Well the cat is out of the bag now so I'm going to post a recent event many of us on Moparts may not have been aware of.

A little over a year ago I was tasked with locating a Superbird project car to be used as a very high end custom car build. The guidelines were that it had to be a real Superbird (so no clones need apply) and that it would preferably be pretty rough example as to not "kill" a nicer original car in the process of building a custom.

After passing over several cars (most of which were considered too nice to customize) the answer came right here on Moparts. Member "mopar4ya" Dan Mays, posted pics of his rusty example parked in his storage barn with a question concerning it's value. While It was a numbers matching car, it was base model Bird being a basic white on black car, column shift automatic, and a 440 four barrel engine, it also showed all of the signs of a rust belt car and was in miserable shape with rust and rot everywhere. So even though it was a numbers car, it really wouldn't be feasible restoration project and looked to be a perfect candidate for the build.

I asked Dan what he wanted for it and the new owner paid his price, it was sold and transported to it's new home in Southern California. The new owner is Jonathan Ward of www.icon4x4.com. Jonathon is well known in the custom car circles for his groundbreaking and highly tasteful builds which combine the classics designs of the early years with all of the performance and comfort a modern version might have. Check out his website for more details!

The Superbird is being custom built for one of his clients, it's sure to become something truly special, this is a photo that Hot Rod magazine took to show the "before" version.....I can't wait to see what it becomes! You can follow the build on the Icon website or on Facebook: Jonathan Ward

Very cool to hear Scott! Thanks for sharing the info on the cars build. I am sure it will come out very nice.
Matt

I don't understand the purpose of using a real Superbird. While Im sure the finished product will be interesting and probably very well built, I would bet it's received by the Mopar community much the same way the LS equipped challenger was.

Building a clone was definately suggested but the owner is the boss, the decision was soley his own.

Well I guess the way I see it is "Don't shoot the messenger" and dont blame the builder. I'm a resto purist kinda guy myself but also respect the decisions of others who choose a different direction.

Seriously though, I doubt that a proper restoration of this particular car was ever going to happen (maybe if it were a Hemi) so at least it will live again and in a very nice form. The numbers drivetrain, etc. Is being saved with the car so if anyone is so inclined to reverse the mods someday, they'll be with the car.

For anyone wanting to do one thier way, I guess the answer to that is, go buy one! They still turn up pretty often.

Judging by the website, and it's name, hoping it's not going to be transformed into some 4 X 4 abomination...

No, not a 4x4......Think more on the lines of a Hellcat

Ok well that makes me think of these- not encouraging...

Uhhhhhh, NO!

Think again


*BTW, this is only a guess on the drive train but definitely one option that was considered, most mods will be performance/under the skin oriented.

i don't know that this will ever happen, and i've posted this before in a few threads, but i've always wanted to build a super bird, but it would have to be a clone: mini tubbed to get some good tires under the rear, passon 5 speed, big inch but streetable hemi, front suspension upgrades, not tubular and such, just beefy components, and most of all...

black.

but stock appearing otherwise. not that i could afford it in the first place, but i would never think of doing that to an original super bird.

but yes, to each his own!

While I wouldn't call it a "parts car" if you saw the underside of the car, (and pretty much anywhere else beyond the outside skin) you'd be a lot less optomistic.

I've seen what corndog has done over on the aero cars site with his restos, and I can understand that it would be a lot of work to repair, but I also don't understand requiring a REAL 'bird to modify.

I don't think they all need to be restored to as-factory, but why start with a limited numbers, high buy-in car if you are going to modify it heavily? This one needs to be saved, but if it's going to get typical late model pro touring style drivetrain, suspension and interior mods, the owner could have easily started with a satellite and hung the very nice repop Superbird parts Gregory and others are doing. Would have been easier to tuck in the nose gap and such too.

It's one of those deals that it's his car and he can do what he wants with it. I see the other side too, there are lots of 4 bbl cars out there restored already but I think this one had most of it's original parts. Not my car so it won't affect me in any way but it isn't what I would have done.

Sheldon

The owner is the person who needs to be questioned (and he has been). Whatever his reason for wanting a real one is, bottom line, it was his choice and his money.

Don't forget, I'm just the messenger. You guys know my take on keeping things original etc. on rare cars. That said I also have an appreciation for modified cars if they are tastefully done, there's room for all of them in our hobby.

I've done cars that bad and it was restorable but it would have required a max effort. I too wish it were returned to as made condition but lets see how he does his modifications. If done right, and smartly, it can be done without major hacking and could be returned to stock with a little investment of time, if so desired, by someone down the road.