Danbury Mint 1:24 1968 Plymouth Road Runner 383 Tony Perrone has a little something to say about this reelin' and rockin' Road Runhner. Review by Tony Perrone

Overview

If Coors Brewing Company made their Coors Light beer back in 1968 they would have immediately visited a Mopar showroom, picked out a Buffed Silver Metallic Road Runner, and put it on every commercial ad they made. They would have proclaimed it as the famed, “Silver Bullet”. And think about how much easier it would have been for the Lone Ranger to round up the bad guys in one of these studly machines! Sorry Silver, your services are no longer needed; the back forty for your butt!

Danbury follows up on their herd of ‘sixties Mopar muscle machines’ by corralling the head stallion in formulating this 383 Road Runner. Previous issues included the1968 Plymouth in Electric Blue in Hemi form, two 1969 Dodge Super Bee’s in 383 and 440 configuration and a spate of sixties Dodge Daytona’s. But full circle achievement renders us a Beep-Beep roller with attitude, looks and early era charm in a ’68 light-bodied, big engine Plymouth with bright silver body, black vinyl roof and two-toned red interior. The model is simply superb, seen up close. Changing the looks of the previously issued ’68 RR completely, we see a different engine, use of sculpted and period-correct wheels and optioned out as a relatively rare bird. Why not, the roadrunner is a bird that rarely flies; it prefers to run.

Outfitted as a lesser-known “Road Runner decor group 68” car, DM chose to use Plymouth’s option code 360. In a recent Bulletin Board post, George Bojaciuk recalled what goodies all came with this option package. It had, as he so accurately pointed out, “the rear deck appliqué, center pillar moldings, partial horn ring and expanded interior colors. The option code for the red vinyl bench is H4R. The auto on the column is classic budget.” MyMopar.com bears witness to his good memory and to the lengths that DM went to in order to get it right and offer a wholly different image than the previous Road Runner iteration. The interior, as mentioned, switches from a four-speed tranny with floor-mounted shifter to an automatic transmission with column-mounted gear selection lever.

All appropriate floor pedals are changed, the sun visors still flip and fold and the seats, in dark and lighter red, are resplendent, if somewhat Spartan, while holding true to the accuracy of the build. The trunk hinges are scaled and slim, jacking instructions affixed to the upper lid and the removable spare reveals the nicely fashioned jack and tire iron on a plaid floor mat. The suspension is fully operational and the coloration of the driveline is amended to reflect the correct drive shaft for an automatic instead of the stick shift car. Of course the trans itself has been changed, correctly linked and plumbed with fluid lines. DM even thought to change the exhaust pipes to include the cross-over pipe connection different than the system on the Hemi milled car.

No more flat black side-scooped hood; this one carries body-color paint and the “Hemi” script has been removed from within the scoop indentions and replaced with “383”. The difference is day and night when peering into the marvelous cavern afforded by a wide-opening hood. And like the magnificent door hinges, the hood comes with the prerequisite DM scissors springs that they pioneered for 1:24th scale. The orange lump is missing in favor of the blue 383 cubic inch V8. Thankfully, along with its appearance comes a readily seen throttle return spring, wires, cables and hoses as if straight from Chrysler Corporation themselves. The paint is flawlessly applied, the stance and lack of panel gapping is awesome and the overall look of the piece is quite dramatic in this color combo. In person the model looks real. Were it actually drivable I can just hear the driver now – “Hi Yo Silver…..Away!”