The collector car market, in your inbox
Classic car news, hand-picked vehicles, and auction coverage. Choose what lands in your inbox.
A Vitamin C 1970 Plymouth Superbird that has sat in the same Delaware garage for 22 years is now up for bid on Hagerty Marketplace, and the high bid had already reached $148,000 after nine bids at the time of writing. The auction ends Tuesday, October 13 at 2:00 p.m. EDT, so there is still a week for the number to move.
The seller, who goes by Flyinghigh70 on the platform, bought the winged Mopar in April 2004 from an owner who had it since 1980. The listing says it was stored indoors in Maryland from 1981 until 2004, and it still wears an expired 1981 windshield sticker. Today it shows 45,600 miles and is offered with a clean Delaware title in the seller's name.
A Superbird Built to Win Back Richard Petty
The Superbird exists because Plymouth had a problem. Dodge was racing the Charger Daytona in 1969, Ford had the Torino Talladega and Mercury had the Cyclone Spoiler, and Plymouth was stuck with a boxy Road Runner on the superspeedways. Richard Petty walked to Ford for the season. The 1970 Superbird, with its nosecone and towering rear wing, was the answer, and Petty returned. If you want the full backstory, Motorious has covered it in our look at the Plymouth Superbird and in how the Superbird raced to iconic status.
Production is usually put at 1,920 cars, which is the figure the seller uses and the one Hagerty's own price guide lists. The auction description says 1,969 are "believed" to have been built, so expect some back-and-forth on that number in the comments. Per the listing, this car is number 993 of the run, went to Creative Industries on November 28, 1969 and shipped on December 1. It is one of a reported 278 ordered in Vitamin C.
What You Get
Under the hood is the U-code 440 with a single four-barrel, paired with a three-speed TorqueFlite column-shift automatic, the most common setup for the model. The VIN-stamped engine corresponds to the chassis number, and a matching number is stamped on the radiator support. Inside is a white vinyl bench seat, with 14-inch Rallye wheels and Goodyear Polyglas tires outside. Other factory touches include power steering, power front discs, the performance axle package, a Beep-Beep horn, pop-up headlights and a black vinyl roof.
The car was repainted in 2005 in factory Vitamin C. After the original nose was damaged at a car show, a new-old-stock replacement nose from Superbird specialist Doug Schellinger was fitted by Mike Mancini's American Muscle Car Restorations, with new paint, decals and trim. Other bodywork is limited to the lower passenger-side quarter panel. Mechanical work over the years covers the fuel tank and lines, brakes, master cylinder, radiator, water pump, heater core, alternator, exhaust and tires, and the car now runs an Edelbrock carburetor and MSD ignition. It comes with a complete broadcast sheet, a partial one, a car cover and a matching Polyglas spare.
What the Bidders Are Asking About
This is not a flawless car, and the listing says so. The dash has a crack, the passenger seat has loose stitching, there is paint bubbling at the bottom of the driver's-side rear quarter, some rust shows in the center of the trunk, the dash lights recently stopped working, and the tachometer and washer bottle are disconnected. The original jack is missing.
The comment section has been the real story. In the discussion, the seller confirmed that the transmission is not numbers-matching and was likely replaced before 1980, and that there is no Wise validation report for the car. Bidders have also asked for photos of the block casting number and engine stamping, and for a video of it running. The seller says he is working on both and has been digging out the original parts he removed during the road-worthy work two decades ago, including the carburetor and distributor, which can go with the car.
Where the Market Sits
Hagerty's valuation tools give useful context for the $148,000 bid. For the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird with the 440/375-hp four-barrel, the Price Guide lists a #3 (Good) value of $116,000 as of October 2026, within a range of $105,933 to $128,667. Hagerty shows that figure down 9.4 percent over the quarter, 19.4 percent over the past year and 22.1 percent over three years. So the current bid is already well above a typical Good-condition 440 car, which says something about how much bidders like the color, the low mileage and the long ownership.
The wider Superbird market is far more expensive because of the engines that sit above this one. Hagerty has separate Price Guide entries for the 426 Hemi Superbird and the 440 Six Pack Superbird, and the 12-month sales data on the model page shows 13 Superbirds sold for about $3.8 million, an average of $288,800 and 32 percent fewer sales than the year before. That average covers all engines, so it runs well above what a 440 car brings. Hagerty's list of recent results includes $200,500 on Bring a Trailer in April, $247,500 and $220,000 at Barrett-Jackson in January, and $165,000 at Mecum last October. The most recent result Hagerty shows is $89,100 at Barrett-Jackson on September 11. Our coverage of the Hemi Superbird headed to a November auction and the Richard Petty-owned Superbird that failed to sell despite record-level bids shows how wide that spread can get at the top of the market.
The Charger Daytona it grew out of also sits at the top of the Mopar wing-car world, and the race-bred story behind both is told in our piece on the Superbird and NASCAR drama.
The Takeaway
A long-owned, 440-powered Superbird in a period-correct color is the more attainable side of this market, and that is part of the appeal. The tradeoffs are a non-original transmission, a replacement nose and no validation paperwork, which matter more to Superbird buyers than to most. Anyone considering a bid should do their own inspection, ask for the engine stampings and a running video, and use Hagerty's valuation tools to set a ceiling before the clock runs down on October 13.
