1968 Plymouth Road Runner

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Dennis P Chapman

Bill
That would of been a good street race make some money with it.

Never raced for money, but I DID outrun a lot of unsuspecting motorcycles with it. It was just a tick faster than the 4-cyl. 900 Kawasakis, which were new at the time... They, of course, never saw it coming... lol!

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Bill,

Didn't they call those camshafts 'VOODOO',,,,,,,,

On the subject of the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner.
Despite it's 1968 success,,,,,,,the 68' Pontiac GTO won out as
the 1968 Motor Trend Car of the Year.

The 1969 Plymouth Road Runner was the 1969 Car of the Year.
Motor Trend Magazine, February 1969.

The camshaft I had was actually the camshaft that was in the 'RIDDLER" Oregon-based 340 car that had won the Winternationals, a couple of years before. Mark Colleti's dad owned a chain of performancxe Mopar shops, and was apparently getting some help from Chrysler at the time. Gary Ostrich (20 miles from my house) did contract machine work for Chrysler at that time (the godd ol' days) and the Colleti clan had sent Mark's engine to Gary to change it over to a Super Stock confuguration, and the cam and lifters were sitting on a shelf, one day, when I was visiting the shop to see my friend, Charlie Malyuke, who worked there for Gary. I mentioned that I needed a cam, and Gary offered to sell me the used, but still fresh, "Riddler" cam and lifters for $60.00, and said he'd throw in a new set of new valve springs, for good measure. The deal of a lifetime.... lol!

Subsequently, Lunati (who had ground the cam, originally) came out with a line of camshafts called "Riddler" cams for small block Mopars, so I assumed that it was the same grind, but I don't know that.

It picked my car up 3-tenths from the stock 340 automatic cam. The bonus was it idled like a Gasser, now... nasty-sounding! LOL!!

Dunno about the VOOODOO cams...

Sorry for the blatant hijack...

[Paul Ceasrine]

Bill,

No worry on the 'hijacking',,,,,,,,anything is allowed for a Mopar owner.
This thread is open to all who can contribute something.

Do know about the Coletti's out of Hillsborough, Oregon,,,,,,,
Mark and his dad 'Smokey Joe'.

Lunati did have a 'special grind' out for the 340's,,,,,,,back then
Thought the 'Riddler' camshaft came out in 1969,,,,after Mark won
the 69' Winternationals Stock Eliminator with the 68' 340 Barracuda (F/SA).

pc

[Hemi Moose]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

...And at Warner Brothers, viewership increased by over 28% for the Saturday Morning Bugs Bunny & Road Runner Show,,,especially with males between the ages of 18 to 25....

I use to watch all those old cartoons back then, and always wondered if "Wile E Coyote the Super Genius" and all of that ACME Company stuff that he used would ever end up catching the Road Runner or not, lol.

[Frank B.]

Only because other people added Mopar memories. In 1970 I bought a 70 Barracuda 318 3 speed. It did have an 8 3/4 rear. I lived in Virgina and raced it at Suffok Raceway. I added Holly 2 barrel and it ran 16.10. In late 1971 I got Ed Miller from Chesepeake to change it over to a 340 4speed.He did all work including having exhaust made,shifter, and tuning. But it costed me a whopping $900 parts and labor. lol The car ran 13.10 on street tires with 3.23 gears. That was the good old days.

[KMachine]

I have a 69 383 4-speed RR. Red with a black vinyl top. I brought the car a couple of years ago from, Paul Wong.

[MEMORIES]

Lunati RL980 was the camshaft everyone was using in the 440's around here in the seventies. My brother had a 67 Dodge RT. He bought a 440 that Johnny Labbous had taken out of his SS/GA Roadrunner and put it in the RT. Talk about a wild street car!

Wayne

[Paul Ceasrine]

One of the sharpest looking Road Runners I ever saw,
back in 1968, a hardtop 383 Road Runner.

White with a black vinyl top,,,,,,,,,and the black matte hood.
Keystone Klassic wheels,,,,,Goodyear Polyglass R-W-L tires
with G-70 x 15's on the front, and G-60 x 15's on the back.

Really a simple addition to the car, that made it stand out.....
It looked fast,,,,,,and clean....

pc

[treessavoy]

'68 B5 blue Hemi, auto, dana. Just got home from Viet Nam and saw the ad in the Atlanta paper, the owner was in Viet Nam and told his parents to sell it. Bought it in Sep. '70 for $1,275.00 with a new aamco trans.

Sure wish I had it back!

JimR

[Frank Castros]

The hot cam for 440s back then was the Isky 1012B, which was essentially a Max Wedge Stage III grind.

Through the mufflers that cam sounded so intimidating.

There was a black '69 GTX with a white vinyl roof and Cragar S/S that had that cam in it. It was one bad boy.