Featured Car
Roy Diehl's
1969 Plymouth Road Runner
When I was 16 my brother, Steve bought a brand new Bahamas Yellow 383 automatic '69 runner. I had a blast driving it until (for some reason) he had too many moving violations and had to sell the car in 1971 because he went on high-risk insurance. The funny thing was the last ticket he got that year that was the straw in the camels back, was that he got caught speeding on a residential street with a recently acquired, second-hand Rambler American that he just bought as a beater so that his new wife could drive the runner to work as that was the good car. The Rambler's speedometer was broke. Thus, he was in the wrong car, at the wrong time, at the wrong place. This was always par for the course for Steve as no matter what he did in life - HE got caught. I never did, no matter how much abuse I gave that Bahamas Yellow Roadrunner. Back then, Steve didn't realize that this was a "special" paint code and obviously wishes he still had that car. Back then, like now, one could not afford to simply store a car, let alone believe the values they would bring 30 some years latter.
Steve used to work 3rd shift as a computer operator. Steve was (and still is) a hard sleeper and on that was very difficult to wake up. Back in 1969 I had recently gotten my drivers license. I vividly recall on a Saturday morning after Steve was in bed for about an hour from coming home from working Friday night, intentionally trying to wake him just enough for him to be some-what cognizant, so I could ask him if I could "borrow" his car. (Mom and Dad weren’t home and they hadn't even let me take the family ford sedan out on my own yet) Steve mumbled "ya, ya get out of here and let me get back to sleep". I took that as a definite yes and proceeded out to the driveway with keys to his roadrunner. I head to downtown St. Paul so I could take a couple of run around "the loop", looking for Chevelles and Mustang I could blow the door off of. Man, was I nervous and scared!. After a couple of runs I high-tailed back home with only minutes to spare before my folks got home! Good thing the roadrunner was parked at the end of driveway, otherwise Dad would have sensed the car was hot and very recently parked. There would have been no one else to blame as Steve was in his room sleeping the morning away.
I was sad to see Steve's runner go. But my mom was elated that it was gone as she had an instinct that Steve and I both were "doing things" with that car that she would not have approved of. I even gave my future wife her first kiss in that car. I vowed to myself that one day I would own my own '69 roadrunner (even though I really didn't think that day would come).
Fast forward about 30 years…..……… The Internet provided a vast array of information, including finding 1969 Roadrunners for sale. During lunch at work I would search for them for sale on a variety of sites. One day during the summer in 2000, I found this B5 blue coupe. I found the add interesting as the owner of the car was standing next to it. Usually they show just shots of the car. Of all the runners I saw, this one seemed especially nice with 57,000 original miles at the time. I sent the link to my wife to get her impression and thoughts. She wasn't totally enamored at the thought of such a purchase so I dropped the idea at that time. As the show season was coming to an end in October that same year, I stumbled across this car again and noticed the he had reduced the price. I again sent the link to my wife, waiting for her usual, cold "what are you think" response. She shocked me! Obviously, before she had second thoughts, I emailed him right away to see it the car was still available. It was, and I arranged to call him that night when I got home.
I called my dad to let him know what I was doing and that I might soon be buying my roadrunner. Dad didn't say much, but I know he thought I was nuts, let alone paying the amount of money for an "old car" that I did at that time. (read further below about Dad)
Rich was the fella's name, out of upper State New York. Rich provided me all the information and background on the roadrunner. He ended up doing a video of the car running and went over the entire car in detail and sent it to my home so I could decide if I was interested. Turns out the video answered all my questions and any concerns. That next week I arranged to fly into New City the following Saturday, rented a car, booked a hotel room close to his home and drove up by my self for New York. I couldn't believe I was making these plans and arrangements on what might turn out to be a car that was not worth the trip. On Sunday, the following morning I arrived at the then owners home to see the runner outside at the top of the driveway with the sun brilliantly shinning on its B5 -blue paint. I instanly knew this was the car I have been looking for. The car was beautiful. It's equipped with the 383, automatic on the columns, white HC2 vinyl interor, air-grabber, manual drum brakes, power steering, magnum wheels with red-line tires, performace hood stripes, white sport stripes, AM radio and decor group. Rich was very nervous about letting anyone drive his car, and wanted to back back it down the long driveway to the street before allowing my behind the wheel. By the time I had gotten no more than 50 feet down the street, I instanly was taken back to when I was 16 driving my brothers runner. We took her out on th highway where a van load of kinds pulle dup beside and they all gave a "thumbs-up" and a big smile of appoval. I was sold. This was going to be my roadrunner that I had dreamed about for almost 30 years.
When we got back Rich's house, he again wanted to take the wheel, and to drive her up the long, steep drive and tucked her back into the garage. We then went inside and made the deal. With some cash down, he held the car until I sent him the balance. During this time I had to arrange to have a carrier pick up the car on a flat-bed, take it to their holding yard and then wait about 3 weeks for it to be delivered to a local garage. Man that was the 3 longest weeks of my life waiting for my runner to finally arrive in Minnesota. It turns out the day the runnner arrived, my wife was out of town on business and my son for some reason was avalible. My daughter was useless as she was going to school in another state. I was in a dilema as I didn't want the care sitting that close to home and not in my garage. I then called my nephew, who picked me up at home to give me a ride to the garage. This time I was the nervous one, but I safely got her home and into the garage only to be able to drive her a couple of times before butting her away for a long Minnesota winter's slumber. I think every time I went into the garage that first winter, I had to pull the cover back just to look at it. I couldn't wait till spring to take it to my first Mopars in the Park.
My runner didn't have a buildsheet so I did some searching on the Internet to see if I could find something. I found a site that mentioned a fella with the first name of Roger out of Iowa who was linked to my car. I took a stab to search for him and found the city that was mentioned with his name and a number. When I called, Roger answered. I asked him if he had once owned a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. He said is it B5 blue with white interior? When I siad yes, he said "I restored that car in my garage". Turns out Roger was the second owner of the car who found it stored in a shed for over 20 years. He purchased this car to restore because it was almost indentically equipmed as the car he had new when he was first married. Roger eventually, sold the car to a fella in New Jersey, who inturn sold the car to Rich, who I bought the car from. I'm supposedly now the 5th owner. About a year later Roger was coming to the Mpls area to attend the Back to the 50's show. He called me to see if there was any chance he could see my runner and that he had something for me to see. Turns out where he was staying in town was about 2 miles from my house. I arranged a time to meet him at his hotel with the runner. What Roger brought to show me was a scrapbook full of pictures when he first bought the car unrestored and all of the pictures he took as he restored it. I was really impressed with the pictures and asked if I could get a few copies of some of the pictures in the scrap book. Turns out he gave me the entire book full of the cars restoration and said it needed to stay with the car! Boy, I'm sure glad I happend upon his name on the Internet as having this additional piece of history of the car is priceless to me.
As I try to make this long story as short as I can…… I have thoroughly enjoyed my roadrunner this past 7 years and have met a lot of good people who are also in the hobby as well as many members of Midwest Mopars, (some who have turned out to be my best friends).
Getting back to Dad..... It turns out Dad really enjoyed coming to the car shows I was taking my runner to. In fact he found his first non-Mopar to maintain and to take to shows along with me a couple of years back, only to sell it and last summer and shortly after he found an unrestored 1966 Barracuda with only 16,00 origiinal miles. This car is mint. As well, brother Steve, also decided me and dad were having too much fun and picked up his 2nd 1969 rouadrunner as well. We turned this great, fun hobby into a family affair. There's not a better day when you are able to take you Mopar to a local show and park side by side to your dad, your brother and your friends!
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