1969 Plymouth Road Runner - Horse (power) of a Different Feather

Plymouth updated their "B-body", intermediate line for 1968 with new styling for the coupe only GTX, and full-range (coupe, convertible sedan and wagon) Satellite and Belvedere. There was a new model too that was a bone stripped, pillared two-door bereft of most creature comforts even a Belvedere buyer on a budget would opt for. As spartan as it was, under the hood was a different story. Stuffed with either an exclusive version of Chrysler's "RB", 383 cubic-inch V-8 or the mighty 426-CID "Hemi", what they called "Road Runner", after the Warner Brothers cartoon character that had been around since 1949, it was horsepower of a different feather. This Bring-A-Trailer find is a 1969. 

This isn't any run-of-the-mill '69 Plymouth Road Runner either - it's the holy grail of Road Runner's, one of just 194 built that year with the "Hemi" and a factory installed Hurst four-speed manual transmission

Now, before you go scootin' off to Bring-a-Trailer, know that the bidding is done, and it sold for $140,000. Whoa. That's big bucks for what is, ostensibly, a taxicab with a street legal race car engine. No power steering on this one either. Not my cup of anti-freeze but apparently there's plenty of people who feel differently. 

So, what exactly is this thing? 

Originally billed as a return to the muscle car in its purest form, the Plymouth Road Runner was a factory built and factory warrantied performance car; a car performance junkies would have built for themselves so to speak. You could get the Hemi and Hurst four-speed in the GTX, but that car was heavier, far more feature laden and was heavier. Consequently, it was more expensive. 

Despite the memorable albeit goofy name, the Road Runner was unapologetically all stuff with little fluff and through the Malaise Era, the stuff of legend. These days, its five-second zero-to-sixty and quarter mile times in the "high-fourteens" are just another day at the trailer park. 

Again, with the Hemi and Hurst four-speed, this Road Runner is one rare bird. No doubt its scarcity and condition drove the bidding as high as it did. Jay Leno is fond of saying that his favorite old cars are ones that are "original and unrestored", this one is "number's matching", but it underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2015. It's not even in the "Bronze Fire Metalic" it was born with. So, a hundred and forty-grand for a what, in my opinion, is a recreation seems like a lot of money but what do I know. At least it's not a clone. I prefer the "fuselage" Road Runner's Plymouth built from 1971 to 1974. 

Pristine, original and unrestored '69 Hemi Road Runners have sold recently for more than $300,000. So, who knows. This might be well bought for the person who's writing the check for it.