Original vintage 1971 Plymouth Road Runner advertisement, "The standard insurance rating is standard...Beep-Beep.  The Rapid Transit System.  Coming through."
 
Dimensions: This advert measures roughly 8 inches wide by 11 inches high.
 
The Plymouth Road Runner was 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.  
 
The Road Runner was initially a sales success, built on the Chrysler B-platform, designed for raw performance with minimal frills.  Popular engines included the base 383 cu in V8, 440 Six Barrel, and the 426 Hemi.  Known for its "beep-beep" horn and cartoon branding, iconic models include the 1969–1970 versions, with over 60,000 units produced in '69 alone.
 
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.
 
Plymouth paid $50,000 to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts to use the Road Runner name and likeness from their Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons (as well as a "beep, beep" horn, which Plymouth paid $10,000 to develop).
 
During the 1969 NASCAR "aero wars," Chrysler first fielded the Dodge Charger 500 that featured aerodynamic improvements to a standard 1969 Charger.  Later in the season, Chrysler and Dodge debuted the Dodge Charger Daytona.  The Daytona featured an elevated spoiler raised 23 inches off the trunk deck by upright pylons and an aerodynamic nose cone.  
 
The Charger 500, especially, and the Daytona to a lesser degree struggled to equal the fastback Ford Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II in 1969.  Dissatisfied with the 1968 Road Runner, Petty Engineering had asked the Chrysler managers for 1969 Dodge Charger 500s and Charger Daytonas for the 1969 season.  The Chrysler managers told the Pettys that they were "a Plymouth team."  The Pettys signed with Ford in days, and Richard Petty and Petty Engineering won 10 races in 1969 and finished second in the NASCAR points championship.
 
To meet NASCAR homologation rules and also to bring Petty Engineering back to Chrysler, it was decided that Plymouth would get its own version of Dodge's winged wonder for the 1970 NASCAR season.  While spectacular on the track, consumer response was lukewarm, leading a few dealers to remove the wing and nose, making them appear more like normal Road Runners.
 
NASCAR only required 500 copies to be built in 1969, but in 1970, NASCAR required a manufacturer to build one unit per dealer, with production numbering 1,935 for the US market.  Superbirds were available with three different engines, with the most popular be ing the basic Super Commando 440 V8 with a single four-barrel carburetor rated at 375 bhp (280 kW). Next up was the 440 Six Barrel rated at 390 bhp (291 kW).
 
At the top, and ordered by just 135 buyers, was the 426 Hemi, rated at 425 bhp (317 kW); 135 Hemis (58 4-Spd and 77 Automatics), 1,084 - 440 4-BBL Super Commandos (458 4-Spd and 626 Automatics), and 716 - 440 Six Barrels (308 4-Spd and 408 Automatics).
 
According to Road Test magazine, performance was around 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 5.5 seconds, 1/4 mile in 14.3 seconds at 104 mph with the Hemi.  Although similar in appearance, the Superbird was actually quite different from the Daytona.  The Superbird was based on the Plymouth Road Runner, and the nose, airfoil, and basic sheet metal were different between the Daytona and Superbird.  
 
Although it created quite an impression on the street, the wing was not needed at normal highway speeds; it was designed for speedways to keep the rear wheels to the ground at 150 mph (240 km/h) and higher speeds.  The reason for using such a tall spoiler was to access 'clean air' according to the engineers who designed the spoiler.  Despite the success of the Superbird on the track, 1970 would be the only year it was made. 
 
Regardless, in 1969, the Road Runner was named as Motor Trend Car of the Year, and it has maintained a place in muscle car enthusiast hearts since.