Plymouth Road Runner

The Plymouth Road Runner was a car model from the U.S., which is considered one of the muscle cars. Only in the 1970 model year, there was a tail wing reinforced hardtop variant under the name Plymouth Superbird.

History

Early in 1967, a journalist from the magazine Car and Driver, the idea to build a car that differed substantially from built to date. It should be developed on the basis of a coupe, equipped with a 440 Super Commando or 426 Hemi engine (8- cylinder V- engines ) as the standard engine, front bench seat and sporty rims; However scoops without unnecessary external changes such as Hood ( air intakes on the hood ), stripes ( popular at the muscle cars ' rally stripes " ), or other " gadgets ". With his idea, he turned to Plymouth's development office, where the incident was indeed kindly received but not considered viable.

After this conversation, but were made ​​for further reflection at Plymouth, as one might implement such a model with simple but functional amenities that should appeal to 16-20 year old in the first place.

They opted for the cheapest and lightest -weight body variant, the 2 -door pillar coupe, so the coupe with B-pillar based on the Plymouth Belvedere coupe. As a standard engine you put the 383- 4bbl - V8 tight ( 6.3-liter V8 with four -barrel carburetor ). To improve performance, they wanted to give him cylinder heads and valves of the 440 V8 (7.2 liter V8). However, it turned out afterwards that this modification only 5 hp more revealed - but this was enough to suggest to the buyer that it boosts performance.

As the technical issues had been resolved, the question of what name should carry the new vehicle introduced. The choice fell on Road Runner ( German: Ways cuckoo ), the name of a fast running bird that lives in the deserts of the southwestern United States. Trigger for the naming was the American animated television series Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote: One afternoon saw one of the Plymouth - manager with his children on television this series and saw Road Runner saw the race through the image. From then on, it was clear to him that " Road Runner " should be the name. After the rights in the Warner Brothers were bought for over $ 50,000, and you could therefore reflect the bird on the cars, they sought a further detail, which should remind us of the cartoon character. One of the identifying features of the figure was the "beep beep" that made the bird sound. So an old horn of the military has been developed so that they reproduced this sound.

Model 1968

Road Runner hardtop coupe model 1969

In the autumn of 1967 it was time that the first Road Runners left the tapes. They were based on the new B -body models and were therefore a sister models of Plymouth Belvedere, the Plymouth Satellite and also athletic -inspired, but better equipped and more expensive Plymouth GTX. For an additional charge there for all these models the Performance hood option ( image generation 1); here the hood was painted matt black.

This year, the cartoon figure was still displayed in black and white on the vehicle because the time was lacking for a version in color. This should change in the next few years but then.

After Road Runner was the first only as a B -pillar coupe, hardtop coupe, the (no B-pillar ) was then introduced after some time. It was based on the higher settled Plymouth Satellite. But individual seats were not yet available, nor a convertible version.

It was powered by a revised 383- hp engine with 335 and 425 ft. lb. ( 576 nm ). The standard tires consisted of F70x14 on 14x5 ½ " rims.

Model 1969

In 1969, the cartoon characters Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were then used to make advertisement for the entire Plymouth palette.

This year came to coupe and hardtop Coupe, the Convertible added; the latter, at almost 2,000 copies a rarity. The engines were the same as in the previous year, ie A series- the 383 ( 6.3 liter ) and 426 Hemi as an option a seven- liter with 425 hp and, from the spring of 1969, a 7.2 -liter (440 cui ) with three double carburetors, the so-called 440 six-pack. If you ordered these engines, you got the Air Grabber hood ( bonnet with retractable air intake ) is equal with it.

The journal Motor Trend found this car so convincing that the Road Runner 1969 Award Car of the Year awarded.

1970 model year, Superbird

1970, then the actually last year of the muscle cars, because insurance companies were up in arms against the over motorized vehicles, which is why the official performance figures often deviated from the actual values ​​down.

In order to upgrade the 1970 model again and because of Motorsport demanded it, they pledged short hand racer Richard Petty, who insisted on one for the NASCAR oval racing aerodynamically designed Road Runner. In the animated film Cars, this vehicle plays a minor role.

That was the Plymouth Superbird. With a huge rear wing and an aerodynamic, elongated and flattened front of this should bring in the NASCAR racing series the success that was its predecessor, the Dodge Charger 500 remained denied. This goal was achieved, however, the Superbird was little later banned by regulations.

Model 1971

1971 was the last year of the big engines. The insurance companies refused definitively to insure these vehicles. After all, the engines were in the Chrysler Group in that year yet with premium gasoline, while GM and Ford surrounded all machines on regular gasoline, and suffered little or no loss of performance compared to the previous year.

The Plymouth midrange models, including the Road Runner, got new, softer, rounder bodies, stylistically strongly stood out from the angularity of the models 1968-1970.

Model years 1972-1974

1972 Road Runner in the "best" equipment was only offered with 250 net hp. Environmental awareness was increased and the petrol expensive by U.S. standards. The 426 Hemi was no longer there, with the 440 Six Pack created only a handful of copies. In this form, the Road Runner was built with the usual annual changes in detail until 1974.

Model 1975

1975 based on the Road Runner of the newly introduced two-door version of the Fury. The car was a slightly enhanced version of the 1971 Plymouth Satellite presented and used Chryslers known as the B- platform.

1976 model year

From 1976, the Road Runner was a trim level of the new Plymouth Volare, which replaced the Plymouth Valiant. 1976 was the Road Runner package from a 5.2-liter V8 with 152 hp (optional 5.9 - liter with 172 hp ), sport suspension, three-speed transmission with floor shift and sporty been canned interior. In model year 1976 about 7300 Road Runner emerged.

Model 1977

The Road Runner package included, among other trim, rally steel wheels, sports suspension, black grille and of course the characteristic " beep-beep " horn. 6975 copies off the production line. There were new, including ajar to the Road Runner "Fun Runner" equipment packages in the form of the Sun Runner ( with sunroof ) and the front-runner, who was only available in orange and covered with eye-catching trim. For all Volare there was a surcharge T- Roof ( removable roof panels ) and sunroof. The Road Runner of the 5.2 -liter Celt (318 cui ) with 147 or the 5.9 - liter with four -barrel carburetor and 177 hp.

Model 1978

Minor changes to the Road Runner, 5.2-liter now with 142 instead of 147 hp.

Model 1979

No major changes, the 5.2-liter now made ​​only 137 hp, but strengthened the 5.9 - liter with four -barrel carburetor 198 hp. Only 1122 Volare coupe got the Road Runner package.

Model 1980

Last year for the Road Runner, therefore no further changes. It ran all 496 pieces from the tape. With the end of production of the Volare in the summer of 1980, the Road Runner disappeared from the Plymouth program.

Swell

  • Flammang, James M / Kowalke, Ron. Standard Catalog of American Cars 1976-1999. Kraus Publications, Iola 1999. ISBN 0-87341-755-0
  • Genat, Robert / Newhardt, David: Fifty years of muscle cars. Chrysler - Plymouth - Dodge. Heel Verlag, King Winter 2004. ISBN 3-898-80490-9
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