The Road Runner muscles up

By BRUCE SIMPSON

In September 1967, America's car enthusiasts turned the pages of that month's issue of Hot Rod magazine and discovered a wild, two-page advertisement by the Plymouth division of the normally staid Chrysler Corporation.

The '68 Plymouth Road Runner had arrived.

It was a marketing coup for Plymouth, because millions of Americans each week watched the television cartoon where the Road Runner bird out-foxed his pursuer, the hapless Wile E. Coyote.

The Road Runner bird was wickedly fast and always left Wile E. Coyote languishing far behind.

The cartoon was entertaining and in the 60s' youth-orientated market, rang everyone's bells.

Plymouth licensed the "Beep Beep" bird and his coyote sidekick from Warner Bros-Seven Arts Inc, and the carmaker's new "B" body Satellite provided the canvas for a low-dollar, high-performace muscle car.

It had bold stripes, bright colours, hood-scoops and even a horn that matched the "Beep Beep" of the cartoon character.

Standard equipment included a 335hp (250kW) 383 V8, four-speed manual gearbox (automatic was optional), heavy duty brakes, steering and suspension.

The optional engine was the almost unbeatable 426 Hemi V8. A "coyote duster" air cleaner enlivened the view under the hood.

Plymouth embarked upon one of the most ambitious marketing campaigns the United States auto market had seen, with advertisements showing cartoon Road Runners straining at the leash, belching psychedelic flames from their exhausts.

You could even buy (or beg) posters of them from dealerships, at a cost of $US100 for four.

Motor Trend magazine named the '69 Hemi Road Runner car of the year. With a 0-60mph (100 km/h) time of 5.1 seconds, a standing quarter mile (400m) of 13.5 seconds at 105 mph (168 km/h) and a top speed of 142 mph (227 km/h), the Road Runner was a hard act to beat.

Advertising copywriters came up with some gems. Lines like "Plymouth tells it like it is" and "Beep Beep EEEYYOWWW!", and from the first advertisement came the original line "a total lack of doodads, gegaws and falderal", which described the spartan trim of the beast. The advertisement for the 426 Hemi engine featured a cartoon engine belching flames from open exhausts and captioned "Beat it." Then there was Road Runner and underneath in latin, "accelerati, maximus, rapidus." Plymouth certainly made its point.

The 1969 mid-year model was the 440 6bbl Road Runner. Three Holley 2bbls on a special Edelback 6bbl hi-rise intake manifold, chromed intake and exhaust valves, Hemi valve springs, special camshaft and topping all the performance goodies was a lift-off fibreglass hood with four pins holding it down.

A street racer's dream, rated conservatively at 395hp (295kW), the 3765lb (1708kg) Road Runner with professional drive Ronnie Cox at the wheel ran a best elapsed time of 13 seconds at 110 mph (176 km/h).

Plymouth's 440 6bbl advertisement said: "Beep Beep your what?"

The first 1968 Road Runner sold well, with sales of 44,559 thin-pillar coupes and pillarless hardtops. In 1969 sales reached 82,292, not including 2128 convertibles.

The 1970 model didn't sell as well, with 40,660 coupes and hardtops, and 824 convertibles. Also built were 1920 Road Runner Superbirds, the sublime aerodynamic model built for Nascar Super Speedways.

The Road Runner advertisements stand as some of the most evocative and effective ever produced.

Subaru must obviously think so as well, after resurrecting the Road Runner, this time with Wile E. Coyote in hot pursuit in a WRX.

But could he outrun a Hemi Road Runner? With '69 Hemis in king of the street competitions doing an elapsed time of 8.71 seconds at 158 mph (253 km/h), I don't think so.