Photo: Mike Smoker
Environmentalists can be a fickle group at times. Some of them, but not all, bemoan internal combustion engines as the work of Satan, and the people who drive them are nothing but the demons carrying out their master's work on his behalf. They also claim we should all be forced on our hands and knees to accept the all-electric revolution, lest we be called a bigot or haters of polar bears and fuzzy "wittle" woodland creatures. Well then, we can only imagine what they'd think of Mike Smoker's Viper V10-swapped 1970 Plymouth Road Runner.
Chances are good the eco-warriors of the world who spend their days blocking highway traffic and super-gluing themselves to world-famous art exhibits would bemoan this resto-mods existence as it lovingly slurped up more and more of our ever-decreasing petrochemical reserves. To the rest of us common folks, we'd just call it one heck of an amazing custom car. Perhaps the most desirable model year of the first-generation Road Runner, this iconic muscle car left the factory sporting one of three V8s ranging from 383 cubic inches (6.3 L) to the 440 cubic inch (7.2 L) monster engine and even the 426 cubic inch HEMI V8.
None of these motors are exactly small, but the 8.3 liter, naturally aspirated V10 native to the Dodge Viper and Ram SRT-10 pickup now under its hood has any of the Road Runner's native hardware beat in raw cubic displacement. According to Mike Smoker himself, this particular '70 Road Runner was found on Craigslist back in August 2010 with the original 383 V8 still under the hood. The previous owner intended to fully restore this old "bird" but faltered at some point before the listing was posted. With the help of Mike's brother Bob and a couple of friends, he was able to take what the previous owner couldn't finish and give it a new fire-breathing V10 that dwarfs all but diesel truck engines in size.
The engine is paired with a rebuilt Chrysler 48RE four-speed automatic transmission met at the rear of the vehicle by an 8.75-inch rear end. Add on a performance-tuned suspension with a slight ride-height drop with Wilwood disk brakes at all four corners, and this is the kind of restomod that's perfectly happy carving canyon corners just as much as it is gapping sports cars 50 years it's junior at the quarter-mile drag strip. It's all made to be a wonderful place to sit with all the plush, cream color-stitched leather seats, the tasteful wood grain on the dashboard, and the center infotainment and navigation screen in the center of the interior to give all the luxuries a modern car needs with all the trills of a custom restomod.
Congrats to Mike and his team for building what might just be the most amazing Road Runner build we've seen in ages. It's sure to turn heads at the next car meet it shows up to and all future ones henceforth. It's also bound to make eco-warriors cope and seeth.
None of these motors are exactly small, but the 8.3 liter, naturally aspirated V10 native to the Dodge Viper and Ram SRT-10 pickup now under its hood has any of the Road Runner's native hardware beat in raw cubic displacement. According to Mike Smoker himself, this particular '70 Road Runner was found on Craigslist back in August 2010 with the original 383 V8 still under the hood. The previous owner intended to fully restore this old "bird" but faltered at some point before the listing was posted. With the help of Mike's brother Bob and a couple of friends, he was able to take what the previous owner couldn't finish and give it a new fire-breathing V10 that dwarfs all but diesel truck engines in size.
The engine is paired with a rebuilt Chrysler 48RE four-speed automatic transmission met at the rear of the vehicle by an 8.75-inch rear end. Add on a performance-tuned suspension with a slight ride-height drop with Wilwood disk brakes at all four corners, and this is the kind of restomod that's perfectly happy carving canyon corners just as much as it is gapping sports cars 50 years it's junior at the quarter-mile drag strip. It's all made to be a wonderful place to sit with all the plush, cream color-stitched leather seats, the tasteful wood grain on the dashboard, and the center infotainment and navigation screen in the center of the interior to give all the luxuries a modern car needs with all the trills of a custom restomod.
Congrats to Mike and his team for building what might just be the most amazing Road Runner build we've seen in ages. It's sure to turn heads at the next car meet it shows up to and all future ones henceforth. It's also bound to make eco-warriors cope and seeth.
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