Last of the Road Runners: Auto World’s 1973 Plymouth Road Runner
Much like the Ford Mustang Mach 1 of the same year, the 1973 Plymouth Road Runner signaled the end of the era. Plymouth completely restyled the Road Runner for ’73 and ’74, which would end up being the final years for the Mopar muscle car. Gone was the seductive face of the 1970 model and the sinister grin of the ’71 and ’72 car. Plymouth made the entire front of the car a bit more boxy and added more chrome, further pulling away from the aggressive, muscle car look and more towards a more subdued and comfortable cruiser. They also canceled the option to pair a manual transmission with the monster 440 engine, which sadly sounds all too familiar.
I had two of these cars in my big box Auto World shipped to us here at CastHeads; one in Basin Street Blue and the other in Mist Green. These are the 5th car in Release 1 and the second of the Vintage Muscle pair in the set. Same as the ’73 Mach 1 that is also in this Release, these are limited to ONLY 14,910 units. As always, 3% of these are said to be UltraRed chase pieces.
I would say that these are very much up to par with the quality and details I’ve seen on other Auto Worlds that have rolled across my desk. I especially love the colors they’ve selected, and I’m equally impressed with the sport stripes down the beltline. The tampos on the front and rear are spot on, but the side markers look like the got too wet of a kiss by the printing pad. The chrome trim around the wheel wells and windows are *chef’s kiss*
It is a little tricky, but you can pop the hood to peep that huge 440 Mopar engine. Auto World pumped a ton of detail under here, with a red air cleaner, blue cylinder heads, and a white fluid reservoir. The interior is a wonderfully detailed piece of plastic, but there isn’t a drop of paint to be seen. The tires do get some Cooper Cobra lettering though, which really pop on the black rubber sidewalls.
Stay tuned as I make my way through the rest of 2022’s Release 1 from Auto World!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Added by
Casthead Admin
02-02-2024
Recent Blogs
Comments