1969 Hemi Road Runner 4 speed

Plymouth Road Runner 1969 Description

Firstly, let me say that I am an unintentional car collector, not a dealer/flipper. It was never my plan to gather so many cars, it just happened. I now have 11 classics and have decided it is time to sell some.

During the time I have owned the Road Runner it has only been driven up and down my rural road a handful of times to keep the fluids circulating and bring the mechanicals up to temperature. It drives and shifts smoothly through all gears and there are no known issues with the car.

The Road Runner was purchased 5 years ago in 2012. I wanted a sedan, or post car, versus a hardtop. Also, it had to be a numbers matching 4 speed with bench seat. Finding a numbers matching 4 speed proved difficult since most of the 426 engines coupled with the manual transmission were grenaded early. I suppose this engine survived because of its ownership history.

Below is a condensed version of the cars history as told to me by the 3rd owner. Most of the story was passed on to him by the 2nd owner (#2).

When #2 and his friend finished school in small town, Saskatchewan, they went to Edmonton, Alberta, to work in the oil rigs. They were in Calgary one weekend and saw the Road Runner at a dealer and stayed there until Monday morning to buy the car. #2’s friend bought the car and had it for less than 2 years when he was laid off work. As he was still working, #2 bought the Road Runner from his friend.

(Sometime within the first 2 years the car was involved in an accident. It struck a post on the passenger side and the bumper, headlight bezel and front fender were replaced.)

A short time after #2 bought the car he also lost his job, and as the Road Runner was hard on gas, he decided to park it and drive a “beater”. The Road Runner was only on the road from the spring of 1969 to the summer of 1972, a period of less than 4 years.

Shortly after it was parked, #2 met his future wife who was not interested in cars and never rode in it. They were married, moved to Regina and had a family. The car was towed to Regina and parked in the back yard next to an old garage. In 1976, #2 decided to drive the car again so he bought plates and went for a spin. The exhaust was rotten and the police became attracted to the noise. They ordered the car off the road so it returned home and was parked in the garage.

The 3rd owner (#3) heard of the car while attending a Roughrider football game in 1979-80. After one of the games he parked out front of #2’s house and waited for his return.

#2 was happy to show the car but it was not for sale. #3 visited #2 and his wife a number of times after that and got to know them quite well. #2 said he would never sell the car because he intended to restore it someday.

In the mid 1990’s #2 inherited an acreage and moved his family there. The Road Runner sat outside by his house for a couple of years until space was cleared in a shed to store it in. Once in a while he would fire the car up and take it for a ride out in a nearby field; he didn’t take it on the grid road as by this time the car had no brakes and #2 didn’t know how to fix them.

In the fall of 2000, #2 passed away from a sudden heart attack. By spring, the car was attracting a lot of interested buyers. It was appraised and #3 bought it.

The car was transported to #3’s home, cleaned up and assessed as to what parts were needed.

By 2005, most of the mainly NOS parts had been gathered and a friend at a body shop agreed to help out. #3 disassembled the car at home and took the rolling shell to the body shop. He borrowed a rotisserie from a friend and was soon scraping and blasting off the old undercoating and paint. All the body parts were stripped to bare metal and #3 was amazed at their condition. There were only two areas on the rear quarters that needed small patches.

After the car was painted and polished, #3 took the car home and began the task of reassembly. It had been in the body shop for less than 1 year. For the next year, #3 worked hard doing the overhauling and reassembly. Upon completion, #2’s wife was contacted and her and several of her children attended a heartwarming reunion with the car.

As you can see from the photos this Road Runner is more of a museum piece than a frequent driver. It is 1 of only 20, 426 equipped Road Runners reportedly sold in Canada in 1969 and it deserves special treatment.

If you are seriously interested in purchasing the car and need more information please give me a call (rather than email) not later than 9 p.m., Pacific Time, please. I can be reached at 250.864.5005.