Jay Leno Drives The Legendary 1970 Plymouth Superbird

Comedian Jay Leno is a car guy’s car guy, and he has some of the most amazing opportunities as part of the community that we all love to follow along on his YouTube channel, Jay Leno’s Garage.

In his latest video, Jay joins fellow funnyman Jeff Dunham in his garage to check out Jeff’s barn find 1970 Plymouth Superbird, one of the most iconic hotrods in all of automotive history. Dunham’s particular combination of engine and transmission – the legendary Hemi powerplant that changed the racing world mated to a four speed manual transmission – makes the car one of 35, certainly qualifying it as one of the rarer specimens you’re likely to ever find. The car has been painstakingly restored and looks as good as it did the day it rolled off the showroom floor, if not better.

Jeff and Jay walk around the car, discussing many of its unique features that made the car one of the fastest in history, despite being nearly 50 years old. It’s absolutely insane to think this car was capable of running 200 MPH considering the heft of it coupled with its dinosaur-aged technology and massive size and heft. This car, along with it’s cousin, the Dodge Charger Daytona, were built for no other reason than to try to lure legendary driver Richard Petty back to the Mopar camp after he left to drive for Ford.

The ploy worked and Petty came home to Mopar, where he would go on to rack up the most wins in NASCAR history. While Petty was absolutely dominant in the Charger Daytona, the domination was short lived, as NASCAR outlawed both versions after just one season due to the unfair advantage afforded drivers of the Superbird and Charger Daytona.

Later, Jay takes the car out for a drive and continues to chat with Dunham about the history of the car, among many other topics. The car looks and sounds great, and we’re a little jealous because he is living the life we all would love to be living!