Muscle On The Cheap... [PIC]

In 1968 Chrysler/Plymouth released a godsend to us baby boomers stuck in entry level jobs due to our draft status (if you were '1A', no employer was going to invest in you). Before the lottery was instituted, you checked the mail box every day for that letter that began "Greetings from the president of the United States...". If you couldn't afford the plethora of muscle cars available, the Plymouth Road Runner could offer you all the performance you could ask for starting as low as $2800.00. This stripped down Belevedere was offered in base sedan or optional hardtop. No buckets, console, fancy trim, just steel wheels with dog dish caps... even the rear window could no be rolled down. On the performance side, however, all the performance aspects were standard. The base engine was the 335 hp 383 (w/ 440 heads) offering 425 lb/ft of torque, 4 speed trans, 10" drums on all 4s ( with room for 60s all around), and a heavy duty suspension. Top of the line was the only other engine option... the 426 Hemihead. Only about 1100 were built with the Hemi which validated the concept of the low cost youth market target demo. As excited as I was over the Road Runner's debut, I was unfortunately 12,000 mi from the nearest Plymouth dealer in those years. By the time I got back to the States, the muscle era was in serious decline.

Danbury Mint released this optioned Hemi hardtop with vinyl roof in my favorite B5 Blue.