Every car featured on the pages of Street Thunder has something that sets it apart – a feature that makes it special or an attribute that makes it stand out. Sometimes a street machine just has a “thing” or has “it.” It’s difficult to describe what exactly it is or to explain what thing a car must possess to stand out, but as enthusiasts, we all know when we see it.
When we discovered this ’69 Plymouth Road Runner owned by Kirby Drake of Avoca, NE, we knew it belonged on the pages of Street Thunder. Drake’s Road Runner most definitely has it. The car is very well done, though the impeccably smooth engine bay is most impressive.
While Kirby is a street machine enthusiast through and through, his passion specifically focuses on restored Mopars. This enthusiasm for Mopars is what led Kirby to eBay in search of a Road Runner, a car for which he had always yearned. “I’ve always liked the ’69 Road Runners,” Kirby admitted. “I wanted a trick Road Runner – it’s been my dream.”
Drake eventually won an eBay auction for this ’69 Road Runner and planned to simply drive the car and enjoy it. However, after getting the car home from Kentucky, he realized his plans would have to wait because the engine needed work. Drake explained, “It was in pretty good shape, but I found out the valves were burnt out of it because it wasn’t built for unleaded gas.” He took the car to a local shop to rebuild the engine and the project evolved from there.
“While having the motor rebuilt, I thought I’d do the clutch too,” Kirby admitted. “The transmission was kind of kicking out of gear, so then I thought I’d do the transmission. Then we just kept on getting in deeper and deeper…one thing lead to another.” Unfortunately for Kirby, the person performing the work had his own set of plans. Without Kirby’s consent, he tore the car completely apart, including removing the interior and all of the glass.
After paying to get his car and its pieces back, Drake contacted Rich Laaker at H.S. Dreams in Omaha, NE, to help him put the car back together. Familiar with some of the show cars Laaker and his crew had created, Drake was comfortable letting them do their thing with his Road Runner. “I wanted to keep everything as original as possible, but Rich had ideas related to the engine,” Drake explained. “Rich asked, ‘Can I do the engine compartment the way I want to?’ I said, ‘At this point I don’t care. I just want the car back,’” Drake recalled with a laugh.
Because the car was completely disassembled, Kirby said he decided to build it the right way. For his dream Road Runner, that meant building a 400-horsepower 383ci V-8, rewiring the entire car, and installing a rack-and-pinion steering system from Unisteer, which Kirby said was more cost effective than rebuilding the original equipment. Kirby also chose to install an air suspension system from RideTech, which features ShockWave bags front and rear and a bolt-in four-link rear suspension system known as the AirBar. The remainder of the drivetrain consists of stock components, including the original four-speed manual transmission and the factory rear axle, which is equipped with 3.55:1 gears.
Under the hood, Laaker went to great lengths to give Drake’s Road Runner a stellar platform from which to display the color-matched powerplant. Custom touches include a chrome plated high-rise intake manifold and a chrome plated and color matched Holley carburetor, which is topped with a similarly matched air cleaner from Billet Specialties. The firewall and fenderwells are home to only the necessities while a pair of stainless steel coolant lines frames the engine on the passenger side.
Kirby’s bright orange Road Runner features a black interior made up of stock components, including the bucket seats, center console, and the wood grain steering wheel. The folks at H.S. Dreams incorporated modern car audio technology in the form of new front and rear speakers, a five-channel amplifier, and a stock AM/FM radio featuring iPod connectivity.
Keeping with the theme of making subtle modifications that are easily reversible should Drake want to return his Road Runner to stock form, the team decided on a set of 20x9-inch front and 22x11-inch rear Intro “Rally” wheels. The polished aluminum wheels wear Nitto 555 tires and only partially hide the 12-inch disc brakes and four-piston calipers from Wilwood.
After spending 18 months building the car and awaiting its completion, Kirby wasted no time in displaying the car at shows across the Midwest, earning his Road Runner considerable acclaim. “I’m actually looking at a Dodge Daytona 500 440/six-pack car right now,” Drake confessed when asked about future plans. “I’m trying to keep it in the Mopar family, though I won’t go as far with the next one as I did with this one.” There’s no doubt that Drake’s next car will have it too, Daytona or not.
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