Looking at Bob Chesney’s 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner, you might ask; “That thing got a Hemi?”
The answer is yes and a whole lot more. Bob and his wife, both car show judges, took 13 years to take the Roadrunner from its humble beginnings to the pristine Plymouth it is today.
Bob paid homage to the original car by choosing to stick close to the original Turbine Bronze color that came on the Roadrunner back in 1968. Bob had the car painted 1970 AMC Big Bad Orange and laid down some fierce graphics to go along with it. Once the paint was down, the name of the car was born: Big Bad Orange. As with many projects, Bob was never quite done.
The original engine of the car was a Hemi; however, when the car was stolen many years back, that engine was lost. When Bob purchased the Mopar, he wanted to bring back a bit of the originality of having a Roadrunner with a Hemi engine. So of course, he upgraded a little bit. His Keith Black Competition Block is topped off with a set of Dart II Race Competition cylinder heads, a supercharger from Blower Shop, and two Demon Dominator 1050 Carburetors.
A set of Auto Meter gauges keep track of everything going on in the engine bay. Bob is so detailed on the interior that he even had the Roadrunner logo embroidered into the fabric behind the front seats. Speaking of the seats, they too have been upgraded to keep Bob in one spot as the engine throws 950 horsepower and 840 ft.-lbs. of torque to the rear wheels.
While Bob has been showing Big Bad Orange for the past few years, every time he displays the car it is slightly different from the last time. So if you happen to see or hear Big Bad Orange cruising about, look for Bob and ask him what modifications he has done since the last time.
It’s interesting considering he and his wife took this car from Jerry Bigger in a divorce. It had different graphics but the same car. I remember it from 1995…..