For the 1969 season, with Ford and Mercury becoming much larger contenders, Richard Petty left Plymouth's program to race for Ford on a single year contract. Plymouth, seeing the success of the Dodge Charger Daytona, decided to create a much simlar aerodynamic model. Thus came the Plymouth Road Runner Superbird for the 1970 season.

The Superbird was basically the Road Runner with:

• 19-in steel nose with fiberglass popup lights
• Fender-top scoops (for tire clearance)
• Higher, more slanted rear trunk spoiler

While looking similar, the Superbird and the Daytona did not use the same added sheetmetal. The Superbird had a longer nose extension and a more slanted trunk spoiler. The Superbird won more races than the Daytona, even with less race entries under its belt. Like the Daytona, the Superbird would be a one season show, as NASCAR made the winged cars tune down to a 305-ci max engine in 1971.

Production figures (1920 total):

• 1162 with the 440-4
• 665 with the 440 6-pack
• 93 with the 426 Hemi

NASCAR had a rule change from a 1969 to 1970, instead of a 500 car production requirement they had to produce one car per dealer (thus the 1920 number).