The Hemi brand is now potent enough that DaimlerChrysler is fashioning its entire North American automotive operation around it
Plymouth added the Road Runner to its model lineup in 1968, a bare-bones performance car built to a price. At only $3,000, Road Runners came with standard Plymouth Belvedere equipment, plus heavy duty suspension and shock absorbers, F70-14 tires on wide rims, armrests with ashtrays, a simulated air scoop hood, and a blacked-out, horizontal-bar grille. For a generation of drag racers who did not need bucket seats for the negligible lateral g-forces of a 1/4-mile sprint, it was just the ticket.
The Road Runner’s standard engine was the 330-hp, 383-ci Wedge V8. It made gobs of torque and performed superbly with either the TorqueFlite automatic or a four-speed manual transmission. An extra $714-nearly one-fourth of the cost of the basic model-put Chrysler’s legendary 426-ci, 425-hp Hemi V8 into a Road Runner. As pricey as it may have been, it made for an unforgettable combination.
The Road Runner Hemi offered here is an original, numbers-matching Hemi car documented by Galen Govier. It is-as most were-sparsely equipped. Fully and carefully restored, it runs as you would expect of a proper Hemi, which is to say both scary and fast.