1977 Plymouth Road Runner

The Plymouth Road Runner is a mid-sized car focused on performance built by Plymouth between 1960 and 1980. The primary focus of the Road Runner was going fast on a budget. While options could be added to dress the car up the base version was a no frills, big block, tire shredding embodiment of all a muscle car truly was. In 1976 the Road Runner name was switched to the 2-door model of the replacement for the A-body Valiant/Duster series. The new F platform was marketed as the Plymouth Volare, and the new Road Runner became primarily a trim and graphics package. The standard engine was a 318ci V8 while a 360ci V8 was offered as an option. Suspension parts were borrowed from the police packages.

The year is 1977 and the malaise era of muscle cars is upon us, while every manufacturer took a hit due to EPA regulations and high gas prices the big 3 soldiered on and kept the big muscle names alive. The big muscle names were still alive but had been neutered to meet all the new regulations. For consignment, a Road Runner fresh out of the disco era. Sporting blinding orange paint, snappy graphics, a big hood scoop and a powerful V8 engine. It has all the makings of a muscle car, short deck, long nose and a V8. Read on and prepare to be wowed by what can be done with a muscle car from the dark days to bring it back to 1968 glory.

Exterior
Bathed in Spitfire Orange and with laser straight panels and well minded gaps, this Road Runner is eye candy. Chrome bezel headlights flank marker lights as well as an egg crate style grill that has larger vertical and horizontal bars to really set the front end off. A large chrome bumper hangs below this and a menacing chin spoiler scoops copious amounts of air into the engine bay to keep things cool. An orange and back hood sits between the fenders and has a pronounced twin snorkel scoop to feel the mill its air end of the mixture. Glass T tops are on the roof and give the option of motoring in both fair and foul weather. Yellow and black stripes run down the length of the car and follow the wheel arches, the "road runner" call out is highlighted in white and the iconic Warner Brothers cartoon Roadrunner is included in this stripe and is ready to fly off in a cloud of dust. Fiberglass spats give the body a
muscular definition around each wheel well and Spitfire Orange louvers cover the rear side glass. A duck tail spoiler sits at the rear of the decklid and has the yellow and black decal theme. Combination tail and reverse lights float outboard of a blacked out rear panel and finish out the muscle car look. A NASCAR fuel cell sits in the trunk and 15" Mopar rally wheels wrapped in raised white letter BF Goodrich rubber adorn all 4 corners.

Interior
A swing of the heavy well balanced door and we see an all black vinyl door panel with various designs of tuck and roll and a chrome surround in the center to give it some wow. A black armrest floats in the sea of black and is fronted by a chrome door release, window cranks, and mirror joystick. An aftermarket black speaker assembly sits down low and front. Some small tearing of the vinyl is noted at the lower center of the driver's door. Shiny black vinyl high back bucket seats with a tuck and roll pattern are floating in a sea of black carpet and are in splendid condition. The rear bench seat mimics the buckets in material, design and condition. A not often seen Mopar Tuff Wheel steering wheel proudly sits in front of the very basic instrument cluster in black with a brushed aluminum surround. An aftermarket tachometer is to the left of the main cluster and to the right we see slides for the heater controls and an aftermarket Pioneer AM/FM/CD player with a power antenna. A chrome shifter rises from the center of the pristine black carpeting and a tight black headliner hangs above.

Drivetrain
Long gone is the anemic smog laden 318ci V8 this Road Runner was born with and now residing between the fenders is a Mopar Performance 360ci 300hp V8. Black Mopar Performance valve covers break up the sea of orange and a Carter 750cfm 4bbl carburetor sits atop an aluminum intake manifold providing the proper air/fuel mixture. An 833 4-speed manual transmission with overdrive, (an early iron case), circa 1975 sends power back to an 8 3/4" rear axle with a 3.91 Sure Grip ratio. The muscles are strong here!

Undercarriage
Orange, black and rust free is the name of the game down here. Black painted suspension shows only minor road dirt along and the orange floor pans and unibody show the same. Police spec transverse torsion bars provide the ride on the front while leaf springs bring up the rear. Power disc brakes and power drums front and rear provide the stopping power. CPPA headers send spent fossils through the TTI exhaust system with Dynomax mufflers.

Drivability
Since it was a glorious sunny day I took the glass T tops out for my drive and slathered my thinning dome with SPF80 for the drive. With a twist of the key the 360ci V8 roared to life and immediately fell into a rumbling idle. Shifting was smooth, braking was bias free, and handling was well above average. I did notice that the fuel gauge and the HVAC blower were non functional during my drive. Our consignor hit the nail on the head with this one, the upgraded engine makes for muscular power in a sporty body, and I returned with an ear to ear grin on my face.

Volare, oh oh
Cantare, oh oh oh oh
Let's fly way up to the clouds
Away from the maddening crowds.....but I digress. If you are into the unusual, overlooked, and rare then you should stop at the Classic Auto Mall and give this Volare Road Runner a look. Is it a Hemi, nope. A Superbird, nope. But it's almost certainly guaranteed you won't see another one at a local car show. An upgraded drivetrain, great paint, body lines, and the option of open air driving you can have your muscle and luxury too.

VIN DECODE
HL29G7B303022
H-Plymouth Volare
L-Low Price Class
29-2 Door Special Coupe
G-318ci V8 2bbl
7-1977
B-Hamtramck, MI Assy Plant
303022-Sequential Unit Number

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 600 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.