69 Road Runner One Family owned Unicorn

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SomeCarGuy

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After 15 years of searching to replace my favorite car that was sold as part of a move, I finally had a breakthrough this year. I was looking for a solid post car, with a four speed and the A87 decor group package. After one car in particular fell through for me six years ago, I was really discouraged, but what I ended up with is much better than I ever could’ve hoped for and in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have designed this car, let alone the fantastic background it has. It really is a unicorn and my dream car all in one.

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This thing is so over the top, it’s absurd. While not a survivor, it’s an unrestored family heirloom that I was intrusted to take over as caretaker for. The R4 was repainted in the 70s or maybe around 1980, then the car was stored for 45-46 years. A time capsule is a good description, the hood stripes are still the factory organisol. But that’s just what you can see. The backstory is as wild as this thing looks.

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The car was purchased new by a lady whose husband was in France at the time. He explicitly told her it was a bad idea. She did it anyway. This led to “fireworks” as it was put by the widow I bought the car from. Returning from Vietnam, her brother bought the nearly near car to save the day, rather than specing out his own ride. A hero abroad and a hero at home!

He litterally loved the car until he died, curiously pulling it from the road with 62,500 miles and never driving it again.

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As incredible as it sounds, the entire story checks out. The paperwork alone takes quite awhile to go through. There’s even a receipt for gas!

His widow decided to get the car running in his honor, and that’s where fate stepped in for me. One day this video popped up in my YouTube feed. I couldn’t get the thing loaded quick enough once I saw the thumbnail. “If that thing has a four speed…”

 
At this point I want to give my sincerest thanks to Brett Sargent of Sargent Garage. Not only did he not screw this car up, he also recognized I was the right person to take over after 57 years. I was ecstatic the moment he let me know the widow had had her time with the car and I was going to be the one to take the keys.

Between his careful description of every bump and bruise, and her handling of the sale, this has been the best car buying experience I’ve ever had. Ironically, for the first time in my thirty years in the hobby, I bought sight unseen. That goes against everything I tell people from my many busted trips to look at perfumed pigs and downright fraud. However, this ended up with pure magic when it rolled off the carrier. It’s been an insane few days as I’ve taken this all in. It’s hard to believe this went from what I thought was a long shot 6 months ago, to being able to walk up and spot a new detail, or finding yet another piece of paper that blows my mind. The last thing is looking for the build sheet. There’s an excellent chance it’s there. That would cap off a trove of stuff I’ve only seen a few cars have.
 
I was simply trying to recreate my old white car that I liked the best out of twenty or so I’ve had over the years. It’s been much harder than I thought, with only 2-3 really fitting the bill. I even tried to buy my old car back, but the guy I sold it to 15 years ago said no. Then there was a frustrating deal that just couldn’t be worked out that my friends know about. It was a similar car to this and it seems it can’t find a forever home, despite being a top tier car. Seems like that one is destined to stay a number on somebody’s ledger and not seen as a vehicle for enjoyment.

No matter now, this one suits me better, being the good thing to those that wait personified. It’s outrageous to view on video, and ludicrous in person. Only other red on silver one I ever saw was an automatic for sale on Moparts maybe ten years back. Im not big on overselling stuff and really dislike people making one of one claims, but that said, there can’t be many of these that were made.
 
Brett has a few things up on YouTube and his Facebook page. He does as good as anybody could describing this thing. Easier to watch him than to read. This one is a lot shorter than the first video, that one was for true Road Runner junkies like me.
 
I do have some sundry items I’ll be cleaning up, mostly date correcting underhood wear items and some preservation work that has to be done underneath. I am leaning hard on leaving the double pumper and intake as they’ve been there for decades and they are just a good idea the long time owner had. I’m thinking the originals can be displayed in the trunk and that is good enough for any reasonable person to understand.

Keep looking for your dream car and someday it may just pop out of a garage nobody knew existed!
 
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