1974 Plymouth Road Runner Restomod

Description

By 1974, the feds and insurance companies had pretty much succeeded in their mission to kill the muscle car. However, that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy handsome examples of Mopar performance, especially when enterprising minds build cars like this 1974 Plymouth Road Runner Restomod. Packing a built 400 V8, a quick-shifting Tremec 5-speed gearbox that transforms this coupe into a bonafide street-shredder, and an upgraded performance suspension that plants it to the road, this fully restored Road Runner shows us how special the muscle car era could've been if it was allowed to continue. Take a closer look but be quick about it, because amazing Mopars like this never last long.

We've touched on some of this restomod's performance highlights, but lest we forget that this is an incredibly good-looking car. Mopar led the Big 3 when it came to producing slick-looking cars in the vapid mid-'70s, as it was the brand that had the toughest time saying goodbye to the muscle car era. Thankfully, cars like this 2nd generation Road Runner are the direct result of that stubbornness, with its streamlined, Coke-bottle shape and crouched wedge-like stance. It's a memorable B-Body in that its overall design is seemingly stuck between the roaring muscle-car heyday of the late-1960s and the overbuilt styling of the 1970s. Born wearing Lucerne Blue Metallic paint, this car changed color during its restoration with the shade selected to reflect the times better –a River Rock Metallic similar to Plymouth's Golden Haze from the same year. It's a welcomed upgrade, and because the work was done to a top driver-quality standard, it's clear it was the right choice. With a build that began in 2009, didn't get serious until 2016, and wasn't finished until 2018, it's obvious that a lot of time was spent getting everything right, and although it's not a perfect show-pony without flaws, it's very nice and shows extremely well. There's no sign of the original paint anywhere, the body fits together well, and the gaps and panels were set evenly before the paint went down. That black vinyl half-top still looks new, and it matches the glossy black stripe kit that was added to provide a little contrast to the bronze finish. The all-new fuselage styling that debuted in 1971 was slightly revised for 1974. It kept the clean lines, smooth flanks, and sloping, fastback-style rear window treatment. An aggressive hood with pins and a bulging cowl adds to the tough look, as do the dual chin spoilers, and the body crouches down-low like it's ready to pounce at any moment. Despite obtrusive regulations, Mopar still managed to make their bumpers look slick, and they've been brightly polished up to a great sparkle, matching the brightwork trim around all the glass, the front grille, and headlights.

Inside, the sporty black vinyl interior was restored to stock and looks great today. High-back bucket seats are in amazing condition, and they remain firm and comfortable with a back seat that looks unused. A quartet of round dials makes up the instrument panel, with this car sporting a desirable factory tach and accompanying auxiliary dials, all set inside an elegant woodgrain bezel ahead of the driver. There's more woodgrain down the length of the dash, as well as on the matching black door panels and factory center console that splits the seats, and the resulting black-and-wood theme transforms this cabin into a higher class of car not usually associated with the street-brawler image of the Road Runner. Options include power windows, a retro-style AM/FM/AUX/BT stereo, an electronic E-brake with the button cleverly stashed inside the ashtray, and a heater/defrost unit. The three-spoke steering wheel is wrapped in black leather that makes it easier to grip, and it's a perfect companion to the cabin's top feature – the 'pistol-grip' shifter that manages the 5-speed gearbox below. The black carpets are plush, the matching headliner is taut, and the door panels and dash are largely blemish-free, meaning this cabin is worthy of being a show-off. The rear seat looks like it hasn't been used since the car was restored, and even the big trunk out back was carefully attended to with sound-deadening insulation and a proper plaid mat.

Forget the usual wheezing, smog-choked small block. This Road Runner packs a thundering, fuel-injected 400 cubic inch V8 big block that's been bored .030 over and augmented with 440 aluminum heads, an Edelbrock cam, and an Edelbrock aluminum intake. Fed through a Holley Sniper EFI system and properly tuned, it's a fantastic runner with seemingly endless reserves of horsepower up and down the throttle and torque at any speed. This 400 fits like it were born there, and they were careful to use nicely detailed parts throughout, from the stock 'Super Commando' snorkeled air cleaner, to the corporate blue engine enamel on the block itself, to the polished aluminum valve covers up top. The Tremec TKO500 5-speed manual is a great dance partner for the burly big block, and this Road Runner can easily handle highway speeds with that overdrive gear, although it's incredibly fast off the line well with an 8 ¾ rear end filled with 4.10 positraction gears. Underneath, the independent front suspension uses tubular A-arms, a big sway bar, and power rack-and-pinion steering, there's a proper 4-link rear and QA1 adjustable coilvers and Wilwood 4-wheel power disc brakes at all the corners. Long-tube headers feed into a Magnaflow X-pipe dual exhaust system that gives this Mopar a killer soundtrack, and the rolling stock rides on staggered US Mags alloys wrapped in 245/50/17 front 285/45/18 rear performance radials.

Documented with a massive build book full of receipts and photos, this Road Runner is as dialed-in as possible. Call today!