Sox + Martin Superbird

[gtx6970]

After looking at this kit sit on my shelf for the past 30 years or more.

I think it's time has come to do something with it.

 

I'm leaning heavily  towards a stock box build.   The more commonly called 'KISS'  method. (Keep it simple stupid.) 

But....i have the resin sixpack hood and a  rat roaster intake to go MP car.

Problem is I'm not sure i want to go  another more detailed build with better chassis etc etc etc. 

Might come down to how well the paint on the resin hood turns out

I'm plan to use aftermarket decals either way.

Odds the kits decals are any good...is unlikely 

 

An issue to deal with is, there is not a lot of info / pictures out there on this particular car 

 

So far I, pretty certain there were actually 2 SM birds

Both hemi 4spds,  white bucket seats interior no console in either.

The SS/E car had a blue painted roof , the MP car was stock black vinyl top 

Neither car had the Bird specific scoops on the fenders . WHY, I've no idea.

 

Decisions decisions 

 

 

 

Edited July 11 by gtx6970

[afxawb2]

It is my understanding that Buddy Martin always painted his engines Ford Blue. Do not know why but maybe in reference to his early Ford roots.

[gtx6970]

43 minutes ago, afxawb2 said:

It is my understanding that Buddy Martin always painted his engines Ford Blue. Do not know why but maybe in reference to his early Ford roots.

Ronnie. Buddy and Jake  all had roots in Fords before their Chrysler association . 

Especially Jake King.

 

 

But I've read numerous stories why their engines were Ford blue. 

Unfortunately the only ones that might know are Buddy Martin and Herb McCandless 

Both of which will be at Chryslers at Carlisle next weekend 

Edited July 5 by gtx6970

[1972coronet]

Then there was the Jack Werst  Mr. 5 & 50  "cheater" '70 Superbird , SS/EA . 

This car was built to go after the '70 SS-454 Chevelle convertible SS/EA champ.

Just A Car Guy: the factory cheated too... Jack Werst's Super Bird, also known as the "Cheater Bird" was built specifically to take out Ray Allen, driving an LS6 Chevelle that was causing problems for Chrysler in a certain drag class.

[Force]

I believe Sox & Martin had two different Superbird's, one ran in the Super Stock E class and the other in C Modified Production class, the difference is the blue metallic painted roof on the SS/E car and a Six Pack hood scoop and a black vinyl top on the C/MP car, none of them had the small rearward facing scoops on top of the front fenders.
The Super Stock car was one of only two built and they ran it for a very short period in just a few races as it wasn't exactly legal, Sox & Martin got one with a manual for SS/E and Jack Werst got the other and ran an automatic so it had SS/EA classfication, the clutch pedal was still in Jack's car tho' put all the way up against the firewall.

And it was the mechanic Jake King who painted the engines he built Ford engine blue and all engines used by Sox & Martin wasn't blue, just the engines Jake built.

Edited July 7 by Force

[TarheelRick]

21 hours ago, afxawb2 said:

painted his engines Ford Blue. Do not know why

Ford blue would make them go faster😁.

[6bblbird]

On 7/5/2025 at 3:50 PM, gtx6970 said:

Ronnie. Buddy and Jake  all had roots in Fords before their Chrysler association . 

Especially Jake King.

 

 

But I've read numerous stories why their engines were Ford blue. 

Unfortunately the only ones that might know are Buddy Martin and Herb McCandless 

Both of which will be at Chryslers at Carlisle next weekend 

I’m gonna stick my 2cents in as to why S&M engines were painted with Ford paint (as were the race cars until 1970). The simple explanation is that S&M had a huge stockpile of Ford paint left over from their Mercury sponsorship. That said, I’m going to make it a priority to seek out Buddy and Herb at Carlisle this weekend and ask them!

[gtx6970]

13 hours ago, 6bblbird said:

I’m gonna stick my 2cents in as to why S&M engines were painted with Ford paint (as were the race cars until 1970). The simple explanation is that S&M had a huge stockpile of Ford paint left over from their Mercury sponsorship. That said, I’m going to make it a priority to seek out Buddy and Herb at Carlisle this weekend and ask them!

Another question for them.

 

Were there just the one superbird.

OR , were there actually 2 of them 

 

Depending on who you ask - where you read , I get both answers 

[gtx6970]

In between working on tile work of a bathroom shower remodel

I got to spend some time today cleaning up mold flash , and fitting the resin 6pack hood 

Got all the side markers filled and sanded smooth 

Engine is almost done . Interior is painted in a satin white '

 

Current plan is keep it a box stock build, and paint the resin hood ( fingers crossed that goes well )  .  And I will  display it both ways

 

The only picture with the hood up that I can find shows the car still stock hood  and air cleaner . So I assume its still a SS/E car at the time

 

Edited July 10 by gtx6970

[Force]

I'm not sure the SS/E car and the C/MP car was the same car.
The SS/E car has a blue metallic painted roof and the body was most likely intended for NASCAR as the filler panel for the smaller rear window was smoothed out and the NASCAR Superbirds did not have vinyl tops nor side markers.
The C/MP car had a black vinyl top like all the Superbirds you could buy from the dealer and the vinyl top was there to hide the filler panel for the rear window.
The SS/E car was built specially for the SS/E class and was not entirely legal and there were only two built for the class, one for Sox & Martin and one for Jack Werst, the rear axle was moved forward, the whole wing was weighted down, one front wheel was moved forward slightly and the engine was moved back...all this wasn't allowed in the Super Stock class.
They might be the same car but as I said, I'm not sure...and there are two Superbirds in the shop picture.

Edited July 14 by Force

[Dragline]

Looking great. Cannot wait to see it red,white and blue.

[gtx6970]

A good read on both the S-M car. As well as the Jack Werst SS wingcars from back then 

 

https://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=33830

Edited July 13 by gtx6970

[gtx6970]

Had a little time today so decided to spray the blue .  Once this is dry . I'll tape it up and spray the stripes ( both hoods ) 

 

I've been told the cars roof was darker than the earlier years, and not as bright blue as the online photos depict it to be . Not sure if this is TOO dark. But I can live with it I guess.

 

Both Tamiya blues.

Light blue metallic on the left 

Mica blue on the right

 

Let it sit a few days, then spray the red sides 

 

Also learned the car ran a Rat Roaster intake in SS/E with a basically stock but blueprinted hemi,  But was converted to crossram, lots more compression and cam  and the sixpack hood scoop  was installed at that time for C/MP

They were in fact both the same car, just at different points in time 

There was a 2nd Bird. But it was a painted up show car for the dealer tours and customer / client duties 

[Shark]

Sox and Martin cars were painted Ford factory colors thru 1967, the GTX/Belvedere you show. By 1968, the guys at Chrysler caught on and had them switch to their colors, so both your builds look pretty close to me, the blue would be darker and the red brighter on the Superbird.

[Force]

9 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

Also learned the car ran a Rat Roaster intake in SS/E with a basically stock but blueprinted hemi,  But was converted to crossram, lots more compression and cam  and the sixpack hood scoop  was installed at that time for C/MP

They were in fact both the same car, just at different points in time 

There was a 2nd Bird. But it was a painted up show car for the dealer tours and customer / client duties 

 

The C/MP car appearently had a tunnel ram style pretty much like the 1970 'Cuda, at least from the pictures I have seen...but they could have tested several intakes on the car, MP stands for Modified Production and had looser rules.

I don't know if there has been confirmed that the SS/E and C/MP car was the same car, it could be but I'm not sure as I have not seen any confirmation of that...and why would they put on a black vinyl top on the car when it didn't have it when it was ran in Super Stock...so it's confusing but it doesn't matter tho'.

They only ran the SS/E car (and SS/EA car for Werst) for a short while as it wasn't really Super Stock legal and had lots of unapproved modifications to it, and the goal was to beat Ray Allen's Chevelle Convertible and then redlight or something in the next run so they wouldn't be checked after the race...that's the story I've read.

[gtx6970]

10 hours ago, Force said:

The C/MP car appearently had a tunnel ram style pretty much like the 1970 'Cuda, at least from the pictures I have seen...but they could have tested several intakes on the car, MP stands for Modified Production and had looser rules.

I don't know if there has been confirmed that the SS/E and C/MP car was the same car, it could be but I'm not sure as I have not seen any confirmation of that...and why would they put on a black vinyl top on the car when it didn't have it when it was ran in Super Stock...so it's confusing but it doesn't matter tho'.

They only ran the SS/E car (and SS/EA car for Werst) for a short while as it wasn't really Super Stock legal and had lots of unapproved modifications to it, and the goal was to beat Ray Allen's Chevelle Convertible and then redlight or something in the next run so they wouldn't be checked after the race...that's the story I've read.

I posted above a link to Class Racer. Its a rather long thread on both the Jack Werst and SM wingcars built . Their timeline and initial purpose with some history posted by the people that were there 

And the comment that the 2 SM cars were one and the same car was posted by someone who worked for SM and on the very car 

 

In one photo the car is in the shop and its at that time is when the car is being transformed from SS/E to C/MP .  New engine would be installed with much more compression. and at 1st the crossram was used.

 

Ive not seen ANY under hood photos of the car to say with 100% certainty what it ran and when 

 

I've read for years there was 2 cars.  But seems odd that if true you would think at least one of them survived. These cars became a collectable commodity rather quickly . So it stands to reason 'at least one' of them would have surfaced by now.

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 05:11 PM by gtx6970

[Force]

 

On 7/17/2025 at 7:05 PM, gtx6970 said:

I posted above a link to Class Racer. Its a rather long thread on both the Jack Werst and SM wingcars built . Their timeline and initial purpose with some history posted by the people that were there 

And the comment that the 2 SM cars were one and the same car was posted by someone who worked for SM and on the very car 

 

In one photo the car is in the shop and its at that time is when the car is being transformed from SS/E to C/MP .  New engine would be installed with much more compression. and at 1st the crossram was used.

 

Ive not seen ANY under hood photos of the car to say with 100% certainty what it ran and when 

 

I've read for years there was 2 cars.  But seems odd that if true you would think at least one of them survived. These cars became a collectable commodity rather quickly . So it stands to reason 'at least one' of them would have surfaced by now.

 

 

 

 

Here is an under hood picture of the C/MP ERTL Supercar Collectibles 1/18 die cast car, I don't know how accurate it is tho' as I haven't found any picture of the engine in the real C/MP car.

The C/MP car was appearently sold after the 1970 season and ended up as the "Super Chicken" and this picture is from Indy 1971, the first race with the SS/E car was according to the Sox & Martin book in the beginning of April 1970 so if the SS/E and C/MP cars are the same car they must have rebuilt it quite soon to the C/MP configuration..and why they put on the black vinyl top is confusing as the SS/E car didn't have it.
I also read somewhere that the Superbird was lost to a fire, but that an be a rumour, but it has gone throught my head.

Edited yesterday at 08:10 AM by Force

[Shark]

I talked to the guy who drove the Sox and Martin hauler during that time frame. That was 55 years ago, but he was fairly certain there were 2 cars. Ownership of the 2 may not of overlapped much.

[gtx6970]

3 hours ago, Shark said:

I talked to the guy who drove the Sox and Martin hauler during that time frame. That was 55 years ago, but he was fairly certain there were 2 cars. Ownership of the 2 may not of overlapped much.

I have messaged back and forth a few times with someone who used to work there.

He confirmed there were in fact 2 cars.

 

One was a purpose built race car  - This car was both the SS AND the C/MP car . Just at different times. SS/E first, then C/MP

This is the car that was sold in short order and became the Superchicken, then disappeared.

The 2nd was basically a painted up street car used for customer / shop purposes. Once its duties were fullfilled. Im told this car was returned to Chrysler. Why? no one knows.

[Shark]

I would bet that the "street version" seen strip action also. Sox and Martin had an early 70's Duster with a 340 in it that ended up running at some events with different drivers.