Every Mopar enthusiast worth a Fender Tag dreams of one day being able to open his garage door and see an abnormally long B-Body with a pointed snout and mile-high wing perched above the decklid. You know it's true. The winged cars are easily Mopar's most recognizable high-performance machines of the era. Look at a COPO 427 Camaro, and you have to scrutinize it for a while before determining that the car is something more than just a big-block Bow Tie. A 429 Super Cobra Jet Mustang is still just a Mustang. Each driveline may be something to "oooh" and "ahhh" over for its respective fans, but you still have to look at it closely before you can find out. By comparison, even a blind guy can see a winged car coming from a mile away, and there is absolutely no doubt as to what it is and what it's capable of.
We all want one. Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many to be had, and those that got ’em generally keep ’em. That was the dilemma facing Tampa, Florida’s Greg Langford. Greg’s stable consists of a 1969 383/four-speed Road Runner and a 1957 Dodge Town Wagon. When he came across this Lemon Twist 1970 Superbird, he knew the ’Bird would fill the empty spot in his garage rather nicely. There was only one problem--Greg and the owner couldn’t agree on a price.
Greg’s search began innocently enough when he and his girlfriend, Jennifer Cross, attended a local Mopar show. She spotted a row of winged cars. After asking Greg what the deal was with those weird noses and wings, she decided they looked cool. In fact, she told him if he ever considered getting another Mopar to add to the two he already owned, he should get a wing car. Greg says, "I guess I just needed someone to tell me it was OK to get a wing car, because right after that, I started looking!" With that kind of encouragement, the couple also made wedding plans a short time later. He spotted the Lemon Twist 1970 Superbird on the lot of a classic-car consignment dealership and stopped for a closer look. After checking the car out, he decided to contact the owner directly, knowing that consignment dealers make a tidy profit for themselves. After tracking the owner through the VIN--it pays to have friends in key places--he called the owner and told him he’d be interested in buying the car after it left consignment.
Then the haggling began--the car's owner flatly hung up on Greg after he made his final offer. A couple of months later, the guy called Greg at the Chrysler dealership he works at and asked if he was still interested in the 'Bird. Greg said, "Of course," and the owner asked what he was willing to pay. "The same thing I offered when you hung up on me last time," Greg said. The guy thought about if for a while and finally said if Greg could come up with the money that day, the car was his. Faster than you can say, "Large bills only, please," Greg was rolling his dream car into that empty spot in the garage. The car had undergone a 10-year restoration, after which the owner winched the car on and off the trailer for any shows he attended. When Greg got the car, it needed a good going-over because it had never even been driven! Concours Creations was called on to supply the nowhere-in-sight kickdown linkage, then Greg "went nuts with the Eastwood catalog," correctly detailing things that were just painted over in black. Greg was amazed that for as lame as some of the detailing was, the body and paintwork were flawless. In fact, the straight sheetmetal is what attracted him to this particular car. Another high point is that except for a new carpet and package tray, the interior is original. With an automatic trans, power steering, power front discs, and a 3.55 Sure-Grip, Greg says the car drives as well as it looks, cruises to every show he attends, and also is his regular weekend transportation. Greg's experience is proof that persistence pays when buying your dream Mopar. When the time to buy does roll around, be ready to count the bills and reap the benefits of ownership.