Vintage and Custom Aero Warriors

We hope you enjoy these personalized Aero Warriors from days gone by...

George Tamasi, from the Bronx New York owned this eye catching Bird. Easily the most heavily modified car when it was photographed at the 1976 winged car meet at Talladega. Check out the side exhaust, modified hood, and custom front spoiler. George once attempted to wind tunnel test a Jo-Han plastic model Superbird in a real wind tunnel. As I recall, the wind tunnel won that one blowing the plastic model to pieces...

Also from Talladega, 1976, Kenny Brackett owned this Black Bird. Check out the gold bird feathers painted on the rear wing upright. Kenny was Birdless for many years, but I'm pleased to report he just bought another Bird in 2003.

Still more cars from Talladega 1976, Carroll Beelers two Superbirds made an impression on me at age 14. I loved the Petty Blue car. There also was the matching Limelight and Lemon Twist Bird shown below.

Mike Redfern brought this striking Daytona to the 1976 Talladega meet. This car had a mile deep lacquer finish in Limelight, purple and deep red. The car was painted like this in 1970 by a painter named CharlieBang. A brass metal plaque attests to this on the right front fender. The car wore this finish until the mid 1990's, when it was repainted to a #71 Bobby Isaac K & K Insurance stock car replica. Check out the cool rounded edges of the front hood and the leaded in nose. Nicely done. This car has been owned by Dan and Barb Gaddis for many years.

Here's a cool old red Daytona from the old days. I 'm not sure who owned it at the time. But check out the gas price on the sign above the car. Sure dates the photo!

Elmer Duellman still owns this ultra low mileage original Superbird. This photo was taken in 1975 wth 11,000 miles. When I saw the car a year ago, it only had 13,000 miles on it. It still wears its original paint with the advertising for Elmers Auto Salvage.

Jim Radke was one of the founders of the Winged Warriors Limited club in California and owned an exciting array of wing cars during his involvement in the 1970's. This car was no exception as a Hemi Daytona with only 17,000 miles. The photo is dated April of 1976. If you have ever seen the old Street Machine magazines with different wing cars in them, those photos were all shot in this courtyard in southern California.

Here is Radke's Hemi Daytona a little later, at a Winged Warriors meet at the late great Riverside Raceway. Now the car has the STP style red paint added to the hood, and a red stripe. Very striking. The car later appeared in a Maremont Muffler ad, circa 1978. That's also current DSAC member Lou Whitfield's Charger R/T in the background.

Mike McGuire of Virginia drove this Hemi powered Daytona to the 1977 National Meet in Ann Arbor Michigan. A striking looking car, it was A4 silver with a red stripe.

Another custom Daytona from the 1977 Ann Arbor Michigan meet.

Updated - November 2008

How about a nice custom Talladega? This one was owned by Larry Reynolds, circa 1977. Larry took a stock Talladega and painted silver Spoiler stripes and the Talladega race car script on the rear quarters. A very striking car if you ask me.

Roger Dennee of Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin owned this sharp custom Superbird, shown here at the 1978 club national meet in Milwaukee WI

Donna Schill is one of the founding members of DSAC. She owned this great looking silver Daytona, shown here in 1976. This car is a 440 with a 4-speed and had a leaded in nose and black strobe stripes. Wayne Perkins of Kansas currently owns this car, and it now has a Hemi engine.

Dave Rychwalski of Greenfield Wisconsin owned this custom blue Superbird. It has a floral padded top which actually looked pretty good. It also got a large hood scoop and chrome tunnel ram manifold underneath. This photo is circa 1976.

Well it's not a full custom, but I have to say that I like the Pete Hamilton nose paint treatment. Shown here in 1979, this is a 440- 4bbl with a console auto. It's been since restored in the mid 1990's.

We can't leave you Charger 500 fans out. This car was owned by RIch Meintel from California in 1976. RIch also had a Q5 turquoise Daytona that has recently been located. Where is this 500?