One of the rarest muscle cars ever built — a Petty Blue Plymouth Superbird — is now undergoing a full restoration at Graveyard Carz, the Oregon-based shop renowned for its meticulous Mopar rebuilds. The car is one of only 43 finished in the legendary Petty Blue hue, a color that forever links the model to NASCAR icon Richard Petty.
The Superbird’s story is the stuff of American racing legend. Developed in 1970 to dominate NASCAR’s high-speed ovals, the car’s radical aerodynamic design — a towering rear wing and arrow-like nose cone — was built solely to win races. To meet NASCAR’s homologation requirements, Plymouth had to produce at least 500 street versions. By the end of the run, approximately 1,900 were built, with only 43 wearing Petty’s signature color in tribute to his car number.
Richard Petty’s 1970 season in the Superbird was brief but unforgettable. After NASCAR changed its rules to restrict winged cars to smaller 305-cubic-inch engines, Plymouth’s high-speed experiment came to an end. But the legend of the Petty Blue Superbird grew even larger over time, cementing its place among the most desirable muscle cars ever made.
The example now in the Graveyard Carz workshop arrived in what host Mark Worman described as “a twenty-footer” — a car that looks spectacular from 20 feet away but shows flaws up close. Though previously restored, the workmanship didn’t meet the shop’s exacting standards. The team immediately tackled its mechanical issues, installing a new fuel system to bring the big 440-cubic-inch V8 back to life.
While some fans might prefer to leave it as a driver, Graveyard Carz plans to elevate this Superbird to concours quality. For Mopar enthusiasts, the rebirth of a genuine Petty Blue Superbird is as close as it gets to watching history roar back to life.
