Charger vs Roadrunner

[Mymopar70]

As the owner of a 70 Road Runner (with 440 six pack, Air grabber hood, and MANUAL STEERING AND DRUM BRAKES), let me add my two cents to the conversation.
First off my favorite of the 68 - 70 B bodies has always been the 69 Superbee - preferably six pack. My brother put together a 69 Superbee model when it was new and I was hooked on that car. One of the reasons I bought my Road Runner was because it looked the closest to the 69 Bee, which I couldn't find at the time and now can't afford.

The Charger was a chameleon. It could look tough with only a slant six or 318 under the hood or it could be all muscle with a big block. But it TRULY DESERVES to be heralded as one of the most iconic and gorgeous of the cars of its era. Hollywood has long lauded its looks beginning with "Bullit" and continuing with current commercials about Duralast batteries. Like the 57 Chevy, the 68 - 70 cars are iconic.

The Road Runners are BLATANT, OUTRIGHT RACERS. They are light and had less power robbing options as opposed to the Charger. The 69 models were really the first ones that Plymouth spent any money on as evident by the additional models, engines and options. 1970 was the year Chrysler REALLY spent money on the Road Runner by giving it the rallye dash and deluxe interiors and Superbrd model. It would still be a bit faster than a comparitively engined Charger.

And YES, my 70 DOES HAVE A COKE BOTTLE SHAPE. This is evident by looking at the car not so much by the side, but by the rear or front.

And surprisingly it seems to be more Chargers than Road Runners when I go to car shows. This has worked out to my favor because more hard core racers and fans remember the Road Runner but all remark how they hardly ever see them. The Charger is more common. Probably because of its blatant racing image, Road Runners were smashed up and abused far more than Chargers which might account for their scarecity today. BUT THEY ARE BOTH GREAT CARS. And I can't go to a show without someone asking to hear that BEEP BEEP HORN!!!

 

[ChargerRTguy]

Yep, but what year was the Charger named Car of the Year? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Also, as I recall Road Runners outsold Chargers every year except for 1968 since production was limited, and outsold by about 20k cars. Seems like more folks liked the Roadrunner over the Charger then too.

The '68 Charger was named car of the year in May of '68, by Car and Driver Magazine.

 

[monaco66coupe]

People forget Dick landy's charger, and Roland Leongs the Hawaiian. These two were national record holders. against other Mopars as well. the 68 V8 Belvedere was in at 3160, V8 charger 3250. the 90 LBS was Irrelevant. People that bought chargers generally didn't care to race.

 

[Ron 73]

The '68 Charger was named car of the year in May of '68, by Car and Driver Magazine.

I Do believe that the 1969 Road Runner was Motor trends car of the year in 69... Not taking anything from the Dodge Charger as i love them to, my first Mopar was a Charger but Plymouth can and does hold its own..I have two but the one i hope someday to get is not the one most would not want, I like the 71 or 72, sleek and beautiful vehicle...

 

[ChargerRTguy]

I am on the fence on this one. I owned a '73 Roadrunner before I bought my Charger and it was a great car, I had no complaints. I only regret that I traded it in for an "econobox". Think the Plymouth GTX is more in line with the Charger as more of a luxury muscle car or "super car" as they were called. The Roadrunner was the no frills hot rod.

 

[monaco66coupe]

The Plymouth was Noisy,rattly, and basic. The charger had it hands down when it came to quality. The current values show that to be true.

 

[snakeyes]

any color 1970 Bird drop top or not is the best

 

[383man]

I'm sorry,
but with all due respect ,
it had to be a sick R/T to have a 383 roadrunner beat it. 340 darts chewed Roadrunners up all the time. Roadrunners had it easy with 318 chargers or 383 2bbl cars, but, the roadrunner would have no luck with a GTX. The Charger R/T and GTX weighed the same. Your saying a 383 roadrunner can blow off a GTX ? Not likely, unless the driver is doped up. I have both cars, and my GTX will chew up the 383 all day long and go home asleep. I like my 383 HP coronet, but the GTX pulls way past the reach of the 383. The guys that lost driving a 440 R/T were to scared to push the car to it's potential. There are exceptions, as I also had a friend that never lost in a 383 roadrunner. however, he only knew one speed, and shifted at max RPM every time he got in the car. he didn't care if he blew the car up. he was nuts to the extreme. When he went to Vietnam, he had to be the best point the 82nd Airborne Infantry had ever seen. No fear, and dying wasn't important . He was also a great drag racer. I wouldn't challenge him at any time. In reality, I frequently saw the best drivers win in the slower car, and the less talented drivers lose in the faster car. it was all about how far did you want to push it? People were killed every week racing back then. That was the way it was. Today 60 mph is good for me, I have seen what a deer can do to a nice 60's car.

No disrespect taken. And yes a 383 Roadrunner in good tune could and did beat 440 Chargers sometimes. And the 440 beat many 383's and Hemi's as it just depended on tune and driver. I always here how a 340 Dart could beat a 383 Runner and I agree some did and some 340's got eaten for lunch. We have seen era road test of low 15's to low 14's for most of the 340 A-bodies , 383 B-bodies and 440 B-bodies. Pretty much the Charger , Roadrunner and GTX were the same car. The Chargrer and GTX was more of the richers mans cars and were mostly loaded down more then the Runner and most Chargers and GTX's weighed bit more then the stripped Runner did and thats why many times the Runner carried a bit less weight. Honestly the Charger and Runner/GTX's were really almost all the same car. Remember tons of Chargers were also 383 cars. And the GTX with the Charger got the 440 Standard because Mopar wanted them to stand out with the best eng and thats why the Runner and Super Bee got the standard 383 as not to outdo the Charger and GTX. Also the 383 was not the only eng you could get in the Runner. If I had to bet for the fastest between the Roadrunner , Charger and GTX and they all had the best eng (Hemi) I would take the Roadrunner everyday as it should be a bit lighter as thats why it was built to be a low cost stripped down hotrod and thats why the Runner should be the fastest if all had the same eng.

Heck I have seen road test of 383 Runners from 15.0's to 14.30's all stock as the tune was more important back then with points and all. Not like today as if you tested 10 Hemi Challengers they would run within a tenth of each other with the same driver. With points in the old muscle as soon as they wore any the timing was then off and performance dropped. My point is the Charger and Roadrunner are pretty much the same car but the Runner is lighter most of time because of the nature of the cars.

Quick story is most of my friends told me I shoul have put a 340 in my old Dart instead of the 383 I did. I knew they were close in performance but I felt built the same the 383 in the A-body would have the edge. I built my 383 very stock as I use a stock shortblock and I mean very stock as I used the stock pistons and bore and stock rods and crank. I used 452 open chamber heads and just bowl blended them and then I did a stock valve job. Had the MP .484 cam and stock rockers with pushrods. Up top was a RPM intake and a 750 DP. Stock dist I curved. Had headers and 2.5 exh. Used 3.91's and a tight 10" turbo Action converter that flashed about 2800 to 3000 and the car weighed 3550 with driver. . It ran 12.30's @ 110 and surprised everyone. It would spank a 340 Dart equipped the same. I also built a 340 Dart built very close to the same as it ran 13.40's @ 106 but that was on street tires which were junk back then as we had no drag radials in 1979 and it spun bad. The 383 Dart ran on G/60 McCreary's and hooked good on them. I felt the 340 Dart could have run easy 12.70's to 12.80's with a good hooking tire. It was about the only cars I built that were close to compare. That dont mean all 383's could beat a 340 or vice vesa it was just how two of my cars ran as I just felt I could get a tad more from the 383's torque over the 340 at stock strokes. Anyway I have blabbed enough but believe me I love all the Mopars and dont really care which wins as long as its a Mopar winning. I always felt the 383 gets slammed even by Mopar people sometimes when it really does not deserve to as the 383 most likely powered more Mopar muscle cars then any Mopar eng. Ron