This car is tough to look at. Out of all the Plymouth Road Runners, 1969 is my favorite due to the treatment of those rear lights. I love the coke bottle shape, the w-curve in the rear glass, but the tail lights just make the package, in my opinion. Good news! The tail lights from this 1969 Road Runner are in good shape, but it needs just about everything else. Can you tackle this project? If so, you can find it here on eBay in Prairieville, Louisiana.
Honestly, I’m surprised that the tail lights look that good considering the rest of the car (just wait until we work our way to the front!). This car is kind of an enigma to a guy who lives in the rust belt since there is plenty of rust on the body but surprisingly few rust holes. Check out the peeling chrome on the rear bumper! My guess is that this car has been sitting in a junkyard for many years under the hot Louisiana sun and the paint just broke down or else someone sanded this car, primed it and then stopped working on it. Primer is not waterproof, boys!
The right quarter panel looks incredibly solid from here. It might be paper thin due to rust but no holes! This isn’t the way that cars rust up here in Ohio. I’m also trying to decide if that rear window is the w-shape glass that the car came with or if it is some sort of plastic filling the space. The chrome trim around that window is certainly missing.
Up front, we see that the headlights and trim rings are missing but the grill is intact and so are the hood pins! Unfortunately, the windshield is cracked but the bumper looks to be OK. My concern would be all of the edges that appear to have rusted for years would be a nightmare to restore.
This car is equipped with a 383 big block and it appears to be well preserved! Did it just stay out of the Louisiana sun? Since the cooling system isn’t hooked up (and the radiator is missing!) I’m guessing that this is a rebuilt motor that was installed as part of the restoration project. Then the owner lost interest. You’ll have to contact the owner for these details because the ad is sparse. To me, this car looks like the remaining good parts should be stripped and the shell crushed, but I’m sure there are some people would tackle this project. Just do it before the body rusts away entirely!
Another one for memory lane. A guy I worked with in the ’70’s had one of these, only a 4 speed. I remember it was a tinny thing, simple car ( check out the firewall) handled like a pig, didn’t stop well, but it did one thing well, it went in a straight line fast, not Shelby GT500 fast, but quick enough ( high 13’s-low 14’s out of the box) and every pump jockey could afford one. We all took turns killing them, until there was nothing left. I think this one could be saved. They were fun cars, I think the tinniness made them feel that much faster.
Back in 69 we would go to the Plymouth dealership in our small town and wait for the car carriers to bring ew cars to chek out one day a new HEMI road runner came in. The truck driver backed it off the truck right down the street and looking back now he shoved in the clutch pulled that pig into second gear took her to a fairly high rpm,engine noise,tire smoke what a beauty car
It’s refreshing when a seller goes out of their way to take detailed pictures and include a thorough, straight forward, description in their ad to inspire confidence from potential bidders. Never mind.
The rust through on the firewall is probably an accurate indicator as to the condition of this car.
It has a low entry point for bidders, but with an unknown reserve there is no way to know what value the seller places on this car. Hopefully, not much.
Steve R
Really?
I think that is actually glass in the back window and not plastic. If you look carefully you can see a slight polarizing effect in the window. You get that in glass, but not in plastic.
I like this, but it seems like the automotive equivalent of that very old joke: What do you give to the person who has everything? Penicillin.
Ugh. Mopar abuse. So sad for such an amazing car. :-(
No, amazing is that when I owned one, my joints didn’t hurt, my hair was all still there, and I had a world of possibilities before me. Amazing was the girl named Christine that I wanted to be sitting in the bench seat real close next to me (never did, she met a college guy named Gene at the roller rink). Amazing is the memories of my youth that I so desperately want back, but a car like this never will do that. Time to stop trying to live in the past and enjoy the here and now that we old timers have left. Swindlers prey on peoples weaknesses, don’t let them do it to you. Don’t waste your money on something like this, take your wife on a nice trip and make new memories.
I had one of these pole magnets. For about six months. Lucky to be alive to even type this.
This looks like a flood victim to me. Remember the levvy breaking in 2005? If you’re gonna get near it, get a tetinis shot first.
Wow, that’s a rough looking car, but at least it has a clear title and there is an engine under that hood…something many of these finds can’t claim lately.
“Amazing car”? Ever drive one? I had a 1970 back 40 years ago. When I was 17 I thought I was king of the world driving it, but looking back after owning numerous cars since, I understand how wrong I was. Amazing is the word to describe how lucky I was to have not killed myself in that thing. Had it crushed in the 1981 as it had 130K miles on it and the second tranny went out and my folks got tired of looking at it in the driveway. (Had to finish college, not buy another tranny) Sometimes in my old age I pine over the loss of that car, but I think what I really miss is my youth that I had when I owned it, not the car itself. The cars I own now are by far so much an improvement. I think all of us aging baby Boomers should take a step back from this craziness and think these silly purchases through. What you want is a rose colored memory of youth, no car is going to do that (unless it is the EXACT car you owned, THE EXACT car, not just one like it.) memories are free, these certainly are not. What I do is look here, or go to a car show and look, the memories come flooding back in my head and thats all I need. Then I get in my awesome ride I have presently and make new memories.
you need deep pockets
And a tetanus shot.
I had two. I found my first one buried in the weeds behind a closing Chrysler dealership. 383/335HP mounted to an A833 4spd and all of that power was moved to a 3.55:1 posi. New timing chain, clutch assy and brakes plus $400 cash and she was mine. Body was mint when I bought her with 31K on the odo. That was 1974. I found the other at the Chevy dealer in town for $740 in 1975. Had to sell both to satisfy the greedy ex and her divorce attorney, That was back in 1988. They weren’t the only two Mopars I had to sell to appease them.