1970 Plymouth Road Runner

Description

This 1970 Plymouth Road Runner isn't going to last long on the showroom floor. They never do. It must be the combination of in-your-face audacity with Limelight Green paint, big block power, and the no-frills attitude that makes these cars so popular year-in and year-out. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Chrysler's High-Impact colors were the talk of the industry in 1970 and today when you show up in a car like this it gets everyone talking. And yes, this is a correct FJ5 Limelight Green car, restored to as-delivered specs and completely unapologetic about it. It was painted in 1993, but it's so well preserved that you'd think it was painted much more recently and the finish gets the color exactly right. No metallic, no modern takes on an old favorite, just the bold fluorescent green that practically defined Mopar muscle. And if you're going to attract this kind of attention, you'd better get the bodywork right, too, so they took their time to put it together far more carefully than the factory could manage. Not perfect, but you can see the hours of block sanding that went into it before the glowing paint went on. It also got a blacked out hood treatment and a set of proper Road Runner dust trails running down its flanks (experts will note that there is a left side and a right side, and this one was done correctly). Out back there's a Go-Wing above a blacked-out tail panel that amped up the aggression over the 1969 models. Nice chrome bumpers are almost subtle on a car that looks like this and the fine-toothed grille remains in very good condition.

The interior is miraculously almost entirely original. Yes, it's industrial-strength with a front bench, but it needs no excuses with a 4-speed pistol grip shifter there in the center, proving that it was built for combat. Only the carpets have been replaced, and the reproduction threads use the correct nap and weave for a factory-correct look and the original stuff is so nice that nothing really looks out of place. It's got a full complement of Rallye gauges, maintaining the stock look throughout. Newer upgrades include a modern A/C system and an AM/FM/CD stereo head unit neatly grafted into the dash where the Music Master AM unit used to live. The trunk is still wearing its original paint as well as the factory-issued mat that's in remarkably good shape.

The 383 cubic inch V8 under the hood has a few choice upgrades to make it reliable, most notably the MSD ignition system, but the heavy-duty torque factory runs like a stocker. The twin-snorkel air cleaner wears correct decals and Hemi Orange paint on the block stands out in sharp contrast to the glowing Limelight Green paint. It starts easily and pulls through all four gears like it's trying to escape from something, and the sound from the twin Flowmasters is simply amazing. The underside shows off years of clean living down south, away from the ravages of salt and snow. Handsome Magnum 500 wheels are always a great choice on 1970s muscle and they're wrapped in fat 14-inch white-letter radials for a sporty look.

Not for the faint-of-heart, this high-visibility Mopar more than delivers on the promises made by the outrageous paint job. Like I said, you probably shouldn't be waiting on this one, call now!