Sox & Martin Superbird

[Topper]

Anybody have info on this car? There doesn't seem to be anything on the car or it's owner/drivers after S&M sold it...other than some guy that owned a dragstrip in Louisiana campaigned it as SuperChicken.

It's rumored that it was in a wreck in Georgia in 1978 and a 70 Roadrunner grille was put on it. Somebody posted pics post-accident in another thread, but they are corrupt.

Rusty Butterworth campaigned a 69 Roadrunner with a 440+6 in the 70's...any connection? No pics of that car either. Can't even find info on Rusty, let alone the car.

If you've got pics, names, info, or dates, please post...I'm amazed there is so little info on the net about this car.

 

[696pack]

If anyone would know about it, it would be the winged warrior club or forum, just goggle them.

 

[Topper]

Will do, thanks!

 

[Al K]

The latest issue of Mopar Muscle had some great old pics,including one of that car. Supposedly still undiscovered;makes one wonder what other significant cars are still out there waiting for an automotive Indiana Jones.

 

[moparstuart]

jon the owner of 5 star productions ( they sell all the video of mopar shows ) he ownes a clone of the car and might have historic photos andinfo ?????

 

[Topper]

jon the owner of 5 star productions ( they sell all the video of mopar shows ) he ownes a clone of the car and might have historic photos andinfo ?????

Been talking with him, but he doesn't have much more than I've been able to find by doing a g:icon_eyes::icon_eyes:gle search for it.

 

[plymouth67]

Yep! The car just kinda vanished, its a shame. Hope its still around just undiscoverd.

 

[696pack]

You have to remember that most of the time these cars still belonged to Chrysler Corp. Often they never got them nor did they want them as they were beat to death. In the case of the S&M S.B. they were not NASCAR drivers and It is possible that later when the supply of good S.B.s had dried up and they were still being run in NASCAR Chrysler MAY have reclaimed the car and passed it on to another sponsored driver like Petty. If so it may have been run to death, crashed beyond repair, stripped of usable parts and buried behind Petty's shop. That is not a joke as they say there is all kinds of old hipo cars and parts bury there that have never been dug up and are assume to be rotting away.

 

[kustom2k1]

Check out this link, someone in 2001 had Rusty's old RR
http://www.moparchat.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-29576.html

 

[Topper]

You have to remember that most of the time these cars still belonged to Chrysler Corp. Often they never got them nor did they want them as they were beat to death. In the case of the S&M S.B. they were not NASCAR drivers and It is possible that later when the supply of good S.B.s had dried up and they were still being run in NASCAR Chrysler MAY have reclaimed the car and passed it on to another sponsored driver like Petty. If so it may have been run to death, crashed beyond repair, stripped of usable parts and buried behind Petty's shop. That is not a joke as they say there is all kinds of old hipo cars and parts bury there that have never been dug up and are assume to be rotting away.

Only problem with that theory is that the car was sold and later run as SuperChicken until the late 70s

 

[Topper]

Check out this link, someone in 2001 had Rusty's old RR
http://www.moparchat.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-29576.html

Saw that one...that's what got me wondering if there's a link between Butterworth and the S & M car.

 

[696pack]

Only problem with that theory is that the car was sold and later run as SuperChicken until the late 70s

Yes but what I said above could have happened to it later if it is MIA.

 

[1badgtx]

I did a job for jeep/truck engineering in detroit back in the late 80.s..They had a room full of cars and trucks...Some of the trucks were in 4x4 magizines in the past...They had a AMX with a 4 speed and a 390 sitting out n the parking lot..I guess they used it to test rearends and u joints...It was a runnin car,just missing emblems and such..One guy that worked their was trying to get the car..He already had a AMX but wanted a 4 speed car...Well his efforts were futile...They had the car smashed along with a bunch of others...The car had no vin numbers so it could not be sold...This also may be the fate of the superbird...
Petty Blue 67 gTx

 

[Topper]

Could happen, but it would be a shame to lose a car like that.

 

[696pack]

I have a fair amount of knowledge and experience regarding factory sponsored race cars.

In addition to having sold Dodges and AMCs in the late 60s early 70s and knowing how the manufacturers did things, I also bought with a partner/friend in the mid 70s a 1957 Corvette that we later discovered was a factory racer new.

Here is the BRIEF story on that car that will help some of you to understand how things worked with the auto manufacturers with cars like these.
Beginning in 1957 and for years beyond there were two warring factions within G.M. when the president announced that G.M. would no longer participated in factory sponsored racing. Of course there were marketing and engineering V.P.s that disagreed with this. They were still allowed to "experiment" with cars for reseach & development and this is how they secretly funded racers under the table and under the nose of the G.M. president for YEARS.

My 57 Corvette back in the mid 70s per the experts of the National Corvette Restorers Society was the lowest numbered fuel injected car ever found. It also had a cold air box, metal racing brakes, racing suspension, cold air ducting to the brakes, cooling fans inside the brake drums and more. This car along with a fleet of around 12 of these cars produced in late 56 were slated to run the upcomming Nasseu and Sebring races. The NCRS guys originally thought my car was a mule car (test car) for these events however in the last few years I have again come into contact with other race historian with pictures, documents with V.I.N.s and old G.M. paperwork that indicates that my car was actually raced ar Nasseu and Sebring.

Back in the 70s when we discovered what we had, we attempted to track the cars history and ownership. We hit a dead end finding that the car had been purchased off the track at Road America in Elkart Lake, Wisc. from we THINK a man named Jeffreies (or Jeffers can't recall for sure) who had been a secretly sponsored driver for the Chevrolet underground racing effort. ALL of these Corvettes that had been built and shipped to Nasseu were supposed to be shipped back to G.M. and destroyed. Back in those days cars that were to be used for R & D were never sold to the public when the factory was done with them for two reasons, 1. liability and 2. they did not want the competition to have a chance of getting their hands on anything that was superior to what they had developed for the future. This was the same with ALL manufacturers. Back to the Corvettes. NONE of those cars were returned to Detroit or destroyed. They were GIVEN to different dealers or racers that were active in the racing efforts and competitive for Chevrolet. They basically went out the "back door" of the factory to keep Chevrolet competitive. These things went on for YEARS.

There is MUCH MORE to this Corvette story but since this is a Mopar site I won't bore you with it. The car still exists today in an as raced restoration and is in the hands of a private collector and currently valued at close to seven figures.

 

[Topper]

Thanks for expanding on that 696. I'm sure you're right on the money...I've seen a lot of the cars (while searching through vintage pics) transferred to other racers after "big name teams" were done with them.

Just hoping to find out who ran the car after S&M were done with it. I've heard of at least 3 SuperChickens - Rusty Butterworth's being the most successful. There just doesn't seem to be anything linking any of them back to Sox & Martin, let alone a 1970 Superbird.

HemiFred came back with some good info, but the wherabouts and whoabouts are still unkown :shruggy: