To be quite honest, I don’t get the difference between a “street machine” and a “street freak”, so I am probably going to jack this one up a little bit, so bear with me. The difference is, in my eyes anyways, stance: a street machine was either stock or lowered in height, maybe with a slight raise in the rear. A street freak, on the other hand, was tall…damn tall. And wilder. Street machines were cars that could be driven with little to no serious work needed. A street freak, on the other hand, was a show on four wheels: wild paint, tons of custom touches, all in the name of intimidation. Or whatever was supposed to be happening. Let’s be honest, street freaks were pretty much winding down about the time I was born.
The 1969 Road Runner that Darr Hawthorne found and sent in is pretty much what I’d expect from a street freak: it’s got mags, it’s got killer paint, and has a door sill height similar to a four-wheel-drive pickup. From it’s straight axle front suspension to the customized lacquer paint that looks great in the pictures, the 383/4-speed Runner is a throwback to thick mustaches and bell bottoms. You might catch yourself looking in the photos for a Dodge van with a porthole window. l won’t lie, I did look. I can hear restoration guys crying foul already, but wouldn’t it make sense to keep this Road Runner as it is? There aren’t many left like it around…
Craigslist Link: 1969 Plymouth Road Runner 383
Did they really have to rice it up with a fire extinguisher right on the console?
Street Machine – Any 70’s era car fitted with Cragar mags and a fake Fox tail on the rear view mirror
Street Freak – Any 70’s era car built to look like a Alchohol Altered Drag car
nothing looked like that in the ’70s. I guess he just couldn’t afford the 36s he really wanted. fuggly.
at least he didn’t waste a ford or chevy on it.
Not so bob, I remember a silver Dodge Dart in my hometown that sat exactly like this Road Runner. It didn’t have the custom paint but it rolled on Cragars and really wide rubber all around. I knew of the car in 1973-75, and as a young motorhead thought it was just plain nasty and wicked looking.
airshocks stuck in the upright position???
there are still a few around. This is one I never understood. Never been able to ask anyone from that era who had one, or a friend who had one and the reasoning behind the idea.
For cruising the strip, the extra high stance would give you a better view of the ladies in other cars. And, if there was ever a flood, you are all set.
As a little kid, I remember a 71 Monte Carlo done up like this sitting in a neighbor’s yard and thinking it was soooo cool. Now I see one and think, “Man! How many clowns can they fit in that thing?”
I hope he has a plexiglass firewall so he can see Granny and the kids and don’t run them over
Oh please, not everything has to ‘come back’, does it?
I wonder – can cars suffer from altitude sickness?
god hope that never comes back.. Donks with little wheels – bleugh
In the day the idea was a combination of weight transfer by having the front higher than the back,and weight savings using the straight axle. Both were common to early AFXers and altereds. Was so popular for awhile that they started producing drop spindles to give the same stance. Setting them in the air and eliminating sway bars made for some scary rides,but was a low tech way to go faster in the quarter mile.