Crushed bumpers and weather-beaten paint introduce this Wylie, Texas muscle car to potential buyers. The VIN and fender tag describe a genuine RM21 Road Runner with the E63 high-performance 383 V8, and this one’s sold “as is” with no real description. What you see is what you get on this too-long-neglected classic. Bid to win here on eBay, because this car will sell in a No Reserve auction once someone bites on the $7500 opening bid. Hello? Anyone?
Diamond-tufted upholstery was the bee’s knees back in the day. If you’re not buying this Plymouth for parts, plan on replacing everything in sight. The flow-through ventilated driver’s seat is not listed on the fender tag, but promises a refreshing breeze at speed for the immodestly dressed. That poor dashboard is more baked than Snoop Dogg on a Saturday night. The black interior aligns with the fender tag, and you’d have seen a black vinyl top on this ride in the showroom.
Plymouth’s Road Runner brought budget performance to the street. With the base 383 and minimal trim, even rubber flooring, just about anyone with a job could get into street or drag racing in a genuine contender. This one’s fender tag sports what might be the fewest build codes I’ve seen, barely three lines including the mandatory boilerplate. M21 roof dril rail moldings, MX2 Decor Group (bench interior with stainless B pillar trim), a kickin’ 2 Watt AM stereo, and the automatic transmission mark the only upgrades on this post coupe. Thanks to the Mopar fender tag decoder at Realdash for some details.
Here we have an engine. With no description or casting numbers provided, this may or may not be the original 335 HP 383 cid (6.3L) V8. Manual brakes like this car’s equipment worked fine on my similar B-body ’66 Dodge Coronet. That power steering may have landed in the engine bay later in this car’s life considering the lack of an S77 build code.
On the bright side, explosive fuel vapors need not concern the new owner. Either bring a hammer to bang on the sub-frame when you inspect this Road Runner or don’t bid more than you can stomach. That said, we’ve seen worse-looking Mopars bring $16,000 and higher, which must be fueling the seller’s optimistic $7500 opening bid. If the bidding equals the sale preparation, that would be some good money on this forgotten budget muscle car. The Texas zip code may not be enough to save the day as classic muscle car values peaked in the early 2000s. Most of the folks who “always wanted one of these,” have aged out of the rusty restoration labor pool, but maybe this one can give up some parts or otherwise contribute to the hobby. Is this battered, low-content Road Runner calling your name?
“ On the bright side, explosive fuel vapors need not concern the new owner.”
Good one, Todd. I love the humor in Barn Finds.
Yes! That’s some excellent dry wit there, Todd LOL.
And Todd, in answer to your question “Is this battered, low-content Road Runner calling your name?” I’ll wager most BF readers are probably saying no unless they’re an automotive concierge EMT.
BTW-shouldn’t the name of the town be Wiley beings that they’ve got all these beat down Road Runners corralled.
This is another 68-69 B-body the seller has put of over the last few weeks, all of which have been featured on this site. I don’t think any of them have received any bid. This is really rough, the description is basically useless, unless someone was willing to look at it in person prior to bidding, this should be a hard pass.
The argument that the Muscle Car market peaked in the early-2000’s isn’t true. It ebs and flows, some may have peaked then, others still haven’t. It’s a dynamic market, a new generation is what’s driving it now. By no means is it nearing collapse, like you can see happening with a lot of 1930’s-1950’s cars. What I would stay away from are cars in this condition and those without a strong following they will likely revert back into parts cars, the saying “ buy the best car you can afford” has never been more relevant. Potential buyers that are patient and persistent, who are not married to a specific year, make or model will be fine, that type of buyer has always done well and will continue to do so.
Steve R
You really had me laughing Todd. My favorite line, “The flow-through ventilated driver’s seat is not listed on the fender tag, but promises a refreshing breeze at speed for the immodestly dressed.” That was good. As far as bringing a hammer to hit the frame, truth be told, I’d be afraid to. But hey, maybe someone, somewhere will be willing to tackle this thing. But it’s just so much work. Great write up Todd I enjoyed it.
There is no married man in America who would pay $7500 for this car and live to tell about it.
Preachin’ to the choir there Rex!!! Thats a good one. And very true.
That’s one of a thousand reasons to be single. I would never take on a project like this [again], but no woman would tell me what to buy or not buy.
Great write up, Todd. I don’t know. I wish I could say it’s worth a try, but I smell too many unknowns to really bite at this one. For that money, one could most likely do better. I do agree though, I enjoy some good ol’ Barn Finds humor!
Creative and humorous write-up Todd 😅. And the Road Runner is in Wylie Texas 😁.
I like the line about the dashboard being more baked than Snoop Dogg on a Saturday night. Good one, Todd!
Well, I’ll tell ya’, we can come up with all kinds of catchy euphemisms for this stuff, but the sad truth is, this is the absolute “smoking gun” as to what’s happened to this hobby. 7 watchers( 6 plus me) and no bids,,,sorry, I can’t help myself, HAW, HAW,,,what parts? This clearly shows how low the hobby has sunk, even the Coyote would pass this by. Acme auto grinder,,,
It’s now up to 101 watchers.
Steve R
Howard, this is not the smoking gun that proves your oft belabored point that the car culture is dead. It isn’t.
This car may only prove that there are less idiots out there willing to drop big money on hopelessly rusted hulks.
A lot to far gone for what I’m willing to take on at the moment but hey its in Richards from gas monkey neck of the woods he may snatch it up and put more money into than I can and make a profit
Richard and the guy selling this car are friends, he used to appear on Richard’s TV show from time to time. He owned the company that sell and restored Jeeps. The seller has a YouTube channel where he posts a video every Friday with him and his employees buying cars, they have on several occasions sold cars to Richard on the back to their shop.
Steve R
looks like Collins is still trying empty out his personal junk yard. think this like the 10th car listed. i don’t think a 1 sold. has 1 bid as of now. they are a better person than i could be buying this wreck runner
Looks like the engine has a 2bbl Carter on top, so who knows what big block this might be. Plus, at least one exhaust manifold is missing.
A Road Runner/Super Commando 383 in a non-air conditioned ’69 should be orange. Whatever that is under the hood of this whatever’s left of a car, it’s not the 383 that it started life with, or even one like it.
I sold mine for $2,500 dollars in 1979 and the quarters were full of bondo I thought that was a heck of a price 😩
PLEASE stop featuring this guy’s overpriced rust! One a week is one too many. Collins’ junk doesn’t deserve this type of coverage here at BF.
Check out the quality stuff that us BF readers submit instead of hanging out on this guy’s EBay store.
Thank you,,,
A/C seats are the wave of the future ! Even in the frosty states.
so here we have a rotting, column shift, bench seat ‘hot rod’… uh… ok
Well, at $7,700 with 3 bids at the moment. A fool and their money are soon parted.
So much for some people’s theories on the waning interest in old cars…
And so much for my theory that people have wised up and stopped throwing big money on rusted hulks.
The gas tank tells the whole story about rust on the rest of this barely parts vehicle.
The want/desire overpowers reason and cash!