1975 Plymouth Road Runner – MPC

God how I’ve tried to find one of those damn MPC kits for years, literally so much that my eBay search auto-fill now forever has “75 roadrunner” engraved in until I decide to delete cookies. And actually, I still haven’t found a proper MPC ’75 or ’76 Road Runner kit – go figure(the ’76 was incorrect as by 1976 the Fury Road Runner had been killed off for the Volare Road Runner). Instead, I came across a may-as-well-be new 1975 promo model that had been kept in damn near new condition by a man who had a significant love for the 1975-1977 Fury and Monacos.

To be fair, the Road Runner from that particular year wasn’t much of a Road Runner at all. Despite the fact that it could be equipped with a 400ci V8 and it would be okay quick, nothing to brag about but it had some reminiscence to the prior Road Runners, when they could still pack friggin’ HEMIs. Okay, well, not really – the most beefy engine was a heavily neutered 400ci V8 at best with a smog-filter-choked horsepower of up to 225, though nearly half of the Road Runners that left the factories for the ’75 year packed the 318ci V8 that only did about 135hp, keep in mind the car weighed around 3500lbs/1587kg – so 135hp with the weight of two Volvo wagons is pretty much just saying “it’s just a bright colored Plymouth Fury“, no more no less. You could have a 440ci V8 which would be only allotted to police Road Runners, apparently with filling in the right checks on the order form you could have one with that big block equipped, though it’s not a whole lot more powerful than the 400ci V8 with the power to weight ratio in mind.

That being said, it did get a bunch of unique touches over the regular Fury. The Road Runner package which came back for this year alone on the Fury platform, it had the unique blacked out grille, the Roadrunners on the doors, a different dashboard gauge set with a optional clock or tach and of course the unique stripe and decal set; one I tried to replicate the best I could for a decal sheet. For the rest? I mean, that was kinda it… It really showed that the 1970s were a dying age for sport/muscle cars, either they were completely past the common public or they were completely neutered to comply exactly to them. The fact that the ads back then basically called out that people were mistaken for thinking muscle cars weren’t fun to own anymore pretty much sums up how this car ended up failing.

Basically, it’s one of the most unique yet one of the most understated Road Runners. Yeah I know, hot take there dude, but really it may be one of the most uncommon Road Runners out there. It sold pitifully, largely due to the era it was created in, the idea of a heavy weight boxer trying to be quick and just… the disillusioned crowd it was being pandered to. There were lots of sizable yet sporty cars with tons of potential in existence around that period, the Road Runner was one of them, the 1977 Pontiac LeMans Can Am was another solid shot at just adding a trim level for those interested with the added benefit of a giant gas-guzzler in the front. It’s now common practice around the world, especially Europe, for cars to have a balls to the wall powerful car on a 2-door with the wheelbase of a luxury 4 door – what cars are those, you ask? BMW’s M6, Mercedes CL-class, so forth, known as “modern luxury grand tourers”. I can’t help but wonder if the weight issue was curbed, or if a reasonable six cylinder already existed, or maybe a halfway decent turbo was available back then, would the “muscle cars” which were already dead by 1975 still have had a chance? A overcome and adapt sort of situation, form a new breed of American tourers?

It’s a shame but many excellent potential died in that era, MPC as well as AMT did keep up with the promotional demand, just about every new addition to the GM, Chrysler and Ford line-up would get either a full detail glue kit or a simple dealership promo, and many of those kits have been built up or collected by now, yet promos still litter any online marketplace like some unkillable scourge. They’ve become a bit of a lucky find for me as of late, as literally any glue kit is just… gone, or like 150$, these promos at least allow some creativity in place of a kit, y’know, the whole idea of “second best option”. With the ’75 Road Runner, it’s a double whammy of rarity – the original two kits, one for 1975 and one albeit incorrectly for 1976, they’re damn near impossible to find. I spotted three over the last year myself and all ran 75$ plus for a opened, sometimes even started kit. I accidentally stumbled over some guy selling off his collection of Fury models(as I mentioned at the beginning, this dude collected Fury and Monaco models and actually had a ’75 Fury for realsies and absolutely adored everything about it) – and I leaped on it like a fucking cougar, for 30$ or so a totally unscathed promo model that was new in all ways other than missing the box(which I later re-discovered on his other eBay listing supporting a series of ’76 Monaco models, so “misplaced” I suppose).

I desperately wanted to make a proper Road Runner model for so long, I don’t know why but I truly enjoy the last of the line Road Runners, the stripes, the look of it with the bright colors, the trunk Road Runner tunnel entrance decal, it’s just… great. Like I mentioned before, the real car itself was anything but great but having a little model of it, hell yes. And it’s stupidly rare to boot! I can’t really say much about the build quality, as it of course is a pre-built promotional model, but they are a testament of how easily they can be modified. Yes, they’re “curbside”, they have no engine and have nearly no chassis detail. Think of them as Snap-Tite kits, but already built up and all the “snap” parts were soldered – all the parts are connected in basic manners and just ‘closed up’ by what I can only describe as using a soldering iron, which on the brittle plastic from 40 plus years back, is easy to remove without snapping off the posts the parts are connected to.

Though, the interior is a hassle. The seats and dashboard are properly stuck to each-other, nothing short of breaking, snapping or melting them loose would help. When I drafted up the decal sheet, I figured I’d try compensate for the lack of a engine by going all in on the interior. The Furys of the day had the quite lovely yet distressingly seventies striped pattern fabric all over the interior, the front seats, the rear bench, the doors, even the floor mats would have the patterns. So I basically just made shapes like the seats, re-created the fabric pattern and slapped it on the decal sheet – and it… actually worked out, really, really nicely.

Other than that, it was some wheels and tires from a Revell Dodge Charger kit, some hand made axle work and a set of Grand Am Radial G/T tire decals to wrap up the package. I still wish I had the ’75 Road Runner kit with the engine bay detail and all but… y’know what, I’m still absolutely happy and satisfied with what I ended up getting. Maybe, just maybe, one day. Back to working the decal designs, huzzah!

 

’75 Plymouth Road Runner specifications:
Kit: A box!
Skill Level: N/A
Parts: 1, or 5, it’s a pre-built promo
Molded in: Burgundy
Scale: 1/25