1968 Plymouth Road Runner - Car Craft Magazine

The fixed B-pillar on this first-year '68 model marks it as a coupe. After December 18, 1967, a pillarless hardtop body style was added to the Road Runner lineup. Coupes outsold hardtops 29,240 to 15,359. Oddly, aside from the pillar, there are no other visible differences between the two body styles, and they share the same windshield, roof stamping, and back glass. This coupe was a 383 four-speed car, and its VIN begins with RM21. Road Runner hardtop VINs begin with RM23.

The fixed B-pillar on this first-year '68 model marks it as a coupe. After December 18, 19

Whether you dig Mopars or not, we must all respect the Plymouth Road Runner. No, it wasn't the first muscle car, but it was the first to be marketed to kids. While other midsize muscle cars of the day-Chevelle SS396s, Fairlane GT390s, Cutlass 442s, Pontiac GTOs, and so on-were geared toward more mature audiences and bank accounts, Plymouth appealed directly to the kiddie set. This was done in two steps. The first was by working a deal with Warner Bros. to license the Road Runner image and "Beep Beep" voice, a popular Saturday morning TV and theatrical cartoon character since 1949. The second was to price the car at $2,870, well within the range of any hard-working high school punk with a valid driver's license.

Best of all, while Plymouth could have gone soft and slapped the Road Runner stickers and horn on the base 318 Belvedere (maybe adding a four-barrel and dual pipes to spice things up), each and every '68 Road Runner came standard with a 335hp 383 wedge, a heavy-duty A833 four-speed transmission, a bulletproof 8 3/4 rear axle, 11-inch manual drum brakes, F70-14 tires, and a police/taxi suspension. And while few were built, the 426 Street Hemi was the lone engine option.

1968 Plymouth Road Runner 1969 383 Four Speed Hardtop

We know this '69 383 four-speed hardtop got the optional Performance Hood Paint treatment since traces of the matte-black paint can still be seen atop the front fenders and cowl. The faded Center Line rims and swapped-in 440 short-block tell us this was likely a potent street racer until it got parked in the mid-'80s.

We know this '69 383 four-speed hardtop got the optional Performance Hood Paint treatment

Rolled together in the aforementioned base Belvedere sedan body with a bench seat and rubber floor mat, the 383 Road Runner was a very serious performance machine that could run mid-14s at the strip, top out at 130 mph, do 0-60 in less than 7 seconds, and most of all, it could stop (the 9.5-inch standard drums installed under GM muscle cars were a joke by comparison). Total first-year sales hit 44,599 units, and surveys showed that nearly 20 percent were purchased by high school kids.

Over the next 12 years (Road Runners were offered until the end of the '80 model year), the formula matured and the legend grew. Today, Road Runners are revered by collectors, and prices are too high for most of us. That's why it was such a shock to discover this horde of ravaged Road Runners in the spring of 2010. Don't worry, they're not going to the crusher anytime soon. They're all tucked away safely at Gary Laplante's Milford, New Hampshire, salvage yard. Let's take a tour.

Groovy Factoids
•The first Road Runner cartoon was titled Fast and Furry-ous and debuted on September 16, 1949. Eat that, Vin Diesel.
•The Road Runner's unique "Beep Beep" sound was part of every episode, from the very first to present day. Veteran voice actor Paul Julian played the Road Runner from 1949 to 1995.
•Road Runner's nemesis, Wile E. Coyote, was silent until 1952 when creator Mel Blanc finally gave him a voice.

In the trunk of this '69, we spotted hand-scrawled grease pencil markings similar to the red '68 in this roundup. But this car's mark reads 70W, indicating it was originally built with white line tires-a no-charge alternative to the Red Streaks.
In the trunk of this '69, we spotted hand-scrawled grease pencil markings similar to the r
All '68 Runners came standard with F70-14 tires with either white or red stripes. The grease pencil marking inside the PP-1 Matador Red trunk lid was scribbled by the Lynch Road line workers as a trigger to make sure the car was equipped with an F70-14 Red Streak spare tire. This way it'd match the rest of the tires. With the optional chrome Magnum 500 wheels, this red Runner was a stunner.
All '68 Runners came standard with F70-14 tires with either white or red stripes. The grea
Up front, the black-painted "Beep Beep" horn has rusted bare and sits next to an ancient Mallory coil. Dig the moss sprouting from the juice box. For 1969, Plymouth changed the horn color from black to purple for greater eye appeal.
Up front, the black-painted "Beep Beep" horn has rusted bare and sits next to an ancient M

The brushed-aluminum trunk panel tells us this '68 383 four-speed hardtop (no fixed B-pillar) was built with the Road Runner Décor Group, a $79.20 option. The same panel was standard equipment on Satellites-minus the wide, red paint stripes along the upper and lower borders of the panel.
The brushed-aluminum trunk panel tells us this '68 383 four-speed hardtop (no fixed B-pill
Inside, we see a vintage Sun tach and an aftermarket Hurst shifter. The OE Hurst stick was much longer and used a round woodgrain plastic ball. The general hopped-up vibe of the car led us to hope we'd stumbled onto a rare '63/'64 426 Max Wedge treasure, but the loose cylinder head is a 906 casting-common to all 383 (and 440) engines in 1969 regardless of horsepower rating. It's still a good piece, though.
Inside, we see a vintage Sun tach and an aftermarket Hurst shifter. The OE Hurst stick was
The '69s rear side glass carries this faded Mike's Speed Equipment sticker. The "Home of Midnight Productions" slogan refers to the many street races Mike's used to host right in front of the shop-which was located at the start of a mile-long stretch of Route 9 just outside Amherst, Massachusetts. Man, we wish this car could talk! The former Mike's Speed is now a Kubota tractor store, and Mike's has gone to horsepower heaven.
The '69s rear side glass carries this faded Mike's Speed Equipment sticker. The "Home of M

Many say the best Road Runners were built before the smog police went nuts in 1972. But we're still digging this '73 400 big-block in Petty Blue (aka Basin Street Blue). With 17,443 built, '73 Road Runner sales nearly tripled the 6,159 sold in 1972. All coupe and convertible body styles were eliminated when the Plymouth B-Body was totally redesigned for 1971. Thus, all Road Runners are hardtops from 1971 onward.
Many say the best Road Runners were built before the smog police went nuts in 1972. But we
Don't be fooled by the flat Satellite hood. This hulk's RM23H0 VIN prefix verifies it as another '70 383 Road Runner hardtop. Total sales for 1970 shrank to 41,484 units (15,716 coupes, 23,009 hardtops, 1,935 Superbirds, and 824 convertibles) thanks to growing numbers of "me too" budget muscle offerings from the competition.
Don't be fooled by the flat Satellite hood. This hulk's RM23H0 VIN prefix verifies it as a
Inside we get a rare look at an unmolested, base-level '70 Road Runner interior. Dig the bench seat, manual transmission floor hump, and standard three-spoke padded steering wheel. The round gauge instrument panel was first used in '68 Dodge Chargers but was adopted as the sole instrument panel for all '70 Road Runners.
Inside we get a rare look at an unmolested, base-level '70 Road Runner interior. Dig the b

The bucket seats are not correct inside this former bench-seat, column-shift TorqueFlite-automatic-equipped 400 car, but the rest of the interior is super sweet. Dig the original rubber floor mat-you paid extra for carpeting. The pair of rectangular vents in the center of the dash tell us this one was ordered with A/C.
The bucket seats are not correct inside this former bench-seat, column-shift TorqueFlite-a
Some say this lowly 318 two-barrel-equipped (G-code) '73 isn't worthy of the Road Runner name. Just don't tell the VIN prefix, which still carries the legendary RM23 Road Runner-specific body code-as would all Runners built before 1975. At least Plymouth made sure these 318 two-barrel-powered Road Runners still carried standard dual exhaust.
Some say this lowly 318 two-barrel-equipped (G-code) '73 isn't worthy of the Road Runner n
Based on the new F-car platform with its transverse torsion bar front suspension, the '76 was the first Road Runner not to utilize a VIN starting with the letters RM. This '76 318 coupe was smacked just hard enough to split its badly rusted frame, but we still dig the fact that Plymouth was at least trying. Packed with the base 145hp 318 two-barrel (G-code), the only alternative was a 170hp 360 two-barrel with 280 lb-ft (K-code). Clean Volares (and their Dodge Aspen cousins) are getting hard to find, but more folks than ever are warming up to their taut lines and compact dimensions.
Based on the new F-car platform with its transverse torsion bar front suspension, the '76