S- Plymouth Road Runner

One of Chrysler’s most recognizable muscle cars, besides the Dodge Super Bee, Charger and the Plymouth Barracuda, is the Plymouth Road Runner. The Road Runner, along with the other cars mentioned above, are a part of the MOPAR car group. The Road Runner is a modified version of the Belvedere car. Plymouth then paid the Warner Bros $50,000 to put the famous cartoon bird, The Road Runner, on the car. Plymouth wanted to go back to making cars that were fast and selling them for cheap like the original muscle cars were. In 1968, the first Plymouth Road Runner was produced. The 1968 Road Runners came with a 383 v8 which produced 335 horsepower. The 383 was the standard engine. But it also came with a second option. This option was the more powerful 426 v8 Hemi engine. It produced 425 horsepower. The interior was basic. It didn’t have a bench seat or a carpeted floor. There were two 2door versions, one was a hard top, and the other was a pillared coupe.The base model was sold for $2896. If you wanted the Hemi version, it cost $3610. The horn on this car was a replica of the Road Runner’s well known “beep-beep” and the hood had vents. In 1969, these cars were offered with a convertible option. There were also two new engine options. The first is a 440 with a four barrel carburetor which produced 375 horsepower. The other is also a 440, but it had a triple-two carburetor, which means it’s a six barrel carburetor. This version of the 440 was called the “440 +6” and it produced 390 horsepower. They also had a hood scoop like the Dodge Super Bee. This helped get more air in to the engine. The 1970 model had a different hood. It had a trap door, that when a switch was hit, a shark cartoon will pop up with the phrase “Air Grabber” on the side. This was meant to help get air into the engine. A 3 speed manual transmission became the standard transmission along with an optional 4 speed manual transmission. 1971 was the beginning of the end if the muscle era. Due to government regulations, the 383 engine and the 440 engines dropped in horsepower. The 383 produced 300 horsepower. The 440 v8 produced 370 horsepower and the “440+6” produced 385 horsepower. The 426 Hemi stayed the same, but it would be dropped the next year. In 1972 the 383 was dropped also with the 426 hemi. The Road Runner still came with the 440 v8 and “440+6”. The 440 v8 only 280 horsepower, and the “440+6” only produced 330 horsepower. The Road Runner gained two new engine options this year to. One was a 340 v8, which produced 240 horsepower. The other was a 400 v8, which produced 255 horsepower. In 1973, the Road Runner only gained one new engine. This was a 318 v8, which produced 170 horsepower. In 1974 the 340 engine was replaced with a 360 v8. This engine produced 245 horsepower. This engine line up lasted until 1976. In 1976 there were only two engine lineups, the 318 v8 which only produced 150 horsepower and the 360 which only produced 170 horsepower. This lineup lasted the rest of the life of the Road Runner. The Road Runner was a big part of the muscle car era and one Chrysler’s most recognizable cars.