AMT 1/25 1968 Plymouth Road Runner, previewed by Scott Van Aken

The Plymouth Road Runner is a muscle car introduced by Chrysler in the United States for the 1968 model year and marketed under its Plymouth brand. Initially based on the Belvedere, the brand's basic mid-size model, the Road Runner combined a powerful engine with a spartan trim level and a price that undercut increasingly upscale and expensive muscle cars such as the Pontiac GTO and Plymouth's own GTX. It was initially a sales success.

The Road Runner was built in three generations on the mid-size B platform. Like most muscle cars, its performance and sales declined in the 1970s due to an increasing focus on fuel economy and the adoption of more stringent U.S. emission standards. The nameplate became a trim package for the compact Plymouth Volaré for model year 1976—no longer offering any special performance capability—and was discontinued in 1980.

THE KIT

This release was after Racing Champions bought AMT/ERTL. The kit is molded in grey plastic with two chrome and one clear sprue. There is no red sprue as the taillights are on the chrome sprue and one will have to paint those.

Molding is pretty good and free from flash. AMT chose to model the Hemi powered car, which is good for marketing, though most '68 Road Runners had the standard 383. A full engine is provided with a choice of two in-line four barrel carburettors (which was standard for the Hemi) or a cross induction intake, which was at times used in drag racing.

A nicely done interior with the standard bench seats fore and aft are in the kit.There are separate interior sidewall pieces that complete the tub. An interesting feature of this kit is that the chassis pan stops at the firewall. The portion that holds the engine and suspension is separate. This means that the engine bay sides and firewall are separate pieces. If you wish to pose the hood open, there are hood spring pieces that will have to be glued in place.

Suspension pieces are well done. There are no metal axles as is typical of many US car kits. The kit provides vinyl/rubber tires, but unlike the box art, the red line is not on them. Also included is a B pillar if you don't want to do the hardtop. I should add that this kit includes full side windows, not just the rear quarter windows.

Instructions are well done with color information provided throughout the build. There are two decal sheets included, one small one with Road Runner logos. They should work just fine despite the passage of time.

CONCLUSIONS

I built the GTX many, many years ago and was pleased with how it turned out. I expect this one to be just as nice.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

KIT #:	31549
PRICE:	$
DECALS:	One option
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	2002 release