This is a review of the 1968 Hemi Roadrunner #849-202

Back some 35 years ago, I was given my first model – a ’69 Olds Hurst. THIS Road Runner was my second. I brush-painted it yellow with a black interior, and though I did it rather poorly, I loved it. I raced it in my mind many a time and dreamt of the burnouts I’d do in real life. See, my cousin’s H.S. buddy had a GORGEOUS blue ’69 Road Runner two streets over. Mine wasn’t to be blue, but I was happy to have it. I even used the crazy massive slicks that came with the kit, which were so broad that they rubbed the quarter panel! I have since made this one 2 or 3 other times and ruined at least one other in building it. This one, however, is the first real remake of a rather GOOD one I already built. Reason?… I wanted the yellow I built as a child.

I got it.

There are a LOT of possible builders for this car, and most carry the same build quality – which is to say so-so. There can be much flash; some are molded in awful greys and even yellow; most have ho-hum decals; hoods NEVER fit quite right, and all have taillights that are terrible to paint correctly. There is even one Pro Street that will definitely help if you want custom, since the rear axle is tiny and holds some biga$$ tires. The 3-pack is an excellent value nowadays as the RR is cheap, AND you get two other cool rides to build.

The orange one without the giant 1968 was my first. It was horrible grey mold, which made the yellow a multi-multi-coat. It was also disappointing and something of a clod when I was done with it. Repaints, rear tires that didn’t fit, and no decals for anything fun.

CAR BACKGROUND :: If you follow muscle cars, grew up with them, or knew a gearhead, you probably know the story of the Road Runner’s birth. To keep it short, the boys at Dodge/Plymouth devised a scheme of sorts to capture people’s attention everywhere. Some $50k to Warner-Bros. Later, the Road Runner was born. Something cheap and powerful to run like the outrageous bird found in Saturday morning cartoons. With all but the smallest of motors, it was pretty potent, too, carrying almost no amenities and, therefore, little weight for a mid-size vehicle. Add in the 426 Hemi like that of this model, and the 425 underrated horses made the bird faster than almost all of the muscle of the time. Low 13s at nearly 110 mph were typical in the quarter, with 12s being just a pair of decent slicks away. This was not Grandma’s grocery-getter unless she had a death wish. And, though the ’69 would have the prettier stripe setup and better rear lights, the ’68 WAS where the magic happened – selling nearly 50,000 units. No, not the Hemi Cuda everyone raves about (with $2,000,000 checks written nowadays); the Road Runner is still my favorite, and the ’68 in particular will always be.

This was my most recent build. The copper color looked really decent (if a bit too metallic) compared to the real one, and I cannot say there was one problem with the build – save for not doing the hood with the correct stripe. YET, I still yearned for the original look I had when I was 14, and I needed to try and make it a reality.

Came out fantastically. The tires are fantastic in this kit, but I used a wider set from a Revell kit for the rear, as my childhood version had massively wide tires, and I wanted a more aggressive stance than the ones in the kit. I used the front bumper and grille off the old car, but the newer rear and side mirror from the new kit.

The engine bay is most likely in the top THREE best that AMT offers. The hemi is properly big and well-shaped, the battery and radiator are decent, the firewall and wheel arches are very detailed, and the look is amazing. This engine and chassis are from the old kit because they came out nicely. I only needed to redo the firewall and arches to match the yellow to fix the issue of one build not matching the other. Small task.

AMT did the underside VERY well, too. It has shocks, a proper dual exhaust with big mufflers, ribbed detail on the base, and enough detail for any car. I did the mufflers in red for a painted turbo-muffler look and swapped out the horrible tips for a set that came with a Duster kit I parted out for my Demon build.

This interior is drab and uneventful, but trinkets are useless in a car built for speed. The Road Runner had almost nothing fancy. A bench seat, 4-speed manual, and maybe an aftermarket tach for good measure. Not much else. Hand-cranked windows, basic radio, maybe even floor-mat deletes.

I’m sure that nobody cared when doing 100ft burnouts, but the point is there… simple, light, and purposeful.

So glad to have fulfilled a long-term goal of mine, and it is as good as I had hoped. The new kit I built IS better than the original if you can make your way past the disgusting yellow molding. It has less flash, fresh chrome, excellent white-letter or red-line tires, and better decals (though still meager). The best news is that this is one of the CHEAPEST Mopar kits on the market because of the numbers. It may become collectible in the distant future, but for now, they number too many to be something to savor.

Not a problem – as it is a beautiful build!

8.25 – Average

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