While it might not have the large wing, this 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner does have the iconic, original Vitamin C orange paint. That can be a considering factor, along 77,000 miles and a clear title. Currently, the starting bid price is $7,000 with a buy it now of $8,500. It is located in Salisbury, North Carolina and you can view more on eBay.
A 383 V8 is home in the engine bay. That is connected to an automatic transmission. There is no indication on if it starts or moves on its own power. The listing states the car is complete. However, work will need to be done to the floor, lower rear quarter panels, and the trunk. Rust has devoured those areas.
Inside, a white interior compliments the exterior orange. It needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Based on the pictures, the front seats are cracking while the rear seats do not appear to be present. Two noted creature comforts the listing notes are power steering and air conditioning.
There is surface rust on the exterior as well. The seller mentioned that it was on display at the Good Guys Southeastern Nationals in Charlotte, which there is photo evidence. They also indicate that the car is originally from Texas. This Roadrunner needs a little work before it can outrun a coyote.
Once this was a nice car now it’s a rust bucket. The pictures just show the obvious rust there will be more. If you want to restore this you might want to look into a replacement body shell because by the time your done replacing panals you will have a new body shell anyway, and will have worked way harder to get to that stage. This car is not worth the asking price $4k tops to a brave soul that has lots of time and money.
This “thing” is a WRECK!!! total body restore if at all possible to restore without a whole new body….then its no longer an original at that point.
Man these 60’s/70’s MOPAR muscle cars were majestic in how they rust. The tin worm seems to love these much more than the others
My grandparents bought a 1969 Coronet 500 new. They lived in Chicago. As I recall, the trunk floor had rusted through in several places by 1974-75 or so. Grandma would complain that she had to put her groceries in the backseat in the rain and slush because the paper bags would get wet!
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned but people should keep in mind that these are unibody cars, not body-on-frame. So fixing rust can be very challenging because all the suspension components bolt to the body shell.
I say take this Rust Bucket MoPIG to the Recycle center……IF they’ll take it?
I bet this Roadrunner was beautiful when new with that vitamin C orange exterior and white interior. Too bad someone let it come to this condition but back in the day they were just cars.
Nobody at the Good Guys show thought that it was worth the money either.
Too bad this beep beep machine wasn’t saved a decade or two ago, would have been a nice cruiser all decked out in vitamin C on white.
383 automatic probably will get some flack here but hey, how many were really ordered with a hemi or a little later in the year the six pack 440? Very few I’d think. Beep! Beep!
Yes, not worth much years ago. I crushed my 1970 RR to get it out of the folks driveway because at 130K miles, it went through its second transmission and being in college, I could not afford a new one. That was 1980 and these cars couldn’t find a buyer because (gasp!) gasoline had just hit a buck a gallon! My black hardtop, had a flawless interior, air, new windshield glass and only a little rust in the lower rear quarters. Wish I could go back and rethink that choice, but hindsight is 20-20, and we must look forward. I just keep reminding myself that even though it was my first car and I loved it so, it truly was a dangerous and crummy car compared to modern offerings. Still have the emblems and AM/FM radio from the dashboard, though. Hmmmm, just looked out my window, it is starting to snow with big pretty flakes. There is another negative about these cars, ever drive one during an upper Midwestern winter? I only drove my 1983 Mirada in the snow for a few times because it was so bad, this was worse.
WOW Billy007. You thought it was dangerous to drive a front engine rear wheel drive car in the snow? You must have been quite a hotshoe in that 1970 RR. Must be you drive Subaru’s now.
@Triumph1954, Is that what you drive, or an acclimation of your age? If it is your car, do you drive THAT in the snow? Ever try? Laugh all you want, but obviously 50 years of progress has improved everything automotive, including snow driving. BTW, I drive a new 2018 Civic hatchback turbo, and it is light years ahead of my 1970 in the snow. I should know, just got back from church in 2 inches of roadway slush from our morning snowfall. (Gott’a love Wisconsin)
“You thought it was dangerous to drive a front engine rear wheel drive car in the snow?”
I had a 1962 Buick Electra 225 I used to drive in frigid eastern Washington winters all the time. Throw a set of snow tires on the back, and I plowed through deep snow and ice like nobody’s business. Damned car didn’t even have seat belts, but I never felt safer. I guess it all depends on the confidence you have in your driving skills.
Ken! Could not agree more. In 1980 I was driving a 1971 Elcamino SS 396(402) with auto trans. Studded snows on back with sandbags in bed and drove everywhere in winter in snowy central New York. Never felt unsafe or dangerous. It was just what you did.
Billy007, I was born in 1954 and still live in central New York. I don’t drive a Subaru or Honda for that matter. Winters aren’t as bad as they used to be.
Studded snow tires? Remember what they did to the roads?
My first car was a ’73 Barracuda, threw snows only on the bag and some concrete blocks. It was fine.
Fast forward to today, I still drive my RWD 2013 Charger up here in NH and feel better in it than I ever did in any FWD. The name of the game is good snow tires and judicious use of the go pedal. Much easier to control than a FWD that snow plows straight ahead when it gets slick.
Studded snows are still popular here. They aren’t for me, but I often hear the tell-tale sound they make.
Well, the way things are going in the hobby, maybe its VIN, fender tag and broadcast sheet will live on
@Troy s – The “very few” were the only things that interested my brother and me. We sure have had a lot of “very few”‘s.
Mr. Tri Power, to think you had your hands on all that fine rare machinery…and let it slip through your fingers. Ouch! Gotta hurt, man.
Always enjoy your comments 😎
@Troy s – “let” them slip through our fingers… That would be to misunderstand.
Neither my brother nor I had money growing up (too busy trying to survive).
Each car was found, purchased, lovingly cleaned up and restified the best we could.
That took coin. Usually more than we had.
Then once it was done, we had to sell to recoup, and to get the next project. Had we the resources, we would have kept them all.
We knew very well what they were, and resented the way people who did have money treated them.
My brother’s brother in law kept every one he ever got control of. He has many dozens of the very best! But he had the place to store them out of the weather, and the money to do so. His collection impresses Jay Leno.
We don’t wish for what we never could have had. The people who are paying huge $$$ for these old warriors learned to make money when we were learning what the correct option code was. Had we learned to make money, we would have been too busy with that.
When Reggie Jackson began making huge money, he wanted a car collection. The crap he collected demonstrated his absolute ignorance of the field. He was embarrassed. He knew baseball. Not fine automobiles.
So he sold the crap and hired someone with taste to build him a respectable collection. Today, the Reggie Jackson Collection is one of the worlds finest.
It all boils down to money. Wish we had been taught that in high school or college. But, if the teachers had had a clue, they would not have been teaching. Multimillionaires rarely teach high school or college business, but they should.
Kids are early taught that finance is dry and boring. If you learn it right, it is anything but. Everything in life (from most perspectives) is tied to it.
Thank you for allowing me that rant. Your question is exactly why I have always refused to be interviewed by magazines about our old HemiCuda convertible.
All they ever ask is: ‘Betcha wish you still had it now, huh?’
They may as well ask ‘Betcha wish you were still 20, huh?’
As Mickey and Peter say: “That was then, and this is now”.
I like the Monkees reference, but I have to disagree about finances in high school. We were taught basic finance, how to balance a check book, live on less then you earn, save for a rainy day, all of that. What the big boy buyers of these restored cars learned was different then that, but to compete in that game you need a few things we didn’t have. The biggest of those was a cut throat attitude that didn’t care about the blood of others you left in your wake. To make this kind of money you need to forget that whenever someone makes copious amount of money from finance, it has to come from somewhere/usually someone else. It takes a man from Bain Capital to go into a profitable business that provided a living wage for Average Joes, buy it out, break it apart, sell the pieces, and send what was left to China leaving many broken lives behind, as he pockets millions just for himself….THEN, going to church in Salt Lake City on Sunday and pretend to be pious. THAT is often who buys these high end cars, is that who you wish you were? After all, a wise man once said, “What good is it to gain the world and lose your soul?”. Tri my friend, I think you turned out just fine the way you are, be proud that you are the upright man that hardship made you, rejoice in the fact that you never purposely hurt another.
@TriPowerVette, enjoyed the “rant”, lots to be learned and so little time to do it in.
Seems to me Reggie Jackson had a collection of cars and they were all burned to a crisp in a fire?!.
@Troy s – No.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/05/12/reggie-jackson-auctioning-off-part-his-car-collection/603665002/
junk
I bought a 1971 Road Runner in 71 after coming home from the Army. It was a 383 with auto tranny. Beautiful and fast car. But it started falling apart in 1973. Traded it in for a Duster. Still have good memories of the Road Runner!!!
We keep seeing junk mopars with people dreaming about flipping them.
Just part them
No more Junk Mopars.
Just part them out.
This car’s had it. Remove any reusable parts and crush the rest.
Ken! Yes, remove usable parts. But don’t crush the rest. The car has survived this long (barely). Old Mopars deserve better than that. If I had the room I would save everyone, regardless of condition.
This is 1000% restorable. I’ve seen much worse come back from the dead here in the midwest. This would be a great start. Couple quarters, trunk, and floor pans? If that scares you, then you need a different hobby.
Who said anything about being scared? I wouldn’t waste my time on this rust bucket, and judging from the comments, a lot of people here wouldn’t, either.
Hard pass.
Graveyard cars,Mark worman. This Mopar is calling ur name
Why are the numbers on the dash even mentioned when the car is as bad as this one is? I am talking about the miles, not the VIN.
The comment about it being a 383 auto arouses one of my pet peeves. These 383’s far outnumbered the big motors. I bought a one owner, 50,000 mile 383 auto ( I know, I would prefer to row a 4 speed, but not many match the beefed-up 727 auto for getting to the other end ) 68 RR , no power steering or brakes, just straight-line fast in mid 70’s. I knew the owner well, his wife’s car, her idea of hot rodding was punching it to pass a car. Great condition, I got a steal at $650. I don’t recall a hemi or 440 RR in the town of 40,000 where I was living. The 383 was the street fighter in the trenches is what you found next to you at the stop light, and more often than not the back side of which you ended up watching pulling away from you. When I first got it tune up was overdue, I found 3 mo. min. necessary for the 383 to keep you out front. A cpl guys I knew who were better mechanics than me helped me get it set up right. Afterwards we took it , made some passes, blew out a bunch of carbon, ran stronger after each pass. One of the guys had 68 SS396 Chevelle, 325 hp I think. After last tire roasting, blistering pass his buddy asked him, you still run this? No response, just stared straight ahead. People romanticize these old cars, many never actually drove one, all you hear is about about the most powerful versions, of which there were a small percentage of what was on the street. The first gen RR was lighter than it’s brothers and most of it’s peers and had more than it’s share of street victories. I know when I floored to pass at 60 mph and needle was buried in almost the time you can say it, I had more than one passenger wide-eyed and clutching the dash. Just been wanting to put my first-hand knowledgeout there. I loved that car, unfortunately ran out of road at 100+ mph one overly rambunctious night. I survived but I killed my baby. I deserve no sympathy, only scorn. I still bear the guilt. I would love to have another just like it, but I probably don’t deserve it.
I am wondering if the Road Runner was originally from Texas – Marathon County, Wisconsin unless the original owner used the trunk for a crock of salt brine?
If it was from anywhere along the coast, the salt air did this number on it. I am from Jackson county, halfway between Houston and Corpus Christi. Growing up in the late 70’s/ early 80’s, we never saw decent, rust free musclecars and old trucks. Drive a few hours inland and the environment was perfect for the preservation of old sheetmetal.
had a 68 Roadrunner with a 383 a 69 with a 440 six pack and a 69 Hemi Roadrunner sold them all in 1980 Wish I Never Had sold any of them
Just an FYI since nobody has pointed this out but the car IS NOT a Vitamin C car. Those are super rare in 69 and the color code on the fender tag would be “K2”, this car is R4 which is just the medium red.
@Tom Hergert – Thank you. One of my (many) pet peeves is people referring to the color “Hemi” Orange. Nearly every time, it is most assuredly not. True Hemi Orange is the most washed out, yellow-orange imaginable. Yet, everything from Signal Red to some shade of Orange, and all in between, magically become HO.
This attached pic of a spray-can comes as close as anything I could lay my hands on quickly. The actual color is actually somewhat more yellow. That is my Thumbs Up.
OK, everyone, THIS is no kidding, real deal, honest-to-gosh Hemi Orange. Please spread the word.
Worthy of restoration but not at that asking price. 4k tops and that is stretching it a bit. All these restoration shows and auction events have warped peoples minds as to the prices of these rusted hulks. Cool find and all, but a person is going to have to dump 40 grand into that and thats if the do it themselves.
Wow, and I thought my 69′ was not worthy of posting for sale?
383, 4 speed, bench seats, original b-4 blue, refurbed.
Pretty fine, pretty fine indeed. Just be careful, these are very unforgiving, unlike a modern car.
I’d drag that bad boy home and start welding!
Looks like a job for Graveyard Carz.