No!! You're confusing the A12 (which was actually the SECOND Chrysler giveaway). The Superbird came from the midwest and had no connections to anyone local. The Superbird had no known issues.

The first Chrysler giveaway was the '69 Hemi Coronet R/T. It was white and suffered some damage in a storm right before the show. I think because of that damage, some people assumed THAT was the car with VIN issues because people assumed it was rebodied due to the damage. To the best of my knowledge, that car was repaired because the damage was minor - just dents. But, I wasn't working here then so I have no firsthand knowledge.

The A12 was the second year (1992). That's the car you're thinking of. I also wasn't here at that time so I was not involved with that car in any way.

Ed B

I have not stayed in touch with any of the Give-Away cars, especially the ones from before my time. I will say that the current owner of the '69 Hemi Coronet R/T is in Germany. We connected through Facebook a couple of years ago. He was looking for another "GIVE-AWAY" plate for the front of the car. We had a stack of them here that nobody had touched in over a decade. When I went to grab a couple for him, they were gone. Literally about 1 week prior to his request, someone tossed them without asking or telling anyone!! What are the odds that we stored them for 10+ years without touching them, then toss all of them a week before someone asks for one??

I would love to find as many of the prior Give-Away cars as possible for a reunion.

Ed B

This is the only pic I can find in our (Carlisle Events') archives. I have 1 or 2 at home in my personal collection that are original press release pics of the car. They are not from working at Carlisle Events - they were because my girlfriend at the time worked for Engle Publishing which is the company that used to print the Auto Locator. They were the pics that were provided for advertising. They always tossed the photos that were submitted and she thought I would want them.

Side note: she would run the upcoming ads to the printer the day before the new Auto Locator would come out in the stores. Somehow, a copy of the newest Auto Locator would always fall under her seat. She would give it to me rather than throw it away . That meant I had all of the new ads in my hands about 24 hours before anyone else. That was a big deal back then! Unfortunately, I didn't have the money for the good cars, but I did score some parts. Most sellers didn't realize I was calling before the Locator hit the shelves. One or two people called me out on it and I would just tell them that I grabbed a copy at the 7-11 and had no idea what they were talking about

Ed B

So since there were no factory black Superbirds, and there used to be a black one with flames in the midwest, I wonder how many more were painted black?

Even as a 17 or 18 year old at the time, I knew there were no black 'Birds. If I recall correctly, this was an EW1 car originally. It also had a fair amount of chrome and polished aluminum under the hood. Hey, it was the '80s

Ed B

I've got the 70 black flamed superbird in a 1982 magazine called HI Performance Cars.Dosnt sound like a original superbird from the story I read,440 six barrel auto on the colmn I think it's
Orig a 70 roadrunner,Big dash,tic toc tach etc...

Great story on the Carlisle give-away cars. A good friend of mine, Mike (who died in 2009)…..won the '69 Road Runner at the 1985 Mopar Nats. That car was triple black with a 383/727 drivetrain. At the time, he was in college, at Ferris State, and he owned a '71 340 Duster. Not too long after he won the Road Runner, he ended up selling it, to fund his college classes, and put money into the Duster. Don't know where that Road Runner ended up.

Back in the early 80's they did the first ever, Summer Carlisle Swap Meet & Car Show where they gave away 3 cars that weekend. One to spectators, one to vendors & one to car show entries. The three cars were nice, a red Superbird, a red Talladega & a red Z/28 replica. The Superbird & the Talladega were originals. They stuck to red cars for a long time but eventually they gave away others.

Wow very cool!

Are you sure about the Superbird?? To the best of my knowledge, we never gave away a Superbird until the black one in 1989. I'm pretty sure the car you're referring to was a '70 Road Runner. I remember a '70 Road Runner, a '69 Camaro and Torino one year. All were red. And I think the Torino was a '70 or maybe '71. I have the flyer from that year at home - I'll see if I can dig it up. I could be wrong

Ed B