Plymouth Road Runner Commercials: Putting the "Car" in Cartoon

One of the most iconic “back to basics” American muscle cars of the ’60s and ’70s may have wore the badge of a funny little cartoon character, but that didn’t mean the Plymouth Road Runner wasn’t ready to rumble with the best of them. In any case, the Plymouth Road Runner commercials were hoot to watch.

Plymouth's formula of a cheaper, high-powered, bare bones muscle car paid off, and being associated with the old school Wile E. Coyote character didn’t hurt either. In fact, we're surprised companies like Ford or Chevrolet didn't follow suit with the whole cartoon angle. The more car commercials with cartoons the better.

Plymouth rented the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner names from Warner Bros for a sum of $50,000, or in today’s dollars, about $350,000. Plymouth also paid $10,000 at the time to develop the well-known “beep beep” horn sound. A worthwhile investment, considering the Plymouth Road Runner's immediate success.

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