1969 Plymouth Road Runner. Wes Eisenschenk
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Название: 1969 Plymouth Road Runner
Автор: Wes Eisenschenk
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Автомобили и ПДД
isbn: 9781613254028
isbn:
With Cherry’s suggestion of the name “Road Runner,” all that was left was to pitch the idea to the advertising agency handling the naming of the car. Before Smith could make the suggestion, a meeting was scheduled for the unveiling of the name. Smith and Cherry met with the ad agency at a steakhouse where a young man from the Art Department made the big unveiling. On the bottom of a sheet of paper read, “Lamancha.”
After a series of congratulatory handshakes on a job well done, it was now or never to squeeze the name “Road Runner” into the conversation. Smith announced, “In addition to your candidate names is the name that Gordon and I think would be perfect for the car. It has all the characteristics of the car and we think it would do a good job.” The group sat down to hear the name. Smith asked, “Do you ever watch cartoons on television?” Heads nodded throughout the room. “We think a perfect name for the car is Road Runner.”
Silence fell and the Art Department guy shoved his head into his elbow. Half a minute passed before his head popped up and he exclaimed, “I can work with that!”
The next hurdle was negotiating with Warner Brothers to use the cartoon bird on the car. Prior to that conversation Smith contacted the Automobile Manufacturers Association and secured the name “Road Runner.” Once secured, negotiations became simple. Either Warner Brothers went along for the ride or watched from the sidelines, because Plymouth could use the name either way.
Warner Brothers decided the fit was right with Plymouth and an annual usage fee of $50,000 was agreed upon between the two corporate giants. The Plymouth had a name and a character to boot!
A key ingredient still needed was the voice of the Road Runner. Chuck Jones had created the sound after hearing a person outside his office passing by with a stack of paperwork saying, “beep-beep” to get people to move out of the way. Smith was determined to get that sound out of a horn.
He approached three of Chrysler’s horn vendors and one stated they had a similar horn that would cost $45. Smith told them, “No way,” and asked them to remove every unnecessary component that still allowed it to make that sound and pass all the government regulations. One day later the horn vendor came back with a cost just 47 cents above what they were currently paying. Done.
With a fresh identity, a licensing agreement with Warner Brothers in hand, and a cool-sounding horn, Smith wanted one last thing: a Road Runner engine. Starting with Dick Maxwell, of Dodge Ramchargers fame, he suggested putting a 440 cam into the 383 block. After some trial and error, Frank Anderzjak, from the product planning garage, got the car dialed in with a new cam, gearing, and torque converter.
Next, Smith had to convince Bob Steere, chief engineer in Car and Truck Assembly, to add a new engine to an increasing lineup. Upon returning from vacation to find Smith sitting at his desk, Steere asked, “What in the hell are you doing here?”
After a lengthy pitch from Smith, Steere exulted, “Go do it!”
Adorning the air cleaner was a pie tin reading “383 Road Runner Engine” and featuring the Road Runner logo. It was another subtle reminder that the engine was exclusive to the Road Runner.
Here is the “Voice of the Road Runner” horn in purple. Some early 1969 Road Runners had a black horn as on 1968 models. (Darlene Deschambeault Photo)
THE DEATH OF THE ROAD RUNNER . . . ALMOST
Styling director Dick Macadam proved to be the last and final hurdle for Jack Smith and the Road Runner. In a three-way meeting with Smith, Macadam, and Bob Anderson, Macadam stated, “Nobody, but, nobody, will ever put a cartoon bird on one of my cars!” Anderson conceded, as Macadam was an important cog in the machine.
Smith made one last pitch to Anderson, so that a decal could be put in the glove box in case the owner wanted to apply it to the car. Anderson relented and Macadam agreed on the condition that he be able to choose the bird.
So how did the Road Runner bird make it onto the car from the factory? During an unveiling at Chrysler, the dealers came to view the next year’s models. Smith had a co-worker make copies of the Road Runner decals to scale, cut them out, and rubber cement them onto the car. As the group came out of the viewing talking over what they had seen, Smith inserted himself into the group around Bob Anderson.
Smith noted how happy everyone seemed, and asked Anderson if he’d noticed the bird. Anderson said, “I noticed it.”
Smith asked if he could put the bird on the car at the factory and Anderson said, “Yes.” Just like that, the Road Runner was complete.
This back-door scheme by Smith was a calculated and dangerous risk, but it paid off as the car was widely accepted. The dealer principals fell in love with the car and the personality it portrayed. The tipping point may have come about when “Big Bob” Anderson walked out of the showing with a prominent dealership owner from New Mexico, whose state bird was none other than the Road Runner.
As history shows, the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was a resounding success. More than 43,000 Road Runners went to new owners, announcing to Ford and General Motors that Plymouth had a marketable performance car capable of pulling sales away from their mid-size market. Plymouth was just getting started, though, and its sophomore edition solidified its position as one of the greatest success stories of the muscle car era.
The Road Runner saw subtle cosmetic changes from 1968 to 1969. The addition of a hardtop and a convertible placed the car in direct competition with offerings from General Motors and Ford. Buyers now rowed their Road Runners with Hurst Shifters as standard equipment. A variety of new colors at mid-year paved the way for the abundance of choices to be offered in 1970.
The Road Runner became the mid-size status norm for other manufacturers to emulate. With its cartoonish appearance СКАЧАТЬ