V8TV profiles the very first A12 Road Runner Plymouth ever built, the Wayward Beeper, tested by Super Stock Magazine in 1969 and driven into the 12-second zone by legendary drag racer Ronnie Sox. Its 440 Six Pack, 4-speed manual, and stripped interior were all built for one purpose, and the comments fill in the rest with period tire-pressure tricks and owners’ own Road Runner stories. Watch to see the car Chrysler itself called the fastest A12 ever built.
Most Road Runners built in 1969 were fast. This one is different: it was the very first A12 package Plymouth ever built, the pilot car Chrysler used to launch the entire package to the public, and it still carries a nickname from that campaign, the Wayward Beeper. Before this car ever reached a dealership, it had already been handed to a professional drag racer and run through a magazine test that most owners could only dream of matching. So how does a promotional pilot car end up surviving fifty-plus years later, still wearing its original numbers?
The Pilot Car Behind Chrysler’s A12 Launch
Chrysler built the A12 Road Runner around one very specific engine: a 440 cubic inch V8 fed by three two-barrel carburetors, the famous Six Pack setup, rated at 390 horsepower and 490 lb-ft of torque. Backing that engine was an A833 four-speed manual transmission and a Dana 60 rear end running Sure-Grip and 4.10:1 gears, a combination built for exactly one purpose: getting the car down a quarter mile as fast as possible with minimal preparation.
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The 440 Six Pack, Four-Speed, and Dana 60 Combination
This specific car’s history is documented, not just claimed. Super Stock Magazine tested it in 1969 and recorded low 13-second quarter mile passes with what the description calls minimal prep, meaning the times came from a car set up close to how it left the factory rather than heavily modified for the run. Then legendary drag racer Ronnie Sox got behind the wheel and pushed it into the 12-second zone, a number that led Chrysler itself to call this the fastest A12 ever built.
A Documented 12-Second Pass, Not Just a Claim
The liftoff fiberglass hood with functional fresh air induction wasn’t styling for its own sake. Lighter than steel and feeding cold outside air directly to the carburetors, it was part of a broader weight-and-airflow strategy that also included black stamped steel wheels instead of anything chromed, and a stripped-down interior built around a simple bench seat with a tachometer rather than bucket seats and extra trim. Every choice on this car traces back to the same goal: quarter-mile performance over comfort.
Every Part of This Car Serves the Quarter Mile
A commenter with direct experience backs up just how capable this combination really was. A local car he knew, running the same basic Road Runner platform, added Hooker headers and 28×9 slicks to a 727 automatic and ran 12.16 at over 115 mph at U.S. 30 Dragstrip in northwest Indiana, numbers that land right in the same range Ronnie Sox pulled from this manual-transmission A12 with far less modification.
A Real-World Comparison From the Comments
The same comment section preserves a piece of period drag strip folklore worth remembering on its own: pump the front tires up, drop the rear tire pressure two to four psi, pull the spare tire and jack out of the trunk, remove the back seat, take off the air cleaner, and bump the timing up slightly. That combination of small adjustments, according to someone who lived through the era, could shave a couple tenths off a quarter-mile time without touching the engine internally at all.
A Drag Strip Trick Preserved in the Comment Section
Several commenters use this video to trace their own history back to similar cars. One owned a 1969 Plymouth Satellite as a first car, sharing the same platform and body style but with a far tamer 318 engine that needed a valve job before it would even run. Another remembers a 1968 Road Runner, automatic, gold with a black vinyl top and a 383, and still owns the chrome trim rings off it decades later even though the car itself is long gone.
Viewers Trace Their Own Road Runners Back Through This Video
Eagle-eyed viewers also caught a build detail the description doesn’t mention directly: one commenter identifies the A01 light package based on the fender-mounted turn indicators visible in the video, the kind of factory option code that only a genuine Mopar enthusiast would recognize on sight rather than needing it spelled out.
The A01 Light Package Detail Only Enthusiasts Would Catch
Not every A12 survived intact. One commenter recalls a brother-in-law who bought a 1969 Road Runner for 500 dollars in 1971, had it painted army green with black rims, and ran a 383 with a four-speed, headers, and thrust mufflers, describing it simply as a screamer before it eventually disappeared from the family entirely. Stories like that one make a documented, numbers-matching survivor like the Wayward Beeper even rarer than the production figures alone suggest.
Why a Numbers-Matching Survivor Like This Is So Rare
One commenter’s math actually holds up better than most internet spec debates: they credit the 440 Six Pack setup with 490 lb-ft of torque, and that is exactly what Chrysler’s own factory rating says too — 390 horsepower at 4,700 rpm paired with 490 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm. It is a rare case of the comment section getting a number dead right on the first try, which says something about how well this engine’s specs are still remembered more than five decades later.
A Torque Number the Comment Section Actually Nailed
Even the joke comments circling this video tie back to real Mopar history. One dismisses the modern Dodge Demon as a Duster wannabe, a jab that only makes sense if you already know Chrysler built a lightweight, drag-focused Duster variant of its own decades before the Demon nameplate existed. It’s the kind of comment that reads as pure trash talk on the surface but actually references a real lineage of Mopar drag cars stretching back to this exact era.
Even the Jokes Reference Real Mopar History
Even a viewer in Sweden chimes in, mentioning a genuine 1969 A12 Road Runner not far from where they live, a reminder that these cars scattered well beyond American borders decades ago and are still being tracked down by enthusiasts an ocean away from where Chrysler originally built them.
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Michael Shockley
Sure would love one
Awesome
Awesome
Awesome
Damn
Awesome RIDE indeed
Sad to see this one leave our collection.. Amazing car..
Very nice
Loved owning it when we had it.. Beautiful all the way..
Corky Olson
Love it
What I wouldn’t give to have own that awesome Mopar
I had a chance to buy my neighbors 69 1/2 Superbee that’s similar to this but in the Dodge sheet metal for 2600 I still regret that to the day
One Bad Ass Cars Every.
Had a clone of this car but had bucket seats EV2 paint
love it
I had a red 69 Roadrunner back in the day 1970 I think but mine had the 383/335 hp !!!
those 383’s are not to under estimated, i won a lot of races over big block chevys with this motor,,
Here’s my beauty. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Such a cool car to drive. I enjoy every second I’m in it.
Awesome ride that was BS from day one coming off the show floor
Boner inspiring. Truly.
446 pack?
Sooo unfollowed.
She’s worth some
Love it, I’ve got a 68 roadrunner and I love it to death, they are great cars.
i love the 1948 plymouth deluxe smooth drive what a car