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The Road Runner is a low-trim muscle car that was produced by Plymouth between 1968 and 1980.
Talking to gearheads about the Plymouth Road Runner usually feels like preaching to the choir. That said, there is a reason the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner played a major role in The Fast and The Furious movie franchise. It made its first appearance in Tokyo Drift, driven by Dom himself.
Not every car that graced the movie returned for a second outing, but we see the Road Runner again, and again until the Furious 7. Most gearheads have a soft spot for the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner because it was the first time American gearheads got a combo of high-power and budget-friendly in a muscle car.
Even newbie gearheads knew the Road Runner’s reputation for lightweight and strong engines. Since Chrysler’s upper management opposed the Road Runner’s branding, the project was pushed through on a low budget, resulting in a lighter, cheaper, maximum-performance machine without comfort creatures (not even a carpet). Let’s dive right in.
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Chrysler’s Plymouth produced the Road Runner between 1968 and 1980. It was a performance-focused mid-size American muscle car based on the ’64 – ’74 B-body Satellite Belvedere line. Before the Road Runner, the Plymouth Satellite was the top-of-the-line model until the 1967 model year.
Reportedly, Chrysler’s senior management at Highland Park initially turned down the Road Runner idea. It would’ve been a different story if Chrysler chose to move in a different direction from the Road Runner. In its first year of production, the Plymouth Road Runner sold 29,240 coupes and 15,359 two-door hardtops. It was even better the second year, with 48,549 hardtops, 33,743 coupes, and 2,128 convertibles sold.
The success is largely attributed to sound market research on the part of Chrysler Corporation which sought to fill the gap created by automakers now offering muscle cars with more horsepower and styling features while moving away from relatively cheap, fast cars. This approach may have netted higher profits for the companies, but it created a hungry segment for the Plymouth Road Runner to fill with a lower-priced, basic trim model to its upscale GTX. The Road Runner’s commercial success also reinforced what gearheads love the most about cars, but we will discuss those in the next subheading.
It’s important to remember that '60s era Chrysler was in direct competition with GM and Ford muscle cars; hello, Pontiac GTO, Shelby Cobra GT, or even AMC’s AMX. So, Chrysler’s top dogs agreed it needed to rebrand some of its cars to compete with rivals like the popular Pontiac GTO. Some Chrysler executives understandably hesitated when the product planning team floated the idea of a branding campaign based on a cartoon.
Yes, the Plymouth Road Runner was indeed based on the famed Warner Brothers animated cartoon bird. So, the honk goes "beep, beep!," and the ad campaign featured Wiley Coyote. Plymouth reportedly paid $50,000 to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts to use the Road Runner name and images from their Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons (as well as the "beep, beep" horn, which Plymouth paid another $10,000 to develop).
The Superbird variant had a helmeted Roadrunner on its huge rear spoiler while many customers got their Plymouth Road Runner with steering wheels bearing the Roadrunner logo and air cleaners with the “Coyote Duster” logo. Gearheads have Gordon Cherry to thank for the cartoon bird idea. The concept made sense to Bob Anderson, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Chrysler and Plymouth who envisioned a car that would appeal to younger drivers and, most importantly, give the popular Ford Mustang a run for its money.
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Kids love Tom and Jerry not just because of how they look but, more importantly, how they act. The same is applicable to gearheads’ love for the Plymouth Road Runner. Firstly, Road Runner was developed as a mid-priced car that everyone – including young gearheads – can afford and flex.
Priced at $3,032, the Plymouth Road Runner didn’t have trunk-loads of convenience features to write home about, but gearheads with a need for speed finally had an affordable muscle car that inadvertently could shame its pricier and heavier counterparts, thanks to its lightweight construction and fewer amenities. It was great at moonshining and, right hand to God – the Road Runner's lightweight and sturdiness made it faster than most cop cars.
We already mentioned it didn't even come with a mat, but it did without a few other comfort features like a radio, air conditioning, trim, and cruise control. Both the front and rear seats were bench style, and there were very few color options. The Road Runner didn't have trim levels except the GTX offered as the upscale trim through the 1971 model year. Gearheads loved that the available options favored speed and acceleration over ‘trivialities.’ We particularly love the rallye dashboard with 150 mph speedo on the 1970 model.
The Plymouth Road Runner is propelled by MOPAR’s time-tested 383 cu-in (6.3-liter) V8 engine with the cylinder heads, intakes, camshafts, valve springs, and crankcase windage tray lifted from the race-bred 440 Super Commando, resulting in a 330 hp and 425lb-ft powerplant. There was also a 7.0-liter (426 cu-in) Hemi V8 and a 7.2-liter (440 cu-in) V8 engine. The engine was mated to a 4-speed manual transmission or a 3-speed automatic.
The Hemi mills came with the word “Hemi” printed proudly on the cars’ scoops and rear. Naturally, gearheads were happy to spend an extra $714 on the Hemi than chrome bumpers. Plymouth sacrificed the glitz and chrome trims in exchange for performance features such as beefed-up suspensions, manual transmissions, brakes, and tires.
Philip Uwaoma, this bearded black male from Nigeria, is fast approaching two million words in articles published on various websites, including toylist.com, rehabaid.com, and autoquarterly.com. After not getting credit for his work on Auto Quarterly, Philip is now convinced that ghostwriting sucks. He has no dog, no wife- yet- and he loves Rolls Royce a little too much.