Plymouth introduced the Road Runner in 1968 as a “budget” muscle car and it would achieve a lot of success into the 1970s. The hotrod would have its greatest sales momentum in 1969 as more than 77,000 copies were built with the standard 383 cubic inch V8. This may be one of them, though it lacks a cowl tag or broadcast sheet to confirm. It’s claimed to fame was an appearance on the TV show, Graveyard Carz.
Chrysler capitalized on a deal with Warner Brothers to bring the Road Runner moniker to its latest performance machine. $50,000 supposedly got them access to the primary cartoon characters and logos, and another $10,000 is said to have gone into making the “Meep Meep” horn (which we don’t know has survived with this Mopar project). If the 383 wasn’t fast enough, you could have opted for a 440 V8 (6-pack only as the 4-barrel was reserved for the GTX) or the legendary 426 Hemi.
We don’t know if this Mopar originally wore orange paint, but what’s there is not perfect and some of the sheet metal is rusty (rear quarter panels, around the rear window) and there is evidence of body filler from earlier work. But the frame is said to be solid, and the photos provided of the undercarriage tend to support that. The interior is another matter, as the seating will need to be redone, and new door panels sourced.
This Mopar doesn’t run, perhaps due to its engine not being fully hooked up. Neither the engine nor the automatic transmission is original but were sourced from a 1968 Road Runner, so they would be similar. As the seller says, “What you see is what you get” and this restoration opportunity can be found here on eBay. The current bid is $6,750 with an unmet reserve and the vehicle can be found in Springfield, Oregon. Since this Plymouth is far from graveyard material, do you want to tackle its rebirth?
The current high bid is lower than the high bid ($5,900) last time the seller ran it through eBay. Even though it’s rough, it wasn’t long ago that Road Runners in far worse condition we’re selling for far more money. At least with this seller you are likely to get a more accurate description than the random seller dragged it out of a field and couldn’t bother taking off their trailer before listing it.
Steve R
Mopar’s don’t have a cowl tag, they have a fender tag that seems it is missing. However, very easy to determine the engine from the VIN, 5th digit is an N for the 383 4 bbl.
This one is also a coupe, the hardtops are more common.
This would be a fun car to do some weekend bodywork on, a low-budget paint job, and fix up the interior as needed to make a nice, non-original driver. There is enough car there to be enjoyed, but not enough to make it a worthwhile restoration. Add power disk brakes and power steering to make it drive-able (the pump is there but the steering box is manual), and you have a fun cruiser. As an original, these cars were not fun to drive with manual steering and manual drum “poke and pray” brakes, which do a great job of slowing you down from 70 to 40 before they fade out.
Of course, Worman has a great ability to uncover plenty of Mopar rebuildables.
But, to be successful in the EBay game, he has to realize that his name alone won’t sell this type of car at the prices he wants.
At least with Worman having it, you will get an honest assessment of the car. I am far from an authority on Mopars, but I don’t think that the current bid is too far off.
Problem is, he will never let it go for what it is really worth.
But Wallman is trying to make a buck one way or another and is passing this one on…..still have to question why BF needs to list these dealers for sale ad…..do they need to start listing the MECUM auction cars to bid on ?
Who exactly is ”Wallman”?