In 1975, Plymouth created a rather different Road Runner than had existed before. Pretty much the only carryover from the 1974s was the little cartoon bird motifs, as the new car was based on the Fury body. Only 7,183 were built, making them quite rare now. This car was found by our very own Jesse, and is listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding has been strong so far and has taken the car to $5,600. If you want to be a coyote and catch this Road Runner, you’d better hurry because the auction ends soon!
The graphics on the rear are very 1970’s! Yes, that’s factory! However, the black bumpers aren’t; they should be chrome with a black rub strip. The gold stripes are stock. It looks like this car has been kept by an enthusiastic but possibly budget-minded owner.
As you can see from these two pictures, there are some corrosion issues! On the right, it looks like some rust has been crudely covered up with body filler and then painted, which makes me wonder about several other similar looking areas in the pictures of the car.
This is one of many pictures of the undercarriage of the car posted by the seller. I have to give them a lot of credit for full disclosure, and the show ‘placard’ produced by the owner before them says a lot–give it a read. If they are correct, the car was owned by Kent McCord of Adam-12 fame at one point. I’m not thinking that’s going to add much to the value, though.
Get out your sunglasses, Mabel, ’cause you’re going to need them when you see this interior! Wow, it’s amazing what passed for style then! Hey, I’m not nitpicking, I actually kinda like it! And apart from what looks like vomit on the driver’s side floor (really?), the interior doesn’t look bad at all.
About half of the 1975 Road Runners left the factory with an anemic 318 V8, de-powered by a lot of anti-smog devices. This one has the 360 with a four barrel and factory air conditioning! While you could get a 400 in 1975, I think the 360 would be a nice compromise. The factory brochure stated, the Road Runner “makes you forget that mistaken notion that cars can’t be fun anymore.” Do you agree?
Nice find, I remember emailing this to Jesse a couple weeks ago when it was on my local Craigslist.
$6000.00 worth of rust
If that’s not vomit in the car now, there will be after a closer inspection. Another “Titanic” on wheels.
I had a plain-Jane ’75 Fury, green on green, with a 318 auto back in 1991. That was the most uninspiring car I’ve ever owned. It was rusting away back then. I can’t imagine paying $6000+ for this “Roadrunner.”
I don’t think this car is worth the money it’s currently at, but when was the last time you saw one? I remember one way back in the late 70s in my local area. One of the reasons I come here everyday is just for the nostalgia lol.
That “other site” featured two of them recently:
http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-plymouth-fury-road-runner/
http://bringatrailer.com/2016/06/07/240-more-powerful-1975-plymouth-road-runner-restomod/
& that first one did’t sell at $5000 and was WAY nicer than this POS.
If this car can truly be documented as being owned by Mark VII originally & then by Kent, yes it is worth the $$. The Adam-12 & Kent McCord fan base is very strong, & I’ve put this link on on both the A-12 & Kent FB pages.
nicely optioned and the 75 bodystyle was a winner, but this one is hiding way to much rust.
These like most all 1970’s vehicles were prone to rust. No secret there. Had many good times cruising in one to and from school. My best friends Mom had one. Hers was yellow with Black stripes Black buckets and console. Had Cragars too. When it was newer stood out and was sharp. My best friend was the youngest of three. The two other siblings put their time in on it. By the time my friend was driving it was pretty rough. Infact the Road Runner cartoon figure on the lower corner of the deck lid rusted clear away. The R and O broke off the dash emblem and we referred to it as the Ad Runner!
My riding/driving impressions were favorable. The car handled better then my old mans 78 Cougar but the 351/400 Modified had a bit more power over the 318 that was a REAL a turd.
The Plymouth had a Sure Grip that gave up about 120K. Revving it up and slamming the Tourqeflite into drive to get the 60 series rubber to spin was pretty hard on it. Mom, it just quit moving. The laughable tach bounced around as I remember too. We would drive around with the low fuel gauge glowing when it got bright we would put $2.00 in it and he would take it home.
It had the typical Chrysler quality that would start rusting in the show room but it was a good car. It would always run. It was later replaced. I tried to buy it. My friends mom was being one to me and wouldn’t sell it. Said I didn’t need the trouble. It sat around for years and was finally junked. I still think about it. Good times.
I like this body a lot better then the later Aspen bodies and have often looked for one like it. Hard to find one year body and prices for one because it is a “Mopar” are always way more then I want to spend. Just like this one. But even if was next to free hate the color combo.
The tie in with Kent McCord is a cool factoid only because in earlier episodes he drove a Plymouth. Later in the show as everyone knows ditched it for a 401 Matador. If this was a Javelin that Kent owned? I would be the new owner without a doubt. Not because I am a big fan. I would have it to rag on at Mopar/Fiat shows
The current bid is about $2 grand above the value Although it is the Plymouth version it is NOT as good as it looks ~ the cancer looks fatal as it will cost more then the car is worth to repair ~ It looks to me as if the car was in Salt Water up to about mid door and I have seen quite a few from the 70’s that were exposed to the heavy Salt Content of the Salt Lake Utah air including my first Mopar a 72 Charger SE that by the time I sold it in 1981 needed both frame rails and 1/4 panels it was all hidden under the great paint ~ I really like the Plymouth Body styles for the 75+ Fury 2 doors/Charger/Cordoba’s however with the rust issues on this RR my only opinion is to pass
I like the Ziebart/Rusty Jones-type rustproofing colored plugs in the the ares where the rust is.. either the dealer didn’t put in the rust proofing and just put the colored plugs in ..or.. the rustproofing evaporated and was obviously ineffective.. Walk away from this one.. no run away is better..
I think the cleanest part of this car is the air cleaner
The rest…not so much
I don’t think Kent would approve of this…Martin Milner must be looking down very disappointed
I like the picture of the ziebart plug above the rust –
I’m wondering where THIS car spent its life? Doesn’t look “typical”. A friend had a 76 Cordoba that started rusting just above the side windows, in the roof, inside out. That car was always in the TX Panhandle! We got a trade-in ’75 Cordoba, a CA-spec car. I looked it over pretty well. The application of body sealer where the door skin wraps around the door shell and similar on the deck lid, on that car, had no sealer prior to paint over those seams. Rust was starting to peek through, due to no sealer. Others I saw which had sealer (as normal) had no similar rust.
Rust on the deck lid lower areas has seemed “normal”, to a certain extent. Haven’t looked at many lately, though.
On this particular car, I don’t recall that particular cloth interior on Road Runners, just regular “small” Fury cars. It is a pretty basic car, but I’d want to see the VIN to verify it’s a real RR. Otherwise, it’s a nice “small” Fury to me. I wouldn’t pay extra for the particular car’s “history”, either.
The Ziebart “sealer” might be a main reason for the extensive rust. Any moisture or “humidity” which might accumulate probably had no where to go, so it rusted its way out. One thing to seal things up, but apparently it also sealed up any evaporating condensate escape channels! Chrysler was still doing their “dip” for rust prevention on the basic body at that time. The seam sealer issue would be a different way of saving money, though, in the short term at the assy plant level.
A low production vehicle in poor condition (as this one is) does not equate to “desirable” unless you have a donor car to fix this one AND can do it yourself (over several years). When done, even with pictures of what was done, how well it might have been done, still no “low mileage” “shining example” collectible car. Can be a nice car, but as I mentioned, it’s still a “small” Fury to me (in value and equipment).
NOW . . . one neat item is that the 318-2bbl, 360-4bbl HO, and 400-4bbl HO were “Regular Fuel” motors. NOT “Unleaded Fuel Only” motors. Not sure about this particular 360-4bbl, though. That also meant it had the appropriate “Non-Catalyst” decal on the lh door shell (i.e., NO catalytic converter(s)) and an unrestricted filler neck gas tank. This lasted into the 1976 model year. The ’75 Lean Burn motors were also “Regular Fuel” engines. Those three motors would have covered any normal “fleet use” vehicles for sale. There was still some resistance to unleaded fuel and concerns about catalytic converter vehicles being in the national parks . . . at that time.
I don’t think that’s vomit. Look over on the passenger side–the same tan color on the mat. Look closer above the tan on the driver mat–it’s a Roadrunner! I think the brown is the dust cloud he’s kicking up as he’s running.
Still fun? No. H@ll no!
During this period, it was hard to find a fun car.Trans ams and camaros were ok but, they were a huge disappointment to what we had yesteryear. I do have to admire chrysler corp. for trying to keep the faith of muscle cars going on. In other words, try to do more with less. 360 4 barrel? Big stuff for that era!
190 net horsepower with a 4 barrel? This engine in a Cordoba took 12 seconds to 60 mph?
Replacing performance with stickers and gaudy seats doesn’t do it.
This car was NEVER much fun.
I agree with you RS.190 horsepower is anemic for this engine but don’t forget, this is the malaise era. Even the big caddy 500 was down to that rating. If you were to measure that in gross horsepower ratings it would be a LITTLE bit more hahaha.
I ordered a new 1976 sport fury, 360, rallye rims, black on black. Nice car and it looked great with the tinted glass. I had to replace the white electrical gizmo under the hood many times. 6 years old and the leaf springs came up through the trunk? It very quickly rotted away due to winters in Canada. It was my first new car and I washed it a lot, black was hard to keep clean but it looked great when cleaned up. It cost me $5200. Great motor and tranny but boy it just rusted away.
Go ahead guys laugh I bought this car when I was 18 I’m 27 now scraped together 600$ and buried it out of a field me and my late father took this own as a father son project the car is from Pittsburgh and sat in a field for 30 years we spent a counts nights working on it I replaced quarters and fenders and made my own from aluminized steel and racked them in place the stickers are not original I paid 600$ from Phoenix graphics for them Also the bumpers are original the chrome was shot so we painted them I get it it’s not pretty but it was my dads umpteenth car he restored and my first so he just helped me with the engine it did not run and I did body paint decals lights countless memories made so just remember there’s a story behind every bucket of rust if you are gonna slam the vehicle don’t buy it how’s that sound I would kill to have the car back we should it do to financial strain and it’s very sentimental to me my dad passed last year and that’s my best memory with him we did what we could with very little money and tons ofAttention at car shows so just remember there’s memories and stories behind these vehicles if it wasn’t for us it would still be sitting in that field in 4 inches of mud