Miguel Sánchez
The United States of America is defined as a country where everything is big: the food is XXL, the roads are endless, film productions are made "without sparing expenses" ... And this is also noticeable in motoring: huge cars, powerful engines, bodies with impossible aesthetics, oval races of hell at full speed ... North America is full of icons, names and references that take us to a world in a big way: the fast-paced NASCAR, the former heavy industry of Detroit, the automobile giant Chrysler, the pioneers of Plymouth, the luminous Las Vegas, the cartoons of the Warner Bros… Well, all these elements come together in the auction of this Plymouth Henry Superbird. Can you be more American?
In 1928, Walter percy chrysler - founder of the industrial giant that bears his name - needed something popular and American for a new car brand. A brand that, although it would later manufacture authentic wheeled missiles, began with models intended for the average American consumer. And, paradoxically ... What could be more American than the name of the English city from which the first settlers came? Plymouth. Thus began the history of a brand that remained in the shop window until 2001.
FASTER THAN A ROADRUNNER, IT'S A SUPERBIRD
50.000 dollars. That is what Plymouth had to pay to Warner Brothers to be able to use the name of the popular "Road Runner" -the one that always resisted the Coyote- in the commercial name of one of its sportiest models. In a clever advertising operation, the brand linked one of its powerful models with a swift symbol of youth culture. Fast, with a bold muscle car aesthetic, and very, very cool - that's how the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner presented itself.
Well, in an attempt to give even more show, the brand added in 1970 a V8 Hemi with greater power, manual or automatic transmission, a sharp aerodynamic front with retractable headlights and a - as spectacular as it is bizarre - a five-foot spoiler finishing off the whole. From the Chrysler factory in Detroit came the improved version of the Road Runner: the Plymouth Henri Superbird. And this was not just a name for the bombastic marketing so typical of Americans. In the late 60s, you really had to be a “super bird” to beat the Fords in NASCAR: the fiendish oval full of speed and accidents that still arouses passions in American motorsports.
In the hands of the mythical Richard petty, the Superbird achieved 8 victories in the 1970 season, in addition to a fairly decent middle position. The model was confirmed as a good representative of American sportsmanship. Thus, many customers rushed to the dealerships to get a piece of the NASCAR, approved to be able to be driven on the street.
MAYBE THE SECOND AUCTION WILL BE DUE
Despite being a compendium of the North American imaginary, this Superbird was left without a new owner in its last auction: January 2016. In a few days the house mecum offer it again, this time in Las Vegas. Perhaps, wrapped in the spectacle of "the city that never sleeps", it will find an owner. If you have about half a million dollars you could get it. But remember, in the so American world of entertainment there is a lot of deception and trompe l'oeil: from what we see in the auction house file, the steering wheel is imitation wood 😉
