"ROAD RUNNER versus ACME RACING"
(you lose)Beep Beep, Yer Ass ! ! !
(final installment of a 3 part series)In late 1966 or there abouts, the gearhead guys at Plymouth saw a definite, young market opening up. A market in the Muscle Car arena. Plymouth decided that Muscle Cars had gotten too far from their original purpose: cheap (and very fast) thrills. They were becoming luxury cars with a big engine. A niche was opening up in the car market for the "just turning 16 and just getting out of high school" segment, which needed to be filled, and filled FAST! Someone at Chrysler felt they needed to get back to the basic equation. The one that those Poncho guys had written just two years before -- CID + lighter car = Performance. Multiply that CID by the power of X (X equaling HEMI) and the thrills/performance when up like a exponentially (OK, I said in high school I would never use that stuff, but I just did). Pontiac was moving away from the basic equation themselves as the cheap, bare-bones GTO was going more upscale looking for wider appeal. Ford and the Mustang was growing up. Camaro was just out (1967) and not really yet defined.
The answer to this need that the MoPar boys saw came in the form of the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner. A very affordable car that came standard with low weight, great looks, and great power. In fact - a true Muscle Car. The original Road Runner was perhaps the second most significant Muscle Car to the 1964 Pontiac GTO as it shifted the market back to it’s "bang for the buck" roots. It was certainly the most important Muscle Car since the original GTO and now Plymouth wanted to own their part of this segment. Little did they know that they would redefine the segment and own it entirely. Plymouth originally estimated that it would sell 2,500 Road Runners in 1968; they actually sold an astounding 45,000 copies!
In 1968, the company paid $50,000 to Warner Brothers to affix that certain cartoon bird onto its new vehicle, which was based on a stripped down Belvedere pillared coupe body, and the myth of the Road Runner was born. A horn that went "beep-beep" complimented the Road Runner decals (in gray in ‘68 due to time constraints) that were standard on all Road Runners. The standard engine was MoPar’s 383 cid powerplant, which was treated to the heads, manifolds, camshafts, valve springs, and crankcase windage tray from the race ready 440 Magnum engine. Thanks to those RamChargers guys for all that work on the Wedge motors and head work.
These changes made the old 383 into a 335bhp and 425lb.-ft. of torque, big block muscle motor, and some serious tire smokin’ power! This was coupled with numerous other performance features including beefed up suspensions, manual transmissions, brakes, tires, and Chrysler’s "Sure-Grip" rear-end.
The car came standard with a sparse "Taxi Cab" style interior, with very few options, if any. There were the plain bench seats, front and rear, with no radio, no trim, and right in the center of it all was the 4-speed A833 manual tranny shifter, and all in black, everything in black, and no carpeting - just rubber floor mats. Just like Mick and the Rolling Stones sang - "no colors anymore, I want them to turn black. . ."
The main attraction was all of that at a base price of $2,896.00. For those who wanted a little (sic) bit extra, there was one engine option; for $714.30 Plymouth would slide in a 426 Street Hemi (see "Those Incredible Hemi’s and the Elephant Cars", part 2 of this 3 part series). Clearly with one option you could raise the price of the car by 25% - but think of the return you would have had if you were smart enough to buy one and still had it today. Sadly, only 1,019 Road Runners were delivered with the Hemi option. The outside of the car was just as sparse, perhaps even dowdy. Very little chrome or shine with exception of the stainless steel grille, and bumpers front and rear, and the tail lights. Small Road Runner badges adorned the doors, with little stickers of the infamous cartoon bird just above. As stated earlier, due to time constraints the first year, the stickers were black and white - color came out later. By mid-year they had introduced a pure hardtop to go with the pillared roof (coupe/sedan) version.
This car made quite an impact in my high school parking lot. One of the guys from my school’s older brother got a brand new 1968 Road Runner in Competition Orange with a Black Vinyl top and black interior. He could smoke the tires as far as he wanted, and with few exceptions it was just like the cartoons -- you were the Coyote from Acme Racing Co. and he was the splendid Road Runner, rarefied among birds, sleek, fast, built for speed -- and try though you may, you lost every time.
Why mess with success? Due to the huge success of the 1968 Road Runner, Plymouth decided to expand the choices in ‘69. A convertible was added to the existing hardtop and pillared coupe body styles and bucket seats were added as options. The Road Runner decals were now in color. Joining the 383 and 426 Hemi engines were a choice of two 440 cid V-8s, a four barrel version rated at 375 bhp, and a triple-two barrel 440 cid
V-8. Known as the "440 Six-Pack", this engine provided Hemi-like acceleration for about half the price. Included with the "Six-Pack" option were simple, black wheels, a flat black fiberglass lift-off hood, and a large, functional hood scoop. Similar to the hood scoop found on the Dodge Super Bee, this was one of the most efficient MoPar hood scoops ever.
Of course, the 440 Six-Pack still wasn’t a Hemi, which continued to dominate just about everything else one could race against on street or strip. The Muscle Car enthusiasts rewarded Plymouth’s decision on the Road Runner to "keep it real" by snatching up 82,109 copies in it’s sophomore year! No sophomore jinx here.
In ‘70, the Road Runner was a one of a kind body, with the basic ‘68/’69 body style and shape still being there, but no body panels fitting anywhere. The same short option list applied, with a few more basic options being available. Also in the offering for 1970 there was another "one off" design, the Plymouth Road Runner Super Bird. This Bird, designed to make the modified aerodynamic body N.A.S.C.A.R. legal, was produced in very limited quantities, and sold even less when first produced. Ford had rolled out it’s "Torino Talladega" and Chrysler countered with the droop nosed Super Bird and Charger with a wing that stood nearly 5 feet tall to the top. Those rice burner boys would have suffered wing envy back then.
This thing looked awesome (see Steve Tyler’s ‘70 Road Runner Super Bird here in the website under Feature Cars, or take a virtual spin in it in the "Wild Rides" video section). The Super Bird wasn’t a big success in the showroom though, with many stories of them sitting for more than one year before they were sold (just like the ZL-1 Camaro’s - many sat on dealers lots for one or two years before they sold). And N.A.S.C.A.R. apparently didn’t like it either and it was effectively outlawed for basically being too fast (they claimed unfair advantage).
For the regular Road Runner cars, a new, bold - well, over the top hood scoop was introduced. It was appropriately called the "Air Grabber." The side of the scoop was adorned with a cartoon shark character gulping up the air. Oh, those Chrysler guys and their sense of humor. It even came with a remote switch under the dash that allowed you to open the scoop on demand.
Now, imagine that you are in your ‘69 Mach 1 or 350 S/S Camaro and next to you is this "Plain Jane" Road Runner at a stoplight - he throws you a little rev, you throw one back -- he looks over and wryly smiles -- then throws the switch and pops open his scoop so you know he’s got a 440 Six-Pack -- you (A) Flip on your blinker and turn right (B) Tell him it’s your brother’s car and he would kill you if you street raced it (C) Tell him you have eggs in the trunk and don’t want to break them or (D) Wuss out and back down as he smokes away down the street. Doesn’t really matter anyway - he knows you don’t have the cahones to race him, and you can’t show your face at the local drive-in for a month.
In 1971 a major body change took place, more creature comfort inside, and smoother lines outside. We should probably end the discussion of the Road Runner here, since this year marked the death (RIP) of the era of the Muscle Car. Sure, cars still had V-8 engines, and they called them Muscle Cars, but the horsepower and performance numbers were dropping faster than co-ed’s tops in a "Girls Gone Wild" video. The oil embargo was here - the gas wars were over and gas won. Insurance costs all but killed those cars that remained. And the 1971 Road Runner was a very beautiful car by itself. In just its fourth year, the Road Runner saw its performance bent engines fall victim to tightening government regulations on emissions and fuel economy. The standard 383 powerplant dropped 35 bhp while the 440 engines both lost 5 bhp. The 426 Hemi stayed fast at 425 bhp. This would be the last year for the Hemi as it too would fall victim to the increased standards. Both the 2 Door Pillared Coupe and the Convertible body styles were dropped, leaving the 2 Door Hardtop as the sole offering.
In 1972, the Hemi was dropped in all of the Chrysler cars. The GTX was now available as an option on the Road Runner and came only with the 440 engine. A new 400 cid V-8 was introduced, rated at 255 bhp. Due to increasing emission standards, the old 383 was dropped. The Road Runner received a redesigned rear bumper and side markers along with electronic ignition, 60 series tires, and a rear sway bar. The front bumper now had two vertical slots for the bumper jack and the Road Runner received a new grille.
This body style continued into 1974 which was the last year for the B-bodied Road Runner. Along the way it continued to spiral downward as it shed most of it’s horsepower and engine options -- two barreled 318’s were offered and the 360 was the top engine. Chrysler tried to persevere with the performance cars - but by comparison to just a few years before, these were pretty pathetic cars.
For 1975, the Road Runner was moved to the Fury platform (mistake). This would be the only year that the Road Runner was based on this platform. Still trying to hold onto its muscular roots, but the emissions crunch took the looks and power of the once awesome Bird down still another notch, to a lower end "personal luxury" passenger car option. Bumpers stuck out of both ends of the car. The flowing lines and bare bone, muscular looks were replaced with overdone, overweight appearing designs. Basically, the Road Runner was trying to be a Muscle Car, but just couldn’t quite get the job done and live within the corporate structure. Plymouth wasn’t alone here, no other manufacturer even continued anything else resembling a Muscle Car either. The King was Dead, but not forgotten.
For 1976, the Road Runner was moved to the new Volare platform, which had replaced the popular Valiant, a bare boned econobox sled. Although available with either a two barrel 318 or 360 engine, the Road Runner was now truly just a trim package on an economy car. From 1976 to 1980 the Road Runner was to spend it’s final years before retirement within the Plymouth Volare line. All I can remember is Ricardo Monteban and the "Corinthyn Leather", I liked the song way better than the car anyway.
The 1977 Plymouth Road Runner saw the first use of an on-board engine computer, the Lean Burn system, which managed a 4 barrel electronic feedback carburetor on the 360 engine. It looked like an upgraded version of the K-car (though it was still a front engine, rear drive car). All of the switchgear inside the car said cheap. Nothing looked performance. Being down graded even more to little more than a "beauty" package, which consisted of stripes, and window louvers (on the quarter flipper windows no less), and rims, with little to no oomph under the hood, standard with the 318 2bbl over smog choked engine. Sad but true.
The only change for 1979 saw the introduction of an optional 4-barrel carburetor for the 318 cid engine!
Finally, 1980 was the last year for both the Volare (thank God) and the Road Runner. From a true Muscle Car that redefined the genre - to a barely warmed over P.O.S. with more graphics that bite in a very short time. Gas and insurance had killed all of the Muscle Cars of the era - and if the Road Runner was the current King, Chrysler was just too stubborn to lay it down and bury it.
You can still see them in car shows (and MoPar shows) all around the country, but it’s numbers are sadly thin. Look it over when you see one. Listen to it roar, imagine the smell of burning rubber and the screech of screaming tires. It’s an awesome experience.
What about the future? With all the new sheetmetal that the Plymouth keeps rolling out, and Chrysler’s new (3rd) generation Hemi on the market maybe we can see a Road Runner on the horizon. Those MoPar engineers already have available the new Hemi in Dodge Ram trucks in a 500hp version. Soon, they will be releasing a new Chrysler 300M with a 345hp version of the Hemi III that works like a 4 cylinder when you cruise (electronics, baby) and all 8 Hemi cylinders when you mash the gas. They actually coax 17 city/25 highway out of this package.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they just went back to the original dies and made a new Road Runner just like it was in 1968, but dropped all that new hardware (Hemi III engine, engine management computer, ABS brakes, air bags etc.) in it - instead of trying to create some kinda look alike. GM really missed the boat with the new GTO. You can’t just call something a GTO and make it one - it needs attitude and muscle - not refinement. My belief (and I’m a Blue Oval guy) is that their would be such a line up of the 40 to 55 year olds that Chrysler (or any other brave manufacturer) couldn’t keep up with the demand that a remake car could make. Then once again we could say -- "Beep Beep, Yer Ass !!!"