1971 Roadrunner
I owned a 1971 Roadrunner bought new, was there, and write the truth. The 1971 Roadrunner did not have hood scoops and came onto the scene long after moon-shiners were running their output in stock-car-racing-like products; at least in the United States of America.
I traded in my 1970 Mustang on a '71 Roadrunner - I was ordering a '72, but the 'factory store' in Florissant MO had a few '71's available at slightly above cost. The '72's were 'de-compressioned'; while the '71's had high-compression HP. He had two identical cars with the 340 CID - I 'test drove' one (120 mph+) and bought the other. This sanctioned and 110 mph+plus accompanied test drive was to be sure that I would be happy with the 340 CID small-block instead of the decompressioned 383 (the 400) CID I was preparing to order. My wife and son (in his car-seat) were in the back seat, with the salesman in front. He told me to do what I needed to in order to be sure I would be happy with the performance of the car. I did, and I was. This was probably the best car I ever had.
Automatic, air, eventually headers, wider tires, etc - the Roadrunners were stripped down but not dedicated racers as some of the earlier cars had been. Part of the 'value' of MOPAR was that engineers in Highland Park MI tested and raced; then put MOPAR part numbers on the best stuff and published manuals on how to tune, etc. Another aspect of the '71 Roadrunner is that NASCAR had decided that the 'dedicated racers' like the Superbird/Daytona; Telledega Ford, etc were over the top; and therefore the body you saw on 'The King' Richard Petty's car was the same as the one in the showroom. Actually, it is not uncommon to see those cars with the Plymouth grille and the Dodge quarter window shape - I don't know if this was incidental or intentional.
The car came with the Carter 'Thermo-Quad' Carb - massive 2&1/4 inch secondaries flowed a tremendous amount of air and fuel! This carb has advantages over the other 4-barrels of the day in that the jetting could be changed without removing or tearing down the carb - ideal for strip tuning. The headers surrounded the starter; so it was normal to replace the starter every two years when the headers were replaced. Michigan winters were hard on headers!
When I sold mine in about '86 with around 70,000 miles on it - the buyer pulled the pan, checked the bearings, and bolted it back up. Even though it was a big and heavy car for the small-block, I have been told by insiders that the 325 HP 340 CID was really pumping out more than one HP per Cubic Inch! Remember -the insurance companies had started charging according to pounds per horsepower; so there were advantages to understating the numbers!
Read some magazine ads of the era - MOPAR thanking all of the Ford and Chevy Funny Car Teams for using MOPAR engines - the famous 426 Hemi, of course. Over the years, a number of good performance cars were made - but I always remember my Roadrunner as the best I ever had.
