Sitting on a used car lot in Colorado Springs in the spring of 2000 was the dead-ringer clone to this car. A bronze 1973 Plymouth Road Runner, 340/auto, with the exhaust tips, Slapstick-shifted automatic, and the rally wheels. I was in absolute lust and nothing could talk me off of the ledge. I checked the car out. I got the dealership guy to fire it off, I saw the good and bad, and made my mind up then and there…this Runner had to be mine. The next day I showed up, cash in hand and the paperwork to my trade ready to go…and discovered that the Plymouth had been sold shortly after I left. I next saw it months later on the floor of the Pontiac dealership. Awesome. 
Can you blame me for this Mopar, though? Really? 1973 wasn’t 1970, no…the High-Impact color, Hemi party had finally died down. The ‘Cuda and Challenger were a year away from death and by 1975, pure dysfunction would reign supreme in Auburn Hills. But 1973 was not a bad year, considering. The ‘Cuda was still potent enough, even if it was stuck as a small-block car. The Duster and recently re-christened Dart Sport were still interesting, and for the B-bodies, you had the H-code 340 setup, which was pretty much 1969 under the hood. Unless you ponied up for the 400ci big-block, you weren’t doing any better. It wasn’t the ultra-violent tire-fryer of 1969, but more of a purpose-built cruiser that didn’t suck. There was comfort but there wasn’t “brougham” levels of fluff yet. 
1973 was not a fantastic year for performance from Detroit unless you were a Pontiac fan. But this Road Runner was a better option than many others had on offer that year. It looked the part, it ran the part, and today looks almost elegant. If you could kick this out of your garage, then I don’t know what else to say. Good color, good engine, good car. Not a weird one at all.
I had a clone of this car but it was a 74 360 4 barrel
not bad at all…
I didn’t like these when they were new, just did not compare well style-wise to cars of the 1960s. But these small bumper pre malaise era rides really do look good, especially when compared to what came in the later seventies and the eighties!
A friend had a 1973 Runner, with the base 318 engine. Looked and sounded sorta badass, but couldn’t spin the tires in a car wash.
The 71 72 versions had a much better looking nose
I used to have one. A Petty blue with black striping. Factory 440 h.p., slapstick auto with black buckets ,factory tach, & 3 55 sure grip 8 3/4 rear. Probably about as cool a musclecar as you could buy in 73, except for maybe a Super Duty Trans Am.