Do you find yourself growing as an enthusiast? Or are you stuck in your old ways and enjoying that? Some of us get hung up on the past, complaining about how no good music is made anymore, while others evolve into having more texture and depth to their Pinterest page. Our Pick of the Day may be for the latter group: This 1968 Plymouth Road Runner hardtop is currently listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Louisville, Ohio.
The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner could be considered the model that ushered in Muscle Car Era 3.0 (with 1.0 being early muscle and 2.0 being the Pontiac GTO). If you take a look at old road tests like this GTO, 427 Galaxie 500/XL, and Coronet R/T, none of the cars were affordable to the kid bagging groceries at the local Pantry Pride. Spurred by the advice of automotive journalist/assassin Brock Yates soon after the introduction of the 1967 GTX, Plymouth bosses ran with a concept that would attract enthusiasts 18-20 years old: The performance car needed to be affordable for buyers and cheap for Plymouth, and it had to be ready for a September 1967 introduction.
Plymouth’s ad agency created a list of names for the new model, but it was product planner Gordon Cherry who came up with the Road Runner idea after seeing his kids watch the popular cartoon. His boss (and leader of the project), Jack Smith, registered the name with the Automobile Manufacturers Association, then consulted with Warner Brothers. As the road runner was a bird in the public domain, Warner Brothers was cornered as it did not have enough wiggle room to shop its cartoon bird to other manufacturers. Smith claimed the rights cost $40-50,000 at the time.
Budget constraints dictated the Road Runner’s components needed to come from the parts bin as much as possible. Thanks to updated heads, the 383 four-barrel was able to increase its horsepower from 325 to 330; a more aggressive camshaft was implemented to up the horses another five. The cherry on top was the bright idea to have a horn that mimicked the cartoon Road Runner. One of the suppliers had a horn that did a fine job sounding like the animated bird, but that cost an expensive $45 per unit; it was a heavy-duty item for a military-spec amphibious vehicle, so Smith asked the supplier to decontent the horn. This resulted in a horn that cost only 40 cents more than the Belvedere’s horn — all that was needed otherwise was a new mounting bracket.
When the Road Runner was introduced, it was only available as a pillared coupe (with pop-out rear-quarter windows). In January, a hardtop was introduced to create even more mass appeal for what was turning out to be a remarkably successful model. In fact, the Road Runner was turning into a disruptor: Plymouth built more than 44,000 units. While it was far from the numbers of the best-sellers in the market (Pontiac GTO and Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396), the Road Runner would lead to several me-too responses for 1969, if not become the #2 seller (and within less than 2,000 units from the Chevy) in the segment.
This 1968 Plymouth Road Runner hardtop is the mid-year model, so it’s one of 15,334 built. In 1972, the original owner sold it and, within a year, the new owner repainted it the scheme you see here. The original owner bought it back several years later, not knowing that this was his original car. Then he passed away, leading to almost five decades of storage until 2022. “The motor and transmission are original numbers-matching to the car,” says the seller. “The motor was pulled out and overhauled since it hadn’t been started in 49 years. Heads were gone over with bronze guides, and a Mopar Performance purple camshaft was added.” The 727 TorqueFlite connects the power to the 3.55 rear end “The odometer shows about 56,000 miles to the car,” adds the seller.
Yes, I am one of those guys who has always been a purist at heart, but as I’ve grown older, my tastes have evolved and I have more appreciation for the things that used to repel me. Maybe I haven’t warmed up to modern music, but I’ve warmed up to cars like this $68,900 Road Runner. Take it to Autorama and watch the public drool in amazement.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com
