The 1973 Plymouth Road Runner

By Mark Weisseg

The Plymouth Road Runner pictured here is a beautiful 1973. Yes by now the high performance days are long gone. One could have the owned this powerful 440 V8 under the hood but it was choked off by pollution control devices.

Yes the styling was nice and yes the interior was nice but it’s far from the mean and nasty Road Runner just three years prior. The car got heavier, bulkier, and just flat out lazy. It’s a bad time for high performance cars and would only get worse in the years to come. I cannot even bring myself to write about the Road Runner name plate of the mid to late 1970’s. Yes, it was that bad.

That is the main reason the Road Runners of the 68-70 era are so well loved. They were basic straight line nasty hot rods with a short list of engines available the previous Road Runner was known for its basic 383 and 440 engines. By the way has anyone bothered to look at the prices of a Road Runner of that era with the 425 horsepower 426 cubic inch Hemi?

I have just last night as one was brought to my attention. It is a ’69 Road Runner and the asking price is 105k. That makes me wish I had bought mine with a Hemi rather than the base 383. But, it’s all about budgets my friends and what fits into yours. Certainly I do not see the Road Runner of the 1973 era ever rising to what the 68-70 Road Runners are getting, but enjoy what you have. That is the key to our hobby. No matter what you have someone will have something better. So, enjoy what you do have and be happy with your decision.

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