1968 Plymouth Road Runner

[Dyno]

In 1979 I bought a new Z 28 and drove it through the summer. Because I live in Minnesota and they salt the roads daily from early November to the end of March, I wanted to put the Camaro away for the winter. So I started to look for a good winter beater that I could sell in the spring and not lose alot of money on. I found a 40,000 mile 69 Roadrunner for sale for $1500.00 that was a 383/auto and drove that through the winter. It started every day, even at -30 degree mornings. It was a little hard on gas, so I checked the rear gear, turned out to be a 3.91. I pulled it out and put in a 3.08 I think, funny thing is it turned it from a fun car to drive to a total slug, plus my mileage never really improved. I kept the car for two years and sold it for $2000.00 Never thought my "beater" would be more valuable than the Camaro. Like many, wish I had it back. Dyno

[Jeff Lee]

In early 80's a friend had a '70 RR with 440-6 and a column shifted 727. Dana 4.10 & Air Grabber. It was Vitamin C with white bench interior and the "Trail Duster" side strip. I still think that is one of the best looking cars. This car was bone stock, mufflers and OEM style tires. He was obsessed with minimizing the ET in complete factory stock condition. He got it down to 13.72. I remember driving the car. I have to believe with slicks it would have gone into the twelves because from a 25-35 MPH role and dropping it into low, it was an animal. Wish I could remember the MPH it produced because that would be telling.

In the late '80's a friend restored an A12 Super Bee. 440 Six Barrel, 4-speed, 3.54 Dana. All stock except it did have higher compression domed pistons. At the same time, I restored a '66 HEMI Satellite with 4-speed and 3.54 Dana. We raced 3 times on a back road. I wish I had video. Classic B body HEMI vs. Six-Pack, same trans, same gears. Each race was the same. Six-Pack has the lead in first and second with the HEMI making up lost ground at the top of second, third gear the HEMI is dead even, forth gear the HEMI puts a fender on the Six-Pack and by the top of 4th, the HEMI is a fender and maybe part of a door ahead. In a typical in-town street race the Six-Pack would be the victor. Of course the Six-Pack did have some more compression than stock.

What is also interesting is the GTX vs. RR. The GTX came standard with a 440/375 and was a little bit heavier. The RR was standard with a 383 and you had two engine options; Six-Pack ('69 or '70) or HEMI ('68-'70 not counting the '71 models). In my mind, the GTX should be worth more than a 383 RR. But that's not the case in today's muscle car market. The RR is hands down the winner over a 440 GTX. And the '68-'70 RR will out sell the '68-'70 Super Bee.

Bill,
The same guy that had the '70 RR above also had a '64 Signet. It was a well known early '70's street racer in the Phoenix area. It was built by a guy that cut weight out of everything. A100 seats, home made aluminum single resivoir master cylinder, aluminum nuts and bolts and acid dipped body parts. It was plain silver. When my friend owned it, he had a bone stock '70 340 with cast exhaust manifolds in it with an A833 & 4.56's. It ran high 11's. He added a cam, fenderwell headers, a hi-rise and Holley and it was a 10 second car. This was around 1980 and a 10 second 340 was pretty darn
fast. Neil Smedly owned the car for awhile and he sold it to somebody. The car has completely dropped off the radar. I'm sure it's a roach by now but I sure would love to own that car.

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lee

Bill,
The same guy that had the '70 RR above also had a '64 Signet. It was a well known early '70's street racer in the Phoenix area. It was built by a guy that cut weight out of everything. A100 seats, home made aluminum single resivoir master cylinder, aluminum nuts and bolts and acid dipped body parts. It was plain silver. When my friend owned it, he had a bone stock '70 340 with cast exhaust manifolds in it with an A833 & 4.56's. It ran high 11's. He added a cam, fenderwell headers, a hi-rise and Holley and it was a 10 second car. This was around 1980 and a 10 second 340 was pretty darn
fast. Neil Smedly owned the car for awhile and he sold it to somebody. The car has completely dropped off the radar. I'm sure it's a roach by now but I sure would love to own that car.

My car was a fat pig, for what it was. I weighed it THREE different places because I could NOT believe how heavy it was! It was a V-100, el-cheapo, 2-door post car with a radio and a heater, PERIOD. All three places said it weighed over 3,100 pounds WITHOUT me in it; the lightest being 3,105, with half a tank of gas. It did have a cast iron 4-speed and an 8.75" rerar, but geeze; the shipping weight was only about 2,700 pounds...

I was bitterly disappointed...

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Dyno

In 1979 I bought a new Z 28 and drove it through the summer. Because I live in Minnesota and they salt the roads daily from early November to the end of March, I wanted to put the Camaro away for the winter. So I started to look for a good winter beater that I could sell in the spring and not lose alot of money on. I found a 40,000 mile 69 Roadrunner for sale for $1500.00 that was a 383/auto and drove that through the winter. It started every day, even at -30 degree mornings. It was a little hard on gas, so I checked the rear gear, turned out to be a 3.91. I pulled it out and put in a 3.08 I think, funny thing is it turned it from a fun car to drive to a total slug, plus my mileage never really improved. I kept the car for two years and sold it for $2000.00 Never thought my "beater" would be more valuable than the Camaro. Like many, wish I had it back. Dyno

Had to be a 2.73 or a 3.23 rear gear. Jim

.

[Paul Precht]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

Had to be a 2.73 or a 3.23 rear gear. Jim

.

2.76 was the standard and I think there was a 2.54 avail at some point.

[Jeff Lee]

'68 RR commercial. Beep Beep!

[4406mopar]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

Had to be a 2.73 or a 3.23 rear gear. Jim

.

The 8 3/4 hiway gears of that time were 2.76 2.94 3.23. There were some other oddball ratios from 58-62 like 3.36 and 3.73. All the Road runner horns that came on the cars were the light purple color, the black one pictured above is a current replacement.

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by 4406mopar

The 8 3/4 hiway gears of that time were 2.76 2.94 3.23. There were some other oddball ratios from 58-62 like 3.36 and 3.73. All the Road runner horns that came on the cars were the light purple color, the black one pictured above is a current replacement.

'68 Horns were painted black. Purple started in '69.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Road Runner Facts:

The 1968 'Beep Beep' Horn was painted black, with the decal.

The 1969 'Beep Beep' Horn was painted 'Cool Gloss Purple', with the decal.

The early first production 1968 Road Runners were pillared post cars with the push-out quarter-glass.

The hardtop 1968 Road Runners came out in mid-year (after January 30,1968) production.

The early first production 1968 Road Runner 4-speeds were equipped
with the 'Inland Floor Shifters'.

In 1968 mid-year production (after January 30, 1968) the shifters were changed over to
'Hurst' standard linkage units.

Car Price;
Pillared coupe; $2896
Hardtop;,,,,,,,,,, $3034

The 4-speed manual transmission, was standard with the car.

[Curt Rees]

I had posted before about the '69 340 'Cuda fastback that I also bought new. I went into the service in the winter of '68 and sold my Road Runner because I thought I was going to be gone for 3 years.

Due to medical issues, I was discharged in March of '69. I ordered a Yellow '69 340 'Cuda 4 speed with 3:91 gears. I won several trophies with the car at Marion, SD and Sioux City, IA.

In checking the Mopar production figures, I think there were only 93 fastback 'Cudas sold in 1969. I think about that car yet.

So, I consider myself very fortunate, that I was able to own two Road Runners and a 340 equipped 'Cuda! The 4 speed 'Cuda was much more fun to drive. On a good hot South Dakota summer time day, you could see the tire mark shift points on the hot asphalt with that car.

#5457

Curt Rees