a ton of great ones.
Why I quit watching NASCAR: It used to be "stock car" racing with real sheetmetal bodies that actually looked like real cars at the dealership. Yes, the Superbirds and Daytonas were a bit extreme, but still....
What he didn't mention was that there was a prototype 1971 Road Runner Superbird. Some say that the infamous "Coke Bottle" body design of the 1971-1974 B-Bodies was a direct result from the aerodynamic testing and the desire for a more slippery body for racing.
"216 miles per hour in a flying mile"...thats cool but nothing new ..."in 1971" *you have my attention now!*
But could it beat Jesko on Nordschleife?
@@UltraCasualPenguin no, but it would have been interesting to see it in the period versus the Ferrari Daytona in such places as Le Mans or Spa-Francorchamps.
@infoslinger production car with 90 day warranty.
@infoslinger actually the "hemi" as a Drag racing motor was from Big Daddy Garlits racing a 392 Hemi from a 1950's 300 back in the early 60's. He was the one who figured out the timing problem they were having with Hemi motors as well. As a bonus he also was the one who figured out how to move the engine from the front to the back where it wouldn't kill you when it blew.
Edit: spelling sucks and i most likely missed something... oh well...
Didn’t the cars that raced on the Avus Rennen hit 200 mph in 1937?
This is the way NASCAR should still be
Part of why we race 4 cylinder dirt cars. The oem parts factor is fun and interesting to me. It is a limiting factor for sure.
Stock car racing is still awesome and fun. It just isn't on TV and not the apex of racing in America. Go to a local dirt track, plenty of rubbing and cool cars which we all drive.
@@Redmenace96 o for sure!!! and here is a fun fact. the 4bangers at bristol dirt nationals ran just as fast as the cup cars on dirt. hahaha
Go back to the late 60s early 70s and see how many cars dropped out with mechanical problems. It wasn't unusual for half the field or less to be running at the end.
@@almostfm we would definitely benefit knowing the cars to avoid buying on Monday.
I've always watched vinviki for cars and his channel for basic law/entertainment . NEVER saw this crossover happening. So awwsumm
Me too. They have always been back to back in my daily UA-cam lineup.
I didn't even notice that something was up until I realized, wait a minute, I clicked a vinwiki video!
Ever notice the cars behind him?
@@SGTJDerek lol yes I did but still the last person I expected to see here
@@SGTJDerek
Yeah because I’m always looking for the Benjamin.
Homologation stories are always good.
The era of going to a dealer and getting what you want (what you really want) was a golden age for car lovers.
Steve is great and so is his channel. This has been long overdue for VinWiki.
One of the aspects that Steve didn't bring up is that dealers had a really hard time selling the winged cars. I have been told that some dealers went as far as removing the wings and nose cones just to get the cars off their lots. If only we had known.... 🙄
I was in the middle of watching Steve’s law video when this popped up. Sorry Steve I will watch the rest of yur other video when this is complete. Just curious did you hide Ben in the background on Vinwiki set, I’m not seeing it.
In the comments under his citi lawsuit video he says it’s there somewhere
@@m10rober2011 its tucked under the top side of the youtube subscriber medal.
Just found it, pretty conspicuous but too far in the background to easily spot. I hope he lets Ed keep it there in case someone "wins" it... there's not many hiding spots left in Steve's bookshelves.
@@CheezyDee time to update his office again then
Steve's video today mentioned that they changed it for every video. Oh Ben, where art thou?
I was watching lehtos law channel when this came live.
The first factory Daytona for the retail market was shown at the New York worlds fair. Chrysler held a lottery with the names of all Dodge dealers in it. The winning dealership was Kingston Dodge in Kingston, Ontario, Canada who had that first car sent to them for retail. That car was purchased by a local resident and still exists.
What do you think of the wing cars? Too much?
SSSSTTTTEEEVVVEEEEE!!!! (thank you so much, VinWiki. I have been asking for this for over a year.)
They’re awesome never too much !
A thing of Beauty 😍
Too much $ to have one maybe.
I begged my dad to buy one when I was a kid. I told him it would be worth money because it was rare.
I told him Hemi 4 speed Daytona.
He bought a New Yorker.
There's actually a really cool podcast about the team owner who entered that Daytona in 71 with the small block. The story is in the Dork-O-Motive podcast which I highly recommend checking out if you like VINwiki stuff. Basically, the guy had a drag racer build a small block that could turn at like 11,000 rpm and live and was doing really well but mechanical issues or something ruined the race for them. Really cool story.
Pete Hamilton ruined the race for the Mario Rossi Daytona driven by Dick Brooks. He pushed up into the #22 and spun them both while they were running in the T5.
I'm a Lehto fan and didn't expect to see him on here. That's great!
When you watch “Lehto’s Law” then the next video you randomly watch is VinWiki 😂😂😂
Ben is on the wall, above the youtube plaque
2nd ⭐😎✔
If you want to talk about the greatest exploit in NASCAR, you can't avoid Bill Elliot in the 1987 season. At Talladega that year, he had a major malfunction and was stuck in the pits for two laps. He emerged on the track, raced the entire last half of the race averaging more than 210 mph, lapped the field twice and won the race. You can't tell me he was in any way equal to cars in the field which were supposed to be alike. But not a word, to my knowledge, has ever come out about what was the secret in Bill Elliot's car that year. One thing for sure. It was so superior to the rest of the field that being two laps down didn't matter.
The winged cars never achieved anything near that level of dominance. At best they were barely better than the Ford Torino on the big tracks only. Even then they lost as many races as they won.
yes Bill Elliott's 212 mph 87 Thunderbird!!! My dad has told me about that multiple times because he watched it in 87 when I was just a kid and I seen that car at a museum when I was growing up I can't remember where but I got pictures sitting beside it it still exists today! thanks for bringing that up brother
@@trackpackgt877 Yes, if anything the winged cars were a great disappointment in performance. They certainly weren't the greatest exploit.
@@RockinRobbins13 👍 agreed
@@trackpackgt877 However, had they been allowed to continue and if Ford followed suit, NASCAR would have been a lot safer for Bill Elliot in 1987! and the REAL greatest exploit in NASCAR history.
some of the conversations that were not supposed to be made public about a few of the cars, like elliots, got published anyway. lots of cheating went on in nascar that was overlooked or condoned by nascar. there are several tell tale books by former drivers etc that tell plenty about it. i was fortunate enough to be around in those years and got quite an earfull listening to the drivers and mechanics.
Definitely an incredible story, and one of the reasons I fell in love with old Mopars. Pretty amazing a car made in 1969, with a carbureted V8, is faster in a standing mile than many modern sports cars
Yes, compare a consumer car with 300 ish horsepower, and weighs a hell of a lot more due to safety equipment, to a lightened racecar from the late 60's with a big block... that's a terrible comparison. Something like a gt2 car is an actual comparison, as they are basically the old school stock car concept don't today.
@@marcusborderlands6177 Got to dispute the idea that daytona's and superbirds were light. As per Nascar rule book back then, "3900 pounds for all cars, with gas, oil and water, ready for racing without driver".
NASCAR is now just a glorified IROC series.
Is that Ben above the Vinwiki youtube plaque?
Yessss! I think I actually commented on and found it first. I had little hope. I'm legally blind in one eye and the depth of the Vinwiki set made it challenging for me.
Awesome.
1st 🤩🏆🥇🎯
@@yadayada752 saweeet. I didn't even think about it honestly. I saw a comment mentioning it and I was off to find it! I got lucky. I can't see too well. Def not like you can on Steves set.
Thanks for letting us know
@@NYOB0001 anytime my friend.
One of the most important aero tweaks to the wing cars isn't mentioned in this vid - the cutouts over the front wheels. While it was claimed at the time to be for tire clearance, what it was actually doing was venting the air pressure build up in the wheelwells that would otherwise add lift to the front of the cars. That single tweak probably did more to stick the front of the car to the track than the nosecone ever did - the nosecone reduced drag, but it didn't reduce lift. The fender cutouts reduced lift much more effectively, to the extent that similar cutouts in the fenders are being used today in top level sportscar (IMSA & WSC) racing.
Love Lehto’s channel; somehow a lawyer makes law entertaining
Nascar stands for..not actually stock car
Another cool aerodynamic feature of the wing being so high, the vertical uprights that held it stabilized the car in the yaw axis. In other words, it kept the car straight and not let the rear end slide out like a drift car. One draw back of producing so much down force from the nose cone and tail wing keeping the car nailed to the track was the tires weren't technologically advanced enough to handle the pressure and would wear out quickly.
Wondered how long it would take to get Lehto to appear! Mint!
I do not consider myself a car guy, but going on 2 years of watching this channel and I know more car history than many "car buffs" that I come across. It is an enlightening and resource fill channel. Keep up this amazing channel.
Steve!! His book about the Chrysler Turbine car is pretty great.
The issue of Mopar Action Magazine shown briefly with the #71 Daytona is the first issue of that magazine I bought back in 2005 when I was 15. Pretty influential reading about muscle cars going that fast and is a big reason I became a classic Mopar owner (1970 Duster) and enthusiast.
OH SHIT 2 OF MY FAV CHANNELS COLIDE. STEVE LEHTO AND VINWIKI
This must have been what it was like for the first people to mix chocolate and peanut butter
EXPLOIT??????? Ok, I guess if that's what you want to call it...... 🤔
Now This is Interesting! How about more like this, please?
OMG it's UA-cam's favorite lemon law attorney! About time they got you on here!
Why didn't the Robot Lady say something ????
* The Sexy Canadian Robot Lady
Watch out for low flying owls 😂🤣
Thee tire companies did not keep up with the cars in 1969 especally at Talladega and the race was a failure . Iremember when Ralph Moody and Bobby Alison tuned a Daytona and won with it the first time out . My favorite MOPAR was the 1969 Charger 500 . They forgot to make a front bumper to stabilize the nose of that car like the Mercs and Fords did when they trimmed the back bumper and stuck it on the front of the Spoiler and the model T Torino .That bumper won a lot of races .
Holy cow I wasn’t even looking at my phone and was like “I know that damn lawyer’s voice!” Love his content, so glad to see him here with you guys Ed
A couple of details not mentioned: Petty left Chrysler for Ford after they refused to let him drive the Dodge Daytona. Plymouth lured him back in 1970 after building the Superbird. Bill France restricted the engine size. In the Winged Cars. The Daytona that was run with the small displacement V8 at the 1971 Daytona 500 was actually very competitive before it was involved in a crash.
I understand the need for safety, but todays Stock Cars are a joke from what they once were.
I doubt there is anything on todays "Stock Car" which you could go to your dealership and purchase for your own car. At one time, Nascar racing was a testament to a manufacturers ability to build reliable performance vehicles. Yes, this was where the old adage "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday " came from. Today, you may as well take the manufacturers emblems off the cars and let everyone run the exact same body, drivetrain and frame. It's a joke to say " L.G Brandon" just won the Daytona 500 in his Chevrolet.
And now....Steve Lehto
I agree that the wing cars were the peak of NASCAR, but there was entertaining racing after that. I think the last day of NASCAR for me was the end of the season in 1987 with the death of the rear wheel drive Buick, Olds, and Pontiac cars. I did watch in the 1988 season but gave up following NASCAR as they moved away from the idea of a "stock car"
Steve it would not hurt for you to bone-up on Ford's aero-wars efforts. Re: " There was rumors Ford was thinking about making one of their cars aerodynamic, putting a nose-cone on one of theirs." A Hemmings quote: " Overall, a Talladega is almost six inches longer than a stock Torino. Front fenders were handmade by Holman-Moody, and extended far out and down to create the famous "drop snoot," keeping air on top of the car and reportedly good for five mph in top speed all by itself, the equivalent of a 75hp gain. The grille was flush-mounted on stamped extensions. The fenders required an additional panel in front of the hood as well; the whole thing came to a slight point." The special front bumpers were made from Fairlane rear bumpers; a chunk was cut out 18 inches from either end in order to narrow the overall width. An additional cut was made in the center of the bumper, adding an aerodynamic "V" shape to the car's front end. The tops of the bumpers were then filled on the ends to smooth out airflow even more.Holman-Moody's other body alteration to the Talladega involved using rocker panels that allowed race teams to run the body lower to the track than a standard Fairlane,
216 mph "stock body" ..... It especially impresses me that the stock bodies were 'large' and based on " intermediate" sized auto's. " Was NASCAR "templeting' yet?
Lheto's Law rocking it out on VinWiki.. Stellar!
Hi
NASCAR then: "We can't have these special homologation-only editions being produced, we need to stay close to the cars everyone can buy"
NASCAR now: Camrys and Mustangs are the same shape, and both of them use pushrod engines connected to solid rear axles through a four speed transmission.
Steve sent me.
8:14 if anyone is wondering what that is (since he doesn't mention it in the video), that is a cover that is used to hide a hole that was cut into the fender. This hole sucks air out of the wheel well and creates a vacuum effect which causes the front to be sucked down even more. I once read that hole did more to improve grip on the car then the wing and nosecone did.
I knew about the Superbird but didn't realize there was a Dodge version as well. Very cool.
Really?
Doubt it
@@Max-me9xq I'd believe it. The Superbird is certainly the more well known car. Particularly as the Superbird was built in much larger numbers.
The Daytona came out in 69. Superbird 1970.
Notice how the rear wings are different between the two cars? The uprights are angled differently as viewed from the side.
"for some odd reason General Motors wasn't all that interested" - then much later we find out that GM was threatened with Antitrust Legislation. GM was so dominant in sales in the early 60's they were preparing to jettison Chevrolet so they could keep the rest of the company together... and to make sure they didn't get too much market share they banned racing most racing efforts throughout the 60's.
This Is when Nascar Was NASCAR.. not This Stuff Now... I Wish Someone would Bring This Back Somehow🤔 Normal stock car Racing Association?
I was in HS back in the ‘70s and my older brother owned a Superbird. Dropped us off at school one day - oh how I wish I had a selfie of that arrival...
If you have the VIN # I know the guy who manages the registry.
When is the seagull veyron owner coming on
You mean that guy who drove a bugatti into water on video?
Yes
The moon, the sun, and the stars finally lined up! I never thought you'd ever get him on the channel. This is the best crossover ever!
Chrysler engineering is unmatched when it comes speed from 1964 to 1971. The mighty HEMI has a lot to do with this.
Final a great story for this week. Yah!!
I found the hundred dollar bill!
I'd love to see Nascar do a stock car series in the modern day where they take Camaros and Mustangs and Challengers and such and basically do what they did in the early days of stock car racing. It'll never happen, but it would be cool to see. I'd start watching again that's for sure.
It’s called SCCA
The British Touring Car Championships still do that kind of "compromised class" racing, and I absolutely agree: I wish more series would go back to that.
A Cobra Jet 428/429 Boss Semi Hemi Wing car would have been sick! I loved the Daytona and Super bird even since I was a kid. 215+ in '71! Imagine if we never had the Fuel Crisis!
Welcome once again to Lehto’s Law.
Making a road version of a race "stock" car, as opposed to racing a street-legal stock car, was the same stunt that Ford pulled in the 1980's in the UK and Europe - making the Sierra Cosworth 500, which also had a ridiculously large rear wing. It was a stock car heavily modified for racing, then the race version produced in sufficient numbers to meet the homologation requirements. ...... Ford also made the RS200, rallying, which had no road-going equivalent, but was homologated as a road car by making 200 in street-legal specs, and selling them to the public.
Oh man, I was so excited to see Steve on here. I’ve been watching his podcast for years!
I was wondering when y'all would have Steve on....check out his channel ...Pure Michigan
Now find the Benjamin behind him
Steve is a wealth of automotive knowledge and history
Love his UA-cam channel
The king cobra is a badass looking car as well.
Who knew, Steve is a car guy! /sarcasm 😂
I ran the salt flats once and when it was over we loaded our racing machine on the trailor and headed back home to Michigan. But when we got out to unload the hot rod it was gone! All we had left was four tires....at first we were going to call the police and report it stolen....but it wasn't....after racing the salt flats and heading home the hot rod had completely rusted away and the plastic trim that was left behind blew off into the wind....and that was the last time we ever tried to race a late 80s model Toyota truck. Thankfully our haul truck was a domestic and gave us a couple years before it rusted away. It was dodge ram V8 gasoline so all the time it spent broken down in the repair shop helped to preserve it a little longer....we quit running the salt flats and started drag racing Honda where we successfully lost every single race we ever ran.
I completely false story I made up while sitting here smoking pot....not a very good story but hopefully very factual and mildly entertaining. I almost added that our hauling trailor was made from an 1990s isuzu rodeo frame but it would have rusted away before I could finish the sentence.
I was just listening not watching, and thought, hey that sounds like Steve! Looked, and YES! My man Steve! Great story! Looking forward to more.
My dad was a Plymouth salesman! He would bring home roadrunner ,GTX,home and we would test drive them!OMG I never went so fast on a city street !
What would the gtx top out at you think?
One of my favorite race car stories of all time!
In 1970 I was thirteen years old, and I did my best to talk my parents into buying a Superbird. I assured them that despite its looks, it was VERY practical. Good trunk space, seating for five, my mom could drive a stick, look a stereo! Richard Petty can't be wrong, I'm sure he drives on every day! I did my best.
I knew it was a matter of time before Steve found his way to Vinwiki. Love both of their channels
Steve Lehto is a real car guy thru and thru. A great lemon law lawyer in the US as well. He has a few books out as well.
So glad Steve made it over to VINWIKI!! GREAT legal/automotive stories over at LehtosLaw! Licensed in Michigan, national appeal! ;)
B-body fan: 69 RR in '72 & '73; 69 Coronet 500 rag top in 2004-'13, HP383, 727; '70 RR in 2005-'13, HP 383, 727 AIR GRABBER, POST. Favorite was the Coronet rag top. Plenty of other cars, vans and SUV's from various mfg's but Chrysler for a lot of reasons was the ticket. Thanks, learned a few things.
I love seeing him come on here. I listen to him all the time.
I remember how my Dad quit watching nascar in 1972 over these rules. The France family singlehandley killed nascar with stupid rules. Now we have race cars that do not look like anything you could buy from a dealer. They are all the same! You can tell they have lost customers as the stands are not half full. What we have now is a glorified IROC race car and they take kool-aid rest stops now? Pure dumbasserery.
Bill France is therefore responsible for why there are no Ford, GM, or AMC winged warriors. Had the type been allowed to continue to run, the other makers would have had little choice but to produce them. Imagine a GTO Fontana, or a Javelin High Bank, or a Matador Aero, or a Chevelle Superspeedway...
I know GM didn't really have a NASCAR program, but there were independents running GM products. They would have looked so bad on the track against cars that could easily surpass 200MPH that I don't think GM could have avoided production. They would have a "can't keep up" stigma attached to their product line. AMC, I'm sure, would have just ponied right up.
In summation, though, a _slew_ of big block winged warriors of all makes and models on the road all over North America that could make 180MPH in purely stock form, on tires and brakes that were _nowhere near_ up to the task, probably would have had a very bad outcome.
More videos like this please ☝- love the racing and dealership stories, but history lessons like this one (and Casey Putsch's views on the world) are what makes this channel special.
I always thought racing was to go faster than the other guy & advance tech. The areo thing started back in 1966 &1967 with the fastback Dodge Charger & nest yr. Ford had a fast back car in the Torinio. Chrysler said let's advance technology & thus the Super Bird & Dodge Daytona & then Ford came out with the long nose fast back Mercury Spoiler.I noticed when politics & big money get into something it goes down hill. NASCAR is no more stock car racking the the IRL. The bods are not stock allot of carbon fiber body parts,rear spoiler with clear in the middle so they are not noticeable They no longer have lug nuts Knock offs like F! & Indy cars. I use to to to Daytona races never missed a Talladega race in yrs.but when Bill Elliott made up 2 laps under green running over 200 mph. NASCAR put restrict-or plates on them. I never went to another NASCAR care. I got to sprint car races & midget racing where it's real racing. I hope NASCAR goes broke & Bill France ruined it. In case you never hung around Daytona,Talladega & notice Pontiac furnished NASCAR cars to drive & it had been Ford,Mercury,Plymouth,Dodge winning all the races & all the sudden the rules favored the GM products politics is what that is called & getting you palms greased by GM to make you cars competitive.DIE FAST NASCAR!!!!!!
The content that you bring... Amazing! Thank you guys
In 1969 Plymouth had the chance for their own wing car but decided not to produce one. Hence just the Daytona in 69. Petty knew he was at a disadvantage with Plymouth, so he drove Fords in 69. Plymouth asked him what it would take to get him back and he said a winged car. That's why the Superbird is a 70. But NASCAR was tiring of the games so they required a car FOR EACH DEALER rather than just 500. That's why there are 1600 Superbirds, not b/c Plymouth thought they'd sell that many. Neither was a sales success. In 1971 I was 12 yrs old and we were on our way to CA for vacation. On our 1st day we went past a Plymouth dealership in Grand Island, NE. They had FOUR Superbirds on their lot. They were already a yr old. Bet we could have gotten a deal on one of those.
Getting famous off of comments day 265, so I can live the dream, live every day like it’s your last🤙🚀