Tom Lembeck’s Mopar collection includes two of the rarest muscle cars ever built: a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona in Spring Green and a 1970 Plymouth Superbird in Vitamin C Orange, both packing factory 426 Hemi engines. Filmed side by side in Chicago, the pairing even fooled a passerby who walked right past without noticing. Fans in the comments are split on which winged Mopar deserves the edge. Watch to see which one Tom calls his favorite.
Most car owners are lucky to have one legendary machine in the driveway. Tom Lembeck has two of the rarest, and on this particular day in Chicago, he parked them side by side and let a passerby walk right past without noticing what was standing a few feet away. The two winged Mopars sitting on that lot represent one of the strangest, most extreme chapters in muscle car history — full-size sedans turned into aerodynamic missiles for a racing rule that barely lasted two seasons. Which one would Tom actually pick if he could only keep one?
Two Rarest of the Rare, Parked Side by Side
Filmed in Chicago on October 15, 2017, this video puts two of the most extreme aero-warriors of the muscle car era in the same frame: a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird finished in Vitamin C Orange and a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona in Spring Green Metallic. Both cars belong to Tom Lembeck, whose Mopar collection has made him a recognizable name among serious winged-car enthusiasts.
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The Passerby Who Had No Idea
At one point in the video, a passerby walks directly next to the two cars, apparently unaware they are standing inches from two of the rarest and most valuable muscle cars ever produced. One commenter flagged the moment as genuinely funny, noting the person had no idea what they were passing — a small reminder of how easily these cars can hide in plain sight to anyone who does not know exactly what they are looking at.
Why These Cars Exist at All
The Daytona and Superbird exist because of NASCAR homologation rules that required manufacturers to build street-legal versions of any aerodynamic modification they wanted to race. Chrysler’s engineers responded with towering rear wings and elongated, pointed noses designed purely to cut through the air at speeds that street muscle cars had never approached before, creating some of the strangest-looking factory cars Detroit ever sold to the public.
Orange, Green, and Two Different Personalities
Both cars in this pairing are rare enough on their own, but seeing them together highlights how differently each brand approached the same aerodynamic problem. The Daytona, based on the Charger, came first in 1969, while the Superbird followed a year later built on the Road Runner platform with Plymouth’s own take on the winged nose-cone design — different sheet metal solving the same wind-tunnel equation.
The 426 Hemi Both Cars Share
Both cars in Lembeck’s collection carry factory-installed 426 Hemi engines, the most fearsome option available across Chrysler’s entire lineup at the time. Pairing the Hemi with the winged aero package meant these cars were not just built to look fast in a straight line — they were purpose-built to compete at the kind of superspeedway velocities where the wing and nose cone actually mattered, not just for show.
Which One Won Tom’s Heart
When asked to pick a favorite, Lembeck reportedly leaned toward the Daytona — a detail several commenters picked up on and debated in the replies. Fans split roughly down the middle: some preferred the Daytona’s more aggressive stance, others sided with the Superbird’s smoother orange presence, and more than a few said outright that choosing between them felt like an unfair question entirely.
Why NASCAR Killed the Cars It Created
NASCAR ultimately banned the winged cars from competition after just a couple of seasons, effectively killing off the very rule that had inspired their creation in the first place. Chrysler had built just enough Daytonas and Superbirds to satisfy homologation requirements, which means total production numbers for both cars combined still land somewhere under a few thousand units — a big part of why finding two of them, in this condition, under one owner is so remarkable.
What Cars Like These Are Worth Today
Surviving examples of both cars now regularly change hands for well into six figures at major collector auctions, with exceptionally documented cars occasionally clearing seven figures entirely. That kind of value only reinforces how significant it is to see two of them, in different colors, owned by the same collector and parked close enough together for a side-by-side comparison most fans will never get to make in person.
Cars Nobody Wanted When They Were New
Ironically, both cars were notoriously difficult for dealers to sell when new — their exaggerated aerodynamic styling struck many contemporary buyers as simply too strange, and some dealerships reportedly removed the wings and nose cones just to move inventory off the lot. That same styling that once scared away buyers is precisely what makes surviving, unmodified examples so valuable and sought-after today, a reversal that happens surprisingly often in collector car history.
The Lap That Proved the Wing Worked
The winged Daytonas aerodynamic package was not just for show — in March 1970, driver Buddy Baker piloted a Dodge Charger Daytona to an official 200.447 mph lap at Talladega Superspeedway, becoming the first driver to officially break the 200 mph barrier on a closed course. That single run validated everything Chryslers engineers had bet on when they stretched the nose and bolted on that towering rear wing. Some owners even paid dealers to strip the aero parts off entirely and revert their cars back toward a standard Charger or Road Runner look, an act that would be almost unthinkable to a modern collector sitting on a numbers-matching example today.
A Collection Viewers Called Museum-Worthy
One commenter called Lembeck’s collection museum-worthy, and it is hard to argue otherwise. Owning one factory Hemi-powered winged car would make most collectors’ careers; owning both a Daytona and a Superbird, in colors this striking, side by side, puts Lembeck in a category most Mopar fans can only dream about, and this brief Chicago sidewalk video is likely as close as most of them will ever get to seeing it firsthand. Whatever Lembeck ultimately decides, both cars have already outlived the NASCAR rule that created them by more than half a century, and neither shows any sign of losing relevance among Mopar collectors anytime soon.
Watch the full video and drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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bird with a 4speed
Daytona of course! But either would be a privilege to own.
Dodge
Both r badass
Superbird because they don’t make Plymouth anymore
You can put either one in my driveway I would not care!
Plymouth
Superbird
Gotta go with the 69 Daytona! Superb styling! Superbird is no slouch either!
David Floyd
Both!!!!!
Superbird❤
Neither I’ll take the challenger to the right!
Both!!! One each!!!
Beautiful, but I couldn’t pay the taxs on one
Dodge Daytona
I would be in Heaven
Neither— I was a 409 man !!!
Both
Bird Brian Getts!
Daytona, Bruce Getts!!!
Bird
The Plymouth. They will be worth more $$ since they were only built for one year.
69 just sold for $900,000
But , i owned a 74 roadrunner, 440 hp , so i will pick , the super bird :)
The Daytona..
Awesome both
The 1970 Dodge Challenger pictured on the right please !!!!
69 Daytona the kings fsvorite in NASCAR.
The Bird!