1970 Plymouth Road Runner. Scott Ross
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Название: 1970 Plymouth Road Runner
Автор: Scott Ross
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Автомобили и ПДД
isbn: 9781613254592
isbn:
Final sales totals (per Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946–1975) showed 44,599 Road Runners rolling out of the assembly plants where the B-Body Plymouths were built (Newark, Delaware; Lynch Road Assembly in Detroit; St. Louis, Missouri; and Los Angeles, California). It outsold the GTX by a good margin: Sales of 29,240 Road Runner coupes for the full year and January–June sales of 15,359 Road Runner hardtops outpaced GTX’s full-year totals of 17,914 hardtops and just 1,026 convertibles.
The Road Runner also received plenty of attention from Plymouth’s price-class competition, which entered the budget muscle segment of the new-car market for 1969. Most notable was Ford, which similarly de-trimmed its midsize Torino GT fastback and two-door hardtop to create the Torino Cobra, offering the Police Interceptor 428 as its standard engine or the hotter, new-in-1968 428 Cobra Jet as the sole option.
The 440 Six Barrel featured three Holley 2-barrel carburetors atop an aluminum intake manifold by Edelbrock. It created a 390-hp screamer that cost about half the price of the Hemi option. (Photo Courtesy Mecum Auctions)
Chevrolet still marketed its SS396 equipment as an option package on the Chevelle Malibu two-door hardtop and convertible. It also made the package available on the base Chevelle 300 Deluxe two-door sedan for 1969.
Pontiac considered powering a budget version of its GTO with a high-output 350-ci Pontiac engine. However, when Pontiac boss John DeLorean supposedly said, “Over my dead body will a 350 power a GTO,” the company decided to install the latest version of Pontiac’s Ram Air 400-inch V-8 into what became the Pontiac GTO Judge.
For 1969, Plymouth didn’t stand pat with the Road Runner. That year, a convertible joined the lineup, the options expanded to include more of the comfort and convenience features available on regular-gas Satellites and Sport Satellites, and a third engine choice became available that spring. It was the 440 Six Barrel, a version of the 440-inch, RB big-block engine that sported an Edelbrock aluminum intake wearing three Holley 2-barrel carburetors, all under a pin-on fiberglass hood, in a package (Code A12) that left off hood hinges and hubcaps and delivered a 390-hp ready-to-race screamer for just $462.80 extra. (The Hemi, in contrast, cost an additional $813.45.)
Motor Trend magazine was so impressed that it crowned the Bird its Car of the Year for 1969, citing its combination of performance and value. An advertising campaign built around this honor, with more Chuck Jones–animated TV commercials, helped the Road Runner’s image, and its sales, for the year.
How did the Road Runner do with the bean counters in Highland Park? For 1969, very well. With total-series sales of 88,415, which included 48,549 hardtops, 2,123 convertibles, and 33,743 coupes, it was the best-selling midsize Plymouth line of all. The Road Runner two-door hardtop was Plymouth’s best-selling two-door car of any kind.
NEW STYLING, NEW COLORS, NEW “SYSTEM”
The third-year Plymouth Road Runner debuted in 1970 with front-end styling that foreshadowed a major restyling of Chrysler’s B-Body platform in 1971. Steel Rallye road wheels were a popular option; they are now being reproduced. (Photo Courtesy David Newhardt)
The third-year Plymouth Road Runner still retained its original character as a purpose-built stripped-down muscle car that provided exceptional performance and rugged reliability. The 1970 model was an evolution of the two previous models, so it was not substantially changed, but it did receive some important updates. Although a multitude of small improvements were made, the most noted and recognizable changes were to its interior and exterior styling.
It arrived in the nation’s Chrysler-Plymouth dealers in September 1969, and Plymouth’s Styling studios developed a new look inside and out to distinguish it from the previous model years. The third-year Bird wore new front fenders, rear-quarter panels, grille, taillights, and bumpers, as did its GTX/Satellite/Sport Satellite/Belvedere stablemates. They also shared a new, squared-off look front and rear, with a “center scoop” motif to the grille and rear body above the bumper. Carried over from 1969 were the coupe/hardtop roof, convertible top, and all the windows.
The Road Runner for 1970 combined that updated styling, which included simulated scoops on the rear-quarter panels and new optional Rallye road wheels on the outside, plus a new dash, Pistol Grip 4-speed shifter and high-back bucket seats, with a proven high-performance powertrain and chassis. It was all wrapped up in the strongest and lightest-weight midsize passenger car platform made in 1970.
As a member of the Chrysler B-Body family, the Road Runner used Chrysler’s Unibody unit-body construction method, which “surrounds you in strength” thanks to stout structural members welded into and underneath the body.
Since 1960, using state-of-the-art computer technology, Chrysler’s body engineers added structural strength to new body designs where needed, resulting in a unit-body assembly that was more resistant to flexing and bending than a conventional (body on frame) body was without the added weight of a full frame underneath the car. The resulting squeaks and rattles come from body bolts and connectors coming loose as the car ages.
Unibody, therefore, was the ideal method for constructing high-performance car bodies, such as the Road Runner’s. For the severe-service applications such as the 426 Hemi, additional structural reinforcements were developed and welded in the appropriate bodies-in-white before they were made ready for primer and paint. After all, Chrysler engineered its high-volume B-Body platform to carry its full range of engines, from the standard 225 Slant Six and 318 LA series small-block V-8 to the B and RB big-blocks (the 383s and 440s) and the 426 Hemi.
The extra structural strength came from large structural subframes and crossmembers at the front and rear. One large crossmember is installed at the rear, just ahead of the rear axle and connects the two frame rails, essentially “boxing” the rails. On hardtop and coupe models, thick roof bows deliver added strength and rigidity to the roof panel. Up front, cowl panels, radiator support, and fender wells are tied together for improved strength. In addition, 426 Hemi-equipped cars received their own unique engine crossmember (the K-member), specially engineered for the Hemi’s weight and to prevent its massive torque output from twisting the car’s Unibody into a pretzel at full throttle.
The Unibody had been proven in thousands of Plymouths, Dodges, Chryslers, and 1967 and later Imperials that preceded the third-year Road Runner into production.
A totally new B-Body body design was in the works for 1971; 1970 marked the final year of the generation of midsize Plymouths and Dodges that had debuted for 1966.
Beyond the styling and comfort improvements, the Air Grabber cold-air induction featured a revised design and operation for the 1970 model year. The Road Runner’s steel hood was changed from the parallel-twin-scoop design that was used in 1968 and 1969 to one with a large center bulge that accommodated the vacuum-operated Air Grabber scoop and the big carburetors that resided on top of the engine. A dash-mounted switch activated a servo, which raised and lowered the scoop. Once it was deployed, the shark teeth graphics (that resembled the nose art on the legendary СКАЧАТЬ