it's time for show off sunday, where everyone has a chance to show off their own car, and
here's this week's winner, 1972 plymouth road runner, you may not see
much of my face in this video it is so shaky in this car but for good reason,
I mean growing up as a millenial and a young person trying find their own way in the car
culture you heard about pretty much two muscle cars, the camaro and the mustang, I also had
not really heard much about plymouth as a company, turns out plymouth is a section of
Chrylser, their target market being the low priced models and they started out pretty
successfully and really hit their stride during the great depression when people didn't have
money and wanted cheap cars, and they sold well continuing all through the 50's but when
they people at plymouth saw that the muscle cars and the pony cars were starting to deviate
from the original core values of affordability and v8's and simplicity plymouth decided that
they were going to try their hand at bringing the muscle car back to it's roots with the
first plymouth road runner, and I can't talk about a plymouth road runner without talking
about the name and the graphics and the bird itself, back in the mid 1960's plymouth had
to pay warner bros around $50,000 for the rights to call their car the road runner,
hearing that plymouth was able to license road runner for $50,000 sounds like a steal
but you got to remember $50,000 was quite a chunk of change in that day, for a comparison
you got the Hemi in this car as an option for only $700, the road runner was introduced
with 3 engine choice and in proper muscle car spirit their all v8's, there's the 383
cu, the 440 and the 426 hemi v8, now if you're more familiar with liters like I am then those
are going to translate into 6.3, 7.2, and 7.0 liters, even with the smallest engine
the 383 you were still getting a 334 horsepower monster and that 426 hemi got you 425 horsepower,
now plymouth expected moderate success out of the car but the actual sales numbers below
their minds, they expected to move 20,000 in the first year, they ended up doubling
that at roughly 45,000, after 1970 you see a big redesign in the front and rear, chrysler
was moving all their products to a more standardized what they called a fuselage look with a more
narrow closed off front that's supposed to help with aerodynamics, the tachometer gauges
and a few other modern gauges along with the original set, classic period fake leather
and plastic dash, you have to remember this is plymouth the goal here was to make an affordable
muscle car, the camaro and the mustang had all the chrome and show off bits but this
is the working mans muscle car, and I think they were successful in their goal of trying
to return to the roots of the muscle car, this is no frills this is loud and shouty
but it's not expensive and it's not unreasonable, we have the 3 speed automatic which I think
is perfect, I know there's a push to save the manuals and believe me I'm on board with
that sentiment but this is a car that you just want to stick your one hand on the wheel
and cruise and not really have to think too much and it's perfect I wouldn't have it any
other way, I'd describe the sound less as an orchestra and more as a firing range, it's
loud it's deep it's rumbly but only when you want it to be, only when you put your foot
to the floor, if your cruising, I mean don't get me wrong you know your still rocking a
big block but not unreasonable not obnoxious, when you start to venture into anything more
than straight line speed the steering is weird the brakes suck, you got to really plan ahead
where you're going to stop, it seems like you can slow down pretty fine once you get
about half way through the brake travel but to come to a stop you really got to stand
on it, but this car's not about stopping it's about going, and man does it go, let's highlight
some exterior features, first of all no this is not an original color, on the hood you
got these 440 decals, it reminds me a little bit of the modern challenger hood, but I prefer
this style, and a 1971 era stripe on the rear, I move the personality of this car, I mean
right now I'm cruising 35 down some back roads and it's perfectly civilized I'm comfortable,
the seat is a hell of a lot more comfortable than my Miata seat, this is all quite manageable,
it's got power steering so I don't have to muscle it around too much, the other side
of that coin is man if you want to put your foot down, I will say under hard acceleration
it gets a little bit floaty, but this is an old car and you got to expect a little bit
of that, why are we not still talking about this car, I mean it's good looking, it's got
all the elements, and it's even got the most unique and entertaining marketing campaign
I've ever heard of, I think the answer to that is two fold, one they just weren't produced
in the same numbers as the camaro and the mustang and their expensive to repair, and
that combined with plymouth no longer being around means resources are thin or difficult
to access, and two I think the road runner campaign was a little too silly for some traditional
muscle car people, having a big yellow and blue bird on your car might have stopped some
people, but that's a blessing and a curse because everybody owns a camaro, everybody
owns a mustang, but these are hidden gems, if you owns these you own something special,
well that was this week's video and remember, to have your car video highlight here on my
channel, check this out, so if you never want to miss another one of
my new car repair videos, remember to ring that bell!