1968 Plymouth Roadrunner Hemi

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 Roadrunner was my second. I brush-painted it yellow with a black interior, and though it was done rather mediocrely, I loved it. I raced it in my mind many a time and dreamt of the burnouts I’d do in real life with one. See, my cousin’s H.S. buddy had a GORGEOUS blue ’69 Roadrunner 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 re-make 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 are wanting custom, as 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 one in orange without the giant 1968 was my first. It was horrible grey – which made the yellow a multi-multi-coat. It was also disappointing and something of a clod when I was done. 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 Roadrunner’s birth. To keep things short, the boys at Dodge/Plymouth decided to devise a scheme of sorts to capture people’s attention everywhere. Some $50k to Warner-Bros. later, and the Roadrunner 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, as it carried almost no amenities and, therefore, little weight for a mid-size vehicle. Add in the 426 hemi like that of the model I re-built, 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 Roadrunner 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) to the real one and I cannot say there was one problem with the build – save for not doing the hood correctly. 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. I realized I forgot the side RR decals (as they were molded in the last one I made) but otherwise, JUST how I wanted. 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 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 shaped well, the battery and radiator decent, the firewall and wheel arches very detailed, and the look is just amazing. This engine and chassis are from the old kit because they came out nicely. I only needed to re-do the firewall and arches to match the yellow to fix the issue of one build to the other. Small task.

The underside is done VERY well by AMT as well. There are shocks, a proper dual exhaust with big mufflers, ribbed detail to the base, and enough detail as any car needs. I did the mufflers in red for a painted turbo muffler look and changed out the horrible tips for a set that came with a Duster kit that I parted out for my Demon build.

This interior is more or less drab and uneventful, but the need for trinkets is useless in a car built for speed. The Roadrunner had almost nothing fancy in it. 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

** UPDATE 11/19 **

After I finished my article, I realized that the exhaust tips were much too far out from the back of the car, so I shortened them to look more apropos. Not that it was a horrible mistake, but it was bugging me, and I figured someone else might agree as well, LOL!

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