1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi - Muscle Cars of The Past
By
the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide
1970 Dodge Muscle Cars and 2010 Muscle Car War
With freshened styling, the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi was an
integral part of Plymouth's "Rapid Transit System" -- the advertising
tagline it applied to its bawdiest muscle cars. The redesigned 'Cuda,
the new Duster 340, and the restyled GTX were also charter members.
Rapid Transit ads were rife with op-art graphics, flower-power imagery,
and brilliant colors. They were an unabashed reflection of the times.
Plymouth's intermediates finished their 1968-70 styling cycle
with freshened sheetmetal and a revised dashboard.
In one ad, the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi was introduced with a
photo showing a giant, three-dimensional sculpture of its goofy cartoon
namesake emerging from a trap door on the hood. The tag line, "The
loved bird," was both a wry play on words and an accurate reflection of
the car's popularity. The photo also illustrated a functional new
feature, the Air Grabber hood.
The Air Grabber hood was standard on 1970 Plymouth Road
Runners with the 426-cid Hemi engine and available with either 440. The
driver would trip an underdash switch, causing the power-operated trap
door to rise slowly, revealing a planed-off scoop with a snarling shark
cartoon painted on its side -- just the thing for psyching out the
opposition at stoplights. The source of the car's whimsical "beep-beep"
horn sound was a purple underhood module.
Externally, the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi was restyled
with handsome loop-motif front and rear ends and dummy rear-fender
scoops. Under the hood, powertrains were basically unchanged, though
the 426 Hemi engine went from solid to hydraulic lifters in the
interest of greater durability and cleaner emissions, and the Road
Runner's standard four-speed manual moved to the options list, replaced
by a heavy-duty three-speed. Plymouth Road Runner sales slipped from
43,400 to about 39,600 units for '70, of which 75 hardtops, 74 pillared
coupes, and three convertibles got the optional 426 Hemi engine.
Antelope Valley Auto.com has a knack for research on cars and anything
and everything about them. And a love for American muscle cars. We work hard to find Automotive information
that our readers want and enjoy.
