1968 Plymouth Road Runner

[Paul Ceasrine]

Hot Rod Magazine,,,,,,,,,,,,November 1967

One of the first performance tests of the new 68' Plymouth Road Runner.

Quietly, Plymouth Road Runner representatives wanted to also have
a 383 'Special HP Option' for the car, but the GTX marketing representatives
at Plymouth shot down that idea. Nobody at Plymouth wanted a 383 Road Runner
to be quicker than the 440 GTX.

[cudadoug]

Here's my RR story. Dateline: Hayward, CA April 1969. My older brother is home from 'Nam, doing his last 6 months close to home. All that money from the USMC needs to get spent: Time to buy a cool ride!

We wound up at Peabody Chrysler-Plymouth in San Leandro eyeballing a B-5 blue 69 GTX, but the price tag was spendy. The salesguy knew of a repo that just come back to the dealer and maybe he could get my bro "a deal".

He takes us back to a prep area and there it sits: A dark green on black 69 Hemi/4-speed/4.10 Dana equipped RR!! Air Grabber, PDB, P/S, am/fm/8-track, American Torque Thrust D's on G60 Ployglass rubber.

What put this grade school kid over the edge? Why the "beep-beep" horn of course!

What put my brother over the edge and sealed the deal? Well, first the test drive. YIKES! But the salesguy had a great pitch: He could have it out-the-door for $1.00 per mile on the odometer. It had just a few ticks over 3200 miles!

[Hemi Moose]

Nice looking '69 Hemi Road Runner...got any engine shots of it from back in the day.

[cudadoug]

My RR story, continued. I can recall with great clarity that a Hemi with a 4-speed and 4.10 gears on polyglass tires wouldn't win too many stoplight to stoplight challenges. But from a 40 MPH roll, there was not much around that could touch it.

This pic is in my parents garage as we're preparing to install a set of Hooker Headers. Painful side note: I can remember taking the exhaust manifolds and the air cleaner (air grabber car, remember?) to the DUMP soon after this day!

Note the slicks on steel wheels laying there. Yep, it was time to go get a time slip(s)...

Stock, except for open headers and those slicks and no air filter:
12.78 @ 110

Added 4.88 gears, "Landy" tune up on the AFB's and a Vanke mod to the intake:
12.22 @ 116

Added Isky .590 cam, distributor recurve, Schiefer clutch and the first set of Rocket Wheels in the Bay Area (15x4 and 15x10):
11.58 @ 121

A rebuilt Hemi with the above cam, Venolia pistons, Rat Roaster intake "blueprinted" Landy carbs, Accel BEI igntion, Milodon oiling, 5.12 gear, etc:
10.77 @ 128

Even in 10.77 form, the car wasn't cut up at all, still had all of the stock interior, still weighed over 3,700#, and still roamed the street often!

Fast forward to 1976. After buying a '66 Belevdere I Hemi (sedan) the RR was sold. Less, engine/trans/Dana for $1000, with 33K showing on the clock. Yes it still smelled new inside! Hopefully it's a restored show poodle now and didn't get thrashed or wrecked...

Note the CA black and yellow plate: YUF 426. What are the odds?? There was a few acronyms made up back then for what the YUF meant!

GREAT memories. My brother (now 62) is 100% responsible for my Mopar/drag race habit and can't imagine life without this hobby and the friends I've made because of it.

[cudadoug]

Moose, I wish! I know there a few taken, especially as mods were done but he and I have yet to come across any.

I'd REALLY like to have the VIN so I could see if it's still around...