68 RoadRunner
The 1968 Plymouth RoadRunner is a very popular muscle cars from the 60s and 70s. It was a car produced by Plymouth and by carrying the popular name “RoadRunner” had a very interesting history to it, as the name alone carried a lot of value. The name may sound familiar to many of you, as Warner Brothers has a cartoon character of the same name. In order to avoid law suits, Plymouth had to pay $50,000 to Warner Brothers to use the name and the likeness. Plymouth also pad $10,000 to develop a horn that would imitate the popular “beep, beep” sound of the Warner Brothers character.
The 1968 RoadRunner was the first year of the first generation Plymouth produced of this car. The second generation followed in 1971. The 68 RoadRunner used the Chrysler B platform, along with a few other Plymouth models, but was vastly improved in order to represent a great muscle car. Performance was the most important aspect and therefore many other aspects were just fulfilled in a very limited way. This includes the interior for example where only a few options were available and some models even missed carpets.
The car came with two different engines in the first generation, a 6.3L V-8 and a larger 7.2L V-8. The 1968 RoadRunner was only available as a 2-door coupe. The 6.3L V-8 was rated at 335 hp and was considered the standard engine for the car. The larger 7.2L V-8 was installed after the customer had paid an additional $714 and was rated at 425 hp. Due to the low weight of the 1968 RoadRunner, the car ran the quarter mile in about 13.5 seconds. The transmission installed as a standard was a four-speed manual transmission. As an upgrade Plymouth offered a three speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.
When the car was first introduced, Plymouth was not even moderately thinking about the impact this car would have on the market. Plymouth expected to sell about 2,000 1968 RoadRunners; actual numbers after one year were reported at 45,000. Considering these exceptional sales numbers, the 1968 Plymouth RoadRunner was third in sales only being surpassed by the Pontiac GTO and the Chevrolet Chevelle.
Even today the 68 RoadRunner is a very popular muscle car that many enthusiasts want to get their hands on, be it as a project or a well maintained car. Looking at the history and the performance this car comes with, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
