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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not known for their love of muscle cars. In fact, they seem to have it out for anything with a V8 under the hood, especially in California. So imagine our surprise when we found out from Jalopnik that in 1972, the EPA purchased a big-block Superbird for emissions testing. As crazy as it is, that Superbird is now headed to auction, giving you an opportunity to own this historically unique winged car.
Although it’s surprising that the EPA once owned a Superbird, knowing that former Dow Chemicals executive, John Moran was in on the deal gives it some perspective. You see, when Moran was part of the Dow team, the company sponsored none other than the #99 Nichels Engineering Dow Dodge Charger Daytona race car built by NASCAR legend Ray Nichels.
In 1972, Moran took a job in North Carolina as the head of the EPA emissions research program. When the EPA needed a car for emissions testing, Moran decided on a Superbird, based on his knowledge of the winged Chrysler cars. Of course it was no coincidence that Nichels got on the task of helping Moran find the proper car. Nichels found himself out of a job in 1972 after NASCAR had banned the use of winged Chryslers in the race series, so he was more than happy to get on board.
The Superbird was bought originally with a 440cui big block under the hood and an automatic transmission. For the EPA’s purposes, Nichels modified the car, adding a four-speed manual transmission, a fuel cell, air shocks, two additional batteries, a second alternator and a roll bar. The car was then painted Ice Blue Poly before being turned over for testing.
The EPA used the car for a year, putting just under 10,000 miles on it. Consequently, the Superbird was blamed for the downfall of the muscle car era.
In the fall of 1973, the car was decommissioned and the EPA removed all of its testing modifications from the car. The winged car then sat until 1979 in surplus storage, at which time some lucky soul purchased the car for just $500. Considering that even a Pinto in 1979 was around a grand, that was a pretty good deal.
Although the car sort of laid low for the following two decades after that, it resurfaced in 2006 for a three-year restoration back to Nichels-built EPA specifications. As a result, the Superbird now sits exactly as it would have back in 1972 for EPA testing purposes. Since its restoration, the Superbird has been advertised for sale for $3 million. At that price, we’re not surprised the car is still for sale.
