1972 Plymouth Satellite Road Runner

The all-new Virgil Exner styling arrived with the 1955 Plymouths and they included a new polyspherical head V8. The 241 cubic-inch engine delivered nearly 160 horsepower, which was just a start for things to come. A 259 cubic-inch V8 was later offered in standard and 'power pac' formats. By 1957 the 318/290 horsepower V8 with dual four-barrel carburetors was available, adding excitement to the mix. In the 1960s, the 361 CID V8 was introduced. It was the basic platform for the 383 and 426 CID B-block or 'wedge' V8s. Richard Petty won the 1964 Daytona 500 - this along with more attractive styling helped sales improve dramatically.

The muscle-car era was starting to explode and mid-sized Mopars were being given larger V8s. The Hemi became available on the Plymouth Belvedere II and Satellite models both in racing trim and as a street edition in order to qualify it as a production option. In factory trim it qualified for A/Stock, AA/Stock drag racing and NASCAR's shorter circuits. Richard Petty's NASCAR version of the Hemi delivered 550 horsepower and his electric blue Plymouth won the 1967 championship. Other Plymouth models were fitted with V8s with dual four-barrel or 'Six-Pack' carburetor setup.

Plymouth entered the 1970s with their high-performance Superbird and Road Runner series. The Superbird had a droop-snout front end, a sleek body, a tall stabilizer wing, and was capable of traveling over 220 miles per hour. The Superbird accounted for 21 of Chrysler's 38 victories on the Grand National stock-car circuit.

For 1971, changes were made to the NASCAR rules which made the Superbird obsolete, bringing the end to the car's dominance. The Road Runner sheet-metal was used by several NASCAR racing teams during the 1971-72 seasons. Richard Petty won the championship both in 1971 and 1972 using the Road Runner based cars, winning 30 races over the two seasons.

The 1972 Plymouth Road Runner hardtop coupe was part of the the company's intermediate-size lineup - the Satellite Group. Resting on a 115-inch wheelbase, the Satellite models had a 'fuselage' styling cues from the prior year. There was few modifications to the body design for 1972.

The Road Runner had a base price of $3,080 and just 7,628 examples were sold. Standard equipment included a three-point safety belt system, a solid stainless steel antenna, a glovebox lock, dome light, soft coat hooks, hubcaps, all-vinyl interior, color-keyed rubber floor covering, a three-speed floor shift gearbox and deep-pile carpets. They had a 'Beep-Beep' horn, low-restriction dual exhaust, Rally instrument cluster with a 150 mph speedometer, heavy-duty suspension, heavy-duty brakes, sway bars, and Road Runner insignia. They had a unique deep recess split grille, and a rear deck cartoon decal.

Under the performance hood was a 400 cubic-inch V8 engine fitted with a four-barrel carburetor setup and offered 255 horsepower. All of the engines had a drop in compression ratios to allow for the use of low-lead/no-lead gas, as well as to comply with the first round of emissions regulations. The 'GTX' package (the GTX was no longer available as a separate model) came with the 440 engine offering 280 horsepower.

Certain options were no longer available, such as power seats and leather seat coverings. The 426 Hemi was no longer available and only five 440 Six Barrel equipped cars were produced before the engine option was dropped in the fall of 1971 (it was determined the 440 six-pack could not meet the stricter 1972 emissions regulations). Power ratings on all engines were much lower on paper due to the new SAE net measurement system.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2014