Have you ever just looked at a picture and came to the conclusion that a ton of bad ideas were going to meld into one really good idea? Yeah, we’ve kind of got that going on right now. Fred Williams hosts Motor Trend’s “Dirt Every Day” show, which means that he lives for big tires, articulation, mud and dust. But you’re seeing it as clear as I am: a 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner. At one point in time this Autumn Bronze B-body was someone’s pride and joy. That was a long time ago, however, and the years have not been nice to the car. Put bluntly, it’s rotted. Now, if Dirt Every Day was building a competitor to Roadkill’s General Mayhem Charger for a rally deal, that would be plenty awesome, but Williams has bigger plans than that. Much bigger.

Will it be four-wheel-drive? Yes, and instead of taking the cheap shot out and building a traditional Trar by dropping the body onto a Ramcharger frame, a full custom frame is being built under the ‘Runner. It’s going to need it, because the engine is one of the most unorthodox choices we’ve seen in a long time: the 5.0L Cummins V8 that is scheduled to appear in the upcoming second-generation Nissan Titan, hooked to an Allison six-speed automatic. Well, alright then…and since we’ve jumped into the deep end of the pool, let’s go with a full Mad Max-ish build: think a stinkbug-stances late-1970s build, with a four-wheel-drive kick. Slot mags and mud tires will be present, as will be a ton of extra tubing around the 50 gallon fuel tank raided from a Chevrolet tow truck. This is part one of a (supposedly) two part series, with the Roadrunner moving under it’s own power in the second episode.