rdbird9
Member
About two weeks ago I found out that my uncle has terminal cancer and wanted to pass his '69 Roadrunner down to my younger brother and I if we were interested. Though we were never real close with my uncle, he knew we were both into old cars, were capable of taking care of the Roadrunner, and would appreciate it. Of course we would be honored to have the car so I arranged to get it shipped out to Wisconsin. It arrived this past Monday. Wow what a mix of emotions seeing that car being unloaded at our house. I hadn't seen the Roadrunner in 10 years. I can't imagine how it must have felt for him to see the car leave. The Roadrunner still looks as good as it did when I last saw it a decade ago. It's kind of surreal to see the car in our garage, because to me it still belongs in Michigan where my uncle lives. Even though we didn't know my uncle that well, he obviously thought enough of my brother and I to give us his most prized possession, and for that I am grateful.
Anyway here is what I know about the car. It was originally green with a tan interior, a 383, and column-shift automatic. When my uncle bought it in July/August 2000, it was red with an early 60's 413, headers, a floor shifter, some '90s era bucket seats out of something, and a very 70's looking raked stance with Cragars and white letter tires. I guess it was kind of a polished turd because he soon started taking it apart to fix it after finding the rear axle was on the verge of falling out of the car due to frame rust. The first time I saw the Roadrunner in person was during this partially taken apart stage. It had the rear frame rails replaced from the axle kick-up back, new trunk floor, both rear quarters, new floorpans, and some frame sections replaced near where the front torsion bars mount. There are also subframe connectors welded in to stiffen the body. It was then painted 2001 Dodge Competition Yellow.
In early 2007 he replaced the 413 with a rebuilt 440 that has a fairly hot cam, MSD ignition, a Holley carburetor, and a TCI Streetfighter 727 trans. Around that time he installed the long-missing Air Grabber assembly and redid the interior as well. This was about when my uncle took me for my only ride in the car. Sometime between then and now he did a 4-wheel disc brake conversion on it. I last saw the Roadrunner in November of 2009 when it was under a car cover in his garage for winter storage.
One thing I know is that this car sure is quick. Floor it, and it just hooks up and goes, with little to no wheelspin. It's got big front and rear swaybars in addition to the subframe connectors so it corners really flat and feels planted. All the old cars I've owned before this have been essentially stock, so I was not expecting this kind of handling and was pretty surprised at how good it drives. I've been messaging my uncle back and forth about the car for the past few days now that he is in less pain. He is thrilled that my brother and I are enjoying the car so much and is glad that it went to us.
Though there are some things I would have done differently with the car had I built it, my brother and I agreed that outside of normal maintenance and finishing sorting out the disc brake conversion, which even my uncle admits should work better, we will never change anything about the car.
Somehow in my 20 years of driving and working on old cars, I have never dealt with a Mopar product so my knowledge of them is limited. But I can't claim any brand loyalty having owned many vehicles from Oldsmobiles to a Mercury and Volkswagens (air and water cooled) to a Datsun station wagon, so I am excited to learn.
The Roadrunner.
The 440. The paperwork for it shows a .060 overbore and .010 main and rod bearings. It has a Comp Cams cam that I can't recall the specs on at the moment, but you can really feel it start to pull at a bit under 3000 rpms and it lopes a bit at idle. I know nothing about the carburetor other than its a manual choke Holley.
The interior. I think the buckets are the ones that were in the car when my uncle bought it, but were recovered with white vinyl. My uncle and late grandfather made the console. The front windows have been converted to power but the rear are still crank. The Hurst shifter is kind of funky to operate but I'm getting used to it.
Anyway here is what I know about the car. It was originally green with a tan interior, a 383, and column-shift automatic. When my uncle bought it in July/August 2000, it was red with an early 60's 413, headers, a floor shifter, some '90s era bucket seats out of something, and a very 70's looking raked stance with Cragars and white letter tires. I guess it was kind of a polished turd because he soon started taking it apart to fix it after finding the rear axle was on the verge of falling out of the car due to frame rust. The first time I saw the Roadrunner in person was during this partially taken apart stage. It had the rear frame rails replaced from the axle kick-up back, new trunk floor, both rear quarters, new floorpans, and some frame sections replaced near where the front torsion bars mount. There are also subframe connectors welded in to stiffen the body. It was then painted 2001 Dodge Competition Yellow.
In early 2007 he replaced the 413 with a rebuilt 440 that has a fairly hot cam, MSD ignition, a Holley carburetor, and a TCI Streetfighter 727 trans. Around that time he installed the long-missing Air Grabber assembly and redid the interior as well. This was about when my uncle took me for my only ride in the car. Sometime between then and now he did a 4-wheel disc brake conversion on it. I last saw the Roadrunner in November of 2009 when it was under a car cover in his garage for winter storage.
One thing I know is that this car sure is quick. Floor it, and it just hooks up and goes, with little to no wheelspin. It's got big front and rear swaybars in addition to the subframe connectors so it corners really flat and feels planted. All the old cars I've owned before this have been essentially stock, so I was not expecting this kind of handling and was pretty surprised at how good it drives. I've been messaging my uncle back and forth about the car for the past few days now that he is in less pain. He is thrilled that my brother and I are enjoying the car so much and is glad that it went to us.
Though there are some things I would have done differently with the car had I built it, my brother and I agreed that outside of normal maintenance and finishing sorting out the disc brake conversion, which even my uncle admits should work better, we will never change anything about the car.
Somehow in my 20 years of driving and working on old cars, I have never dealt with a Mopar product so my knowledge of them is limited. But I can't claim any brand loyalty having owned many vehicles from Oldsmobiles to a Mercury and Volkswagens (air and water cooled) to a Datsun station wagon, so I am excited to learn.
The Roadrunner.
The 440. The paperwork for it shows a .060 overbore and .010 main and rod bearings. It has a Comp Cams cam that I can't recall the specs on at the moment, but you can really feel it start to pull at a bit under 3000 rpms and it lopes a bit at idle. I know nothing about the carburetor other than its a manual choke Holley.
The interior. I think the buckets are the ones that were in the car when my uncle bought it, but were recovered with white vinyl. My uncle and late grandfather made the console. The front windows have been converted to power but the rear are still crank. The Hurst shifter is kind of funky to operate but I'm getting used to it.
