We knew a guy locally who could make the nose, rear window assembly, and wing assembly to make a faux Superbird out of one of these (or a faux Daytona out of a Charger.)  Still tempting, now that B-body prices have come down and my disposable income may begin to actually exist in the next year.  But still not a likelihood for "driving this car for dating with mah girl."

The Road Runner went pretty good for an old car.  I only drove it a few miles - got the tires loose when the secondaries opened up in 3rd gear, at probably 80 mph, and barked 'em going into 4th at probably a bit more than that.  That was probably quite enough for a car with no seatbelts and an alignment we did by eye, at night.  It got sold a few days later to fund a race car.  As the owner said, "I couldn't wait to get this thing built, but now I can't wait to get this thing gone.  It's not a race car, and it won't tow a race car to the track, so $#%k it - who needs it?"

I borrowed an SRT-8 with the 6.1 liter / 6MT for a day.  That was a good day, car-wise.  The dealer who loaned it to me said "Drive it like it's yours."  The 5-year-old son I mentioned below was, at the time, a 15-year-old with a learner's permit, and he had been driving a manual-transmission Miata since he could reach the clutch pedal.  (The previous year, at age 14, he had driven the Miata on a racetrack.)  I asked the guy, " 'drive it like it's mine' means my kid will be driving it, is that okay?"  I was assured that was no problem.  You can find a couple of applicable Youtube video clips by searching for my user name and "SRT-8." 

That car was its own 4th of July parade wherever it went, and its own car show wherever it stopped.  Rolling up through carpool in a black SRT-8, with the obviously-a-manual-transmission kind of sounds it makes in a carpool line, was probably a pretty cool high school moment.  You can't even properly soundtrack such a moment with the car stereo, because you'd have to pick either "Back In Black" or "Hell's Bells" or "Highway Star" or one of several ZZ Top songs, and it's really best to let the exhaust sort of imply eight or nine such songs at once.   

My wife refused to even ride in it - she hates "gas guzzlers," and anything meant to be faster than her Forester qualifies as a "gas guzzler" even if it gets better fuel economy than her Forester.  The SRT-8 did NOT get better fuel economy than a Forester, but it's a pretty sweet mile-eater on all other fronts and I LOVE everything else about them.

Funny, when I got to drive this Road Runner (the Coronet's snotty brother) it was the *most* expensive car I had ever driven, aside from cars that my parents were leasing. 

This is a 440/6-pack, 4-speed, matching numbers, Dana axle, no air conditioning.  I spent a summer wire-brushing and repainting the bolts holding this car together, because new bolts have different markings and would be obviously "not original."  The friend who owned it moved to my house with this car partly in boxes.  Not long after this photo, it was ready to be driven on the road for the first time in 20+ years. 

My 5-year-old son thought it was awesome, but it would have been tragi-comic to have "driven this car for dating mah girl."  For most of the women I have ever dated, this car would have been "Girl Repellent." 

Funny, when I got to drive this Road Runner (the Coronet's snotty brother) it was the *most* expensive car I had ever driven, aside from cars that my parents were leasing. 

This is a 440/6-pack, 4-speed, matching numbers, Dana axle, no air conditioning.  I spent a summer wire-brushing and repainting the bolts holding this car together, because new bolts have different markings and would be obviously "not original."  The friend who owned it moved to my house with this car partly in boxes.  Not long after this photo, it was ready to be driven on the road for the first time in 20+ years. 

My 5-year-old son thought it was awesome, but it would have been tragi-comic to have "driven this car for dating mah girl."  For most of the women I have ever dated, this car would have been "Girl Repellent." 

Funny, when I got to drive this Road Runner (the Coronet's snotty brother) it was the *most* expensive car I had ever driven, aside from cars that my parents were leasing. 

This is a 440/6-pack, 4-speed, matching numbers, Dana axle, no air conditioning.  I spent a summer wire-brushing and repainting the bolts holding this car together, because new bolts have different markings and would be obviously "not original."  The friend who owned it moved to my house with this car partly in boxes.  Not long after this photo, it was ready to be driven on the road for the first time in 20+ years. 

My 5-year-old son thought it was awesome, but it would have been tragi-comic to have "driven this car for dating mah girl."  For most of the women I have ever dated, this car would have been "Girl Repellent."