When it comes to the fans of Big Three automobiles, it’s a pretty well known fact that those of the Mopar persuasion are the most vicious. They’d eat their kids if it meant that the factory paint dabs on certain bolts on their numbers-matching, custom order paint four-speed Plymouth were perfect with photographs that can trace all the way back to the assembly line. And they get VERY vocal when anything is less than perfect and not to their collective approval. Allow me to throw in a few truths to this mix: factory-correct is not perfection, Mark Worman is not your god, and you don’t have to shell out your kids’s inheritance to get your project through the body shop. Those sweeping body lines and broad hips that Chrysler producs rocked through the muscle era can be repaired in your shop, with basic tools AND without a pump truck full of Bondo. And no, it doesn’t require selling your soul.

DD Speed Shop’s Dan has been busy lately with a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner…a very deserving car to be brought back if there was one. Plymouth’s low-buck, high fun intermediate was the right combination for many power-obsessed gearheads who didn’t want to break the bank. But what are Mopar products known for? That’s right, folks, rust! Since 1957, Chrysler products have a reputation for rotting out, and in Canadian climates, most have probably returned to the earth. So seeing this one getting some bodywork love warms my heart…especially since my own shop is covered in the dust of old paint and worn-down 40-grit stripping pads at the moment.