Muscle car mania was in full swing by the late 1960s. That’s when Plymouth introduced the latest player, the budget-minded Road Runner, in 1968. It became immediately popular, jumping from sales of 44,000 units in ‘68 to 84,000 in ‘69. The B-bodied ‘Bird came with a 383 cubic inch V8 as standard with a 4-speed manual transmission, which is represented by the seller’s car. Available in Magnolia, Texas, this Mopar is available here on eBay from PaintReadyProjects, where all the bodywork and paint prep work has been done. Save yourself all that trouble and grief by giving the “Man” $29,900 and trailer it home.
Besides a convertible, two versions of the Road Runner coupe were offered in 1969. One was a true hardtop, and the other had a thin, solid roof pillar with pop-out rear windows. More than 33,000 Road Runners came as the latter in ’69, including this RR. Besides the period-correct 383 and 4-speed (both of which will need to be rebuilt), this Mopar comes with an Air Grabber hood. And the correct Q5 Turquoise paint has been applied to all the hidden and/or rust-repaired areas (the seller added a lot of new sheet metal).
A white and black interior came with this car when new, and some of those pieces are provided, with the bucket seats already having been redone. The console is missing, as is the windshield. The seller’s listing thoroughly documents the process this car went through to become a paint-ready project. If you had purchased this car as a barn find, how much would you have spent getting it to the stage where it is today?
But let’s be clear, the car needs a lot more work. Nothing mechanically seems to have been done (that’s not their business model), and we don’t know how complete the car is. So, you’re bound to have to build a shopping list for things that you will need to turn this into a six-figure show car. Which would likely be the goal, as why would you take a car this far only to do shortcuts the rest of the way to have a daily driver? Another fine tip from “Curvettte”!
I once bought a car in primer that was “paint ready”, my buddy that did final prep and paint at a body shop laughed at me and the quality of the work when he saw it. He said as a rule of thumb you are much better off buying a car with old faded paint rather than primer.
Steve R
This is another high dollar resale guy here in Texas – BF posts his cars alot and they never seem to sale. In my 20 yrs of looking at his stuff for sale I don’t remember a complete car.
That car is no where near ready to paint.
The trunk lid does not look ready to paint I would say that car needs quite a bit before paint.
for not much more you can buy a complete running car.
the price is right if it was all together inspected and running ready to drive home
Funny how times fly,i bought a 1969 R.R project under $900.00 complete car but needed reassemble ,complete restortation i did it all except paint,that was back mid 90’s ,made a killing selling it for $13,000 a year later.
Another example of a fine detailed write-up. Good job Russ, always enjoy your stuff.
I’ve got a old home made 1960’s roller skate equipped, left over 2X4 skate board that is closer to paint ready than this high potential “beep beep” mobile.
One positive. The ’69 body. Almost as good looking as my 1970 prom date. Almost.
I have one in my collection and it is in the same condition. These uni-bodies need to be completely disassembled to get down to the shell. They are only done “correctly” this way. This one looks, from the couple pics, like it just might be worth taking it down the rest of the way. If it’s sound mechanically and just needs paint. If not then figure whatever the body work is estimated at can be doubled to all the rest. Good luck builder, hope to see you on the road!
just finish it.
That’s this sellers specialty, he has several other cars listed as well as completed listings, that are “ready for paint”.
Steve R
A 69′ Roadrunner is never going to be a 6 figure car to begin with. Now if you’re talking spending 6 figures to get the whole thing properly completed and show ready then you might be more accurate.
No I don’t spend that kind of cash on any project, this particular one just caught my eye because of it’s likeness to one I’m restoring. Thanx