Danbury Mint / 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner Hardtop / DM DISCONTINUED / 1:24th Scale

Electric Blue

   This was Plymouth’s first year for the Road Runner. Warner Brothers was paid a $50,000 fee for the use of the cartoon bird’s image and his speed warning, a warning that actually became the car’s horn sound. Based on the lightweight Plymouth Belvedere coupe body, with no frills, the car remained pure to form and function and sported a mildly souped up 383, potent in this light car, or a bird-stomping 425 horse, 426 Hemi. Well worth its $714 option price, the hemi was the preferred way to gather dinner quickly.

   A brand new tooling, DM constantly amazes me with new product, accurate detailing and precise production manufacture. This model is perfect from all angles. The parts-fit is superb. The doors open just like the real thing, front leading edge of the door inside the body cavity. And if the DM folks gave us but one more layer of that lavishly applied paint, the doors would bind up; the fit is that exact. The hood and trunk lid are the same. Even though this is a bare-bones car, the model looks beautiful. The previously mentioned paint, Electric Blue Metallic, is faultlessly sprayed and ever so glossy. The matte black performance hood paint and the black vinyl roof simulation is striking, especially with the application of thin chrome trim accents. They surround the roof and perfectly frame the wheel well openings. In typical DM fashion, the antenna extends and retracts nearly flush with the fender. The hood scissors springs, that are quickly becoming a DM specialty, look unmistakably realistic. Non-collectors are fascinated by them. So am I.

   The model boasts good ride height and doesn’t sacrifice working suspension to do it. Even the rear shocks work. While looking from below, don’t miss the emergency brake cabling, front torsion bar suspension and the transmission linkage. The interior presents great detail. The seat pattern is deeply formed and the seatbelts are fabric with photoetch buckles. The floor isn’t immune from attention to detail as the pedals are realistic and include the emergency brake pedal as well. The boot on the four-speed shifter is well detailed as are the working fold-down visors. The spare is removable from the trunk and reveals the jack and tire iron on the miniaturized fabric trunk mat. Check out the metal badging on the car. It’s cool. But not as cool as the roadrunner’s silhouette on the front of the doors and in full motion on the rear trunk lid.

   The model’s best features, however, lie under the hood. With detailing even a coyote would love, we find all the right manufacturer’s labels, metal brake lines and cables, wires and plumbing galore. DM has found a way to paint their master cylinders so that they appear as shrunken 1:1’s. The battery looks that way too. The heater hoses are held in place with a metal holder and the hood insulation feels soft and real. Even if you don’t recall the wild and wooly days of the Road Runner, you will love the execution of this model.

Part #: DM1363M

Condition: #1 New in the Box w/o title & care

Price: 0.00