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Road Runner?

RonLiv

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I was looking around on eBay just to see what is out there. I was looking at Dodge Coronet's 1968-69. I came across this 69 Hemi Super Bee and I'm reading the description. As usual, they go into the "story" rather than about the specific car. But one statement took me by surprise that I've never heard before. Something to the effect that Dodge actually coined the name "Road Runner" in 1967 but never formally named a car, and then it was stolen by Plymouth in 1968.

"Perhaps no other car captures the essence of Mopar Muscle than the Dodge Super Bee. Dodge and Plymouth began to engage in a bit of sibling rivalry as Dodge watched Plymouths success of the Road Runner, further more, Dodge had already coined the "road runner" name in a Coronet Ad for the 1967 model year but sister company Plymouth took off with the name plate. Dodge launched the Super Bee as a direct competitor to the Road Runner resulting in and inter-performance rivalry that created some of the best muscle cars known to man."
 

ACME A12

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I don't know that it was "stolen", but it was certainly used in a '67 Coronet R/T ad. Hemmings did a write-up about it several years ago. Regardless, if there had not been a Plymouth Road Runner there would never have been a Dodge Super Bee. The Super Bee was totally a "Me Too" effort by the Dodge Boys after the Road Runner started selling like ice cream on a hot summer day...
 
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