Since we published the story about the #28 Dodge Charger barnfind, the history of the car appears to have popped out really big within the MOPAR community! It looks like it is the long lost Pete Hamilton Superbird. There is a very interesting discussion about it on the Randy Ayers NASCAR modelling board. As you might guess, the modellers are much more knowledgeable about history and details of these racecars as any crew chief from back in the day may be able to recall. So here is the discussion!
And here are a few very interesting quotes!
Rocket Resto on the origin of the car :
" The article on the car is in Mopar Muscle which I just got today. Please correct me if I'm wrong here but this is the history of the car as told by the magazine (which should always be taken with a grain or 1,000,000 grains of salt):
Raced as Hamilton's Superbird
Rebodied into a 70 Road Runner (non-superbird) and brought out to the Jan 71 Riverside race
Owned by Doc Faustina on the West Coast, Bought from Petty at Riverside after Jan 71 race
Painted car dark blue #5 and raced it three times in 71 probably in Sportsman
Reskinned as a 71 Charger, was silver and white #5, raced until 76
Sold and repainted gold and brown as #28, raced at small tracks
Mystery Years………..
Bought by Chuck Shafer from barn in Iowa (pictures from link above)
Bought by Todd Werner from estate of Chuck Shafer
Restored by Petty Garage "
Aero426 on what matches and what seems a mistery :
" The original car had straight passenger door bars. The 2010 under constructon photo in the magazine shows that at some point, the car has apparently been updated with bars extending into the door cavity. When the donor car was stripped down, one would think there would be still be some witness marks on the cage where the old bars were. I have played with the color to enhance the bars. You can clearly see they do not extend into the door cavity. This photo was taken during the Daytona 125.
I am not suggesting it isn't the car. I just don't understand why things appear the way they do. "
" It would seem that they unknowingly removed an original design feature when rebuilding the front clip. Follow your red hash marks three forward of the shock tower. Those bars had the mount for the original bolt-in tubular hoop that runs across the car. The hoop was present on the donor, but moved forward for the small block. Yet the mount was still there. Why they would choose to remove an original feature showing on ALL the existing underhood shots or Pete's car is a mystery to me. The replacement bars are welded in too high. "
Bruce Kepley on the story behind the restoration:
" A bit about the article regarding the Pete Hamilton Superbird…
The article in Mopar Muscle is very in depth and the provenance of this car is pretty much without question…
Todd Werner (whom I've met several times, you've seen him on TV with his Sox and Martin original race car collection) had a friend who passed away, a genuine car guy, who had this stored for years thinking that it was one of Petty's original '70 Plymouth short track cars…he had convinced Todd so that upon his passing his estate sold the car to Todd…
Not wanting to spend money on a restoration without clarification Todd trailers the car down to Petty's shops in Randleman where they now do cars for the public…he shows the car to Richard who says that he believes it's one of his cars but he wants Maurice and Richie to look at the car….
Maurice and Richie look at the car for one afternoon and ask Todd if he can stay until the next day, which of course he does…Keep in mind that Todd is just looking for authentication that it's only a Petty car…
Maurice and Richie come back the next day with photos, pour over the car for another few hours and then call Todd into a meeting where it's revealed that it's the lost Hamilton Superbird…it has been reskined several times and the proof came out when the car was restored with Petty blue paint in the cracks and damaged areas matching damage that was later sustained on the car as a short track car…
Todd contracts Petty Enterprises to restore the car but leave some of the interior wrinkled sheet metal intact for historical reasons…I've found some rare cars in my past (71 hemi charger 4 speed export car) and, believe me, if you're a Mopar man you AUTHENTICATE everything…
So, there you are…read the article, it's amazing and today the car is a beautiful restoration of an Historic Nascar find… "
All I can say after reading this discussion on Randy Ayers is that this is better than any story written in Hollywood!
