Photo: mowmancos/eBay
Launched for the 1968 model year as a more affordable alternative to the upscale GTX, the Plymouth Road Runner quickly became a hit with muscle car enthusiasts. First-year sales came in at around 45,000 units, well above Plymouth's initial estimate of 20,000 examples.
Sales nearly doubled in 1969, the year when the Road Runner was named Motor Trend Car of the Year. With 81,125 cars delivered, 1969 remained the Road Runner's best-ever year. Come 2022, and the 1969 Road Runner is far from rare overall, but certain models are harder to find, while others are nearly impossible to track.
The HEMI-powered convertible is by far the rarest iteration because Plymouth sold only 10 of them. The HEMI hardtop isn't exactly common either, with only 421 built, while the coupe variant found only 356 customers in 1969.
If you're in the market for a HEMI-fed Road Runner hardtop, here's one that stands out. Not only an unrestored survivor that looks absolutely fantastic inside and out, but it also packs a numbers-matching 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) V8 under the hood.
How did it soldier on in such fabulous condition for more than 50 years? Well, for starters, it wasn't driven all that much. The odometer shows 62,992 miles (101,376 km), which kinda makes it a low-mileage example. But it's pretty obvious that this muscle car was babied since day one.
And judging by the almost flawless dark green paint, the perfect vinyl top, and the near-perfect interior, this Road Runner spent a few good decades in a garage. Oh, and it also had only two owners since new.
But as perfect as it might seem, this HEMI survivor hides a little secret under the shell. The four-speed manual transmission is not the original one. The seller says it was sourced from a different Road Runner HEMI. The swap was made in 1971, so it could be a period-correct unit. However, this car was originally an automatic, so it's a significant change to the original spec sheet.
All told, this Mopar is one of only 187 Road Runner coupes that left the factory with the HEMI/automatic combo in 1969. If we narrow it down to the green exterior and brown interior combo, we're probably looking at one of fewer than 20 examples made.
Not surprisingly, the ad is getting a lot of attention from Mopar and classic car enthusiasts. Auctioned off by eBay seller "mowmancos," the Road Runner has attracted 55 bids so far, with the highest at $90,000. The auction is set to end in a few hours, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Plymouth hit the $100,000 mark.
The HEMI-powered convertible is by far the rarest iteration because Plymouth sold only 10 of them. The HEMI hardtop isn't exactly common either, with only 421 built, while the coupe variant found only 356 customers in 1969.
If you're in the market for a HEMI-fed Road Runner hardtop, here's one that stands out. Not only an unrestored survivor that looks absolutely fantastic inside and out, but it also packs a numbers-matching 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) V8 under the hood.
How did it soldier on in such fabulous condition for more than 50 years? Well, for starters, it wasn't driven all that much. The odometer shows 62,992 miles (101,376 km), which kinda makes it a low-mileage example. But it's pretty obvious that this muscle car was babied since day one.
And judging by the almost flawless dark green paint, the perfect vinyl top, and the near-perfect interior, this Road Runner spent a few good decades in a garage. Oh, and it also had only two owners since new.
But as perfect as it might seem, this HEMI survivor hides a little secret under the shell. The four-speed manual transmission is not the original one. The seller says it was sourced from a different Road Runner HEMI. The swap was made in 1971, so it could be a period-correct unit. However, this car was originally an automatic, so it's a significant change to the original spec sheet.
All told, this Mopar is one of only 187 Road Runner coupes that left the factory with the HEMI/automatic combo in 1969. If we narrow it down to the green exterior and brown interior combo, we're probably looking at one of fewer than 20 examples made.
Not surprisingly, the ad is getting a lot of attention from Mopar and classic car enthusiasts. Auctioned off by eBay seller "mowmancos," the Road Runner has attracted 55 bids so far, with the highest at $90,000. The auction is set to end in a few hours, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Plymouth hit the $100,000 mark.
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