Sam Griffith's (Mockingbird812) Hemi Roadrunner!

[Xplantdad]

I need to preface this Members Ride by saying that I'm truly sorry that Sam had to wait so long to share his very cool RoadRunner. My AOL account somehow thought that his email to me was SPAM...So sorry Sam! Enjoy Everyone!



’70 ‘Hemi’ Roadrunner Pillar Coupe


This Roadrunner’s production date was scheduled for 13 April 1970 at the Lynch Road Plant in Michigan and was delivered to Mr. Ed Kauffman on 6 August 1970 at the Weir Auto Sales, Inc. in Raynham, Massachusetts. Ed was twenty years old and had just finished a tour in the Army in Ground Surveillance Radar in the jungles of Vietnam and was itching to get back to racing. Prior to shipping out to Southeast Asia, he had owned a ’68 383 Roadrunner and knew Chrysler’s potential. He sold the 383 car to his brother before he left. On 2 September 1970, Ed jumped in his new Tor-Red Hemi with 4.10 gears and drove over 170 miles round trip to the New England Dragway, Inc. on Rte. 101 in Epping, New Hampshire. The trip costs him over $18.00 in gas - a princely sum in those days. Soon thereafter, Ed trailered the car to the races. Time slips recount his inaugural outing to New England’s famous drag strip in stock configuration except for 7” M/T slicks with 15” wheels. He posted a best E/T that night of 13.46 @ 104.04 mph and won each of his three races. Later that month he returned with headers and slicks and dipped into the high 12’s at 113 mph chalking up two more victories! One of Ed’s techniques was to shift at 6500 rpms. Ed drove the car for only a couple of years putting only 5,000 miles on the clock and when the gas crunch hit he decided to tuck his baby away. He placed it on blocks in a friends garage and wrapped it in blankets, tarps, and even sleeping bags where it slept until 1988 when he sold it to an acquaintance a couple of towns over from him.

The car today sits with only 9,7XX documented miles on the odometer and retains much of its original paint. It has been entered into the Chrysler Registry as one of one Lynch Road Hemi Pillar Coupes with Tor-Red hi-impact paint and one of four with the Super Performance Axle Package (4.10:1 gears, Sure Grip differential, Dana 60 axle, seven-blade fan, 26in radiator, power front disc brakes). The original fender tag deciphers as follows:

E74: Engine: 426 2-4bbl 425hp V8 426 HEMI
D32: Transmission: Torqeflite Automatic
RM: Car Line: PLYMOUTH Road Runner
21 Body Type: 2 Door Coupe
R Engine: 426 2-4bbl 425hp V8 426 HEMI
O Model Year: 1970 F-SERIES
A Assembly Plant: Lynch Road, MI
219733 Assembly Plant Sequential Number
EV2 Body Paint: Tor-Red HI-IMPACT

P Trim Grade: Premium
6 Front Seat: Vinyl Buckets

XA Interior: Charcoal & Black

TX9 Upper Door Frame Paint: Black

413 Scheduled Production Date Monday April 12, 1970

179863 Vehicle Order Number



EV2 Roof Paint: Tor-Red HI-IMPACT

V21 Stripes: Performance Hood paint Treatment


26 Radiator: 26” Width

C16 Woodgrain Console



113 Engine Assembly: 426 HEMI w/AUTO & Heater Spec’s

084 Axle Assembly: 4.10:1 S/G 9.75” w/10” Rr Drums

671 Trans: A727 Torquelflite Automatic – 426 HEMI



32 Gate Sequence Number- Lynch Road Assembly Plant

108 Base Sequence Number- Lynch Road Assembly Plant

224093 Line Sequence Number- Lynch Road Assembly Plant


Not found on the fender tag are a few more sport-oriented options documented by the buildsheet (found w/i the springs of the rear seat), they are the Rear Spoiler - Wing Type (J81) and the hood tie down pins (J45), and the black transverse stripe for the deck lid (V8X). Other documentation for this Roadrunner includes: Chrysler Credit Corporation’s Retail Instalment Contract (yes, that is the way they spelled installment), Ed’s title and his Massachusetts Application for Title, other titles, time slips from the New England Dragway, the Chrysler repair manual that Ed used, and various vintage photos when Ed owned it. Additionally, this car has been included in four different books on muscle cars including the cover of the Enthusiast Color Series, “Chrysler Muscle Cars” copyright
1994.

Sam