PLYMOUTH'S SWAN SONG

This Rare 1972 Road Runner GTX was Rescued and Restored

- John Machaqueiro

Rare and desirable Mopars just don’t hide in plain sight anymore, and the days when you could drive around and find some nice cars are virtually a thing of the past. It was in that distant past that Doug Schneider found his 1972 Plymouth Road Runner GTX. Yes, you read correctly, in 1972 that was an option.

Doug wasn’t looking for a car when he stumbled on the Road Runner, but that’s often how it happens. He recalls, “I found the car accidentally on a fishing trip in Idaho in 2003. I got lost in the mountains, so I pulled into a driveway to turn around, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the taillights, so I stopped and had a look. Parked next to it was also a 1972 340 four-speed Duster.”

As a self-proclaimed Mopar guy, and the owner of Mopars of Las Vegas, he knew quite a few things about what he was looking at. Though the car was missing a few items, what he saw was spot on. It was a four-speed car so it had the A833 HD transmission, which also meant that it had the A33 Track Pak option consisting of a 9¾ Dana rear with 3.54:1 gears and a Sure Grip differential. Another nice feature was that it was an N96 Air Grabber car. All that nice stuffaside, it wasn’t until two years later that Doug ended up taking a trip back to Idaho to buy both cars.