A unique Plymouth Superbird that broke through the 200 mph (322 km/h) barrier in 1971 is heading to a Mecum auction in January expected to fetch a tidy sum for its background alone.
Back in the early ‘70s, Plymouth produced only 135 Superbird units with a 7.0-liter V8 under the hood and a racing body kit. One of the first examples to roll off the line landed in the garage of Jim and Larry Lindsley, father and son. The duo immediately set to work trying to accelerate it to breakneck speeds on the dried-out surface of the Bonneville Salt Lake.
Soon enough, the Lindsleys managed to take the coupe to 206 miles per hour (331.5 km/h). They went on with their acceleration attempts until finally hitting 220 mph (354 km/h) a few years later.
The auction listing claims that this achievement makes the Superbird the world’s fastest production vehicle of that era. There’s an important caveat to consider, though. To get it to 220 miles per hour, the Lindsleys had swapped out the engine for a custom block, ending up with a car that probably no longer counted as a production vehicle. They did preserve the standard engine, though, and it was later put back into the car that’s currently on sale.
We have no way of knowing whether the 55-year-old powertrain is in any condition to output its original 425 PS (419 hp / 313 kW), but that’s nothing elbow grease can't fix. It’s also unclear how much the seller wants for the Superbird. Autoevolution.com claims that this very coupe cropped up on sale for $1 million half a year ago only to fail to attract any buyers. We’ll see how it fares at the Mecum auction currently penciled in for mid-January.