When it comes to Mopars, to say David Brennan of New York has had a few would be an understatement. David absolutely loves everything Mopar with one of his favorites being the 1971 B-bodies; having owned a couple of ’71 Super Bees as well as a couple of ’71 Road Runners, including a very cool survivor Road Runner. “A couple years back, a gentlemen named Warren King had posted a few photos of his survivor ’71 Road Runner on the B-Body Facebook page. He said that he was thinking about selling the car. I saw it within 5 minutes of being posted and said to myself, I need to make it mine!”, recalls David.

He continues to say, “There was something about it being a survivor that I just couldn’t get enough of. The ugly, sun baked GT2 Tunisian Tan paint with perfect patina along with the Brown and Tan two-tone bench seat interior and original numbers matching 383 and 727 Torqueflite automatic drive-train was addicting to me. It was a very early production car built on September 4th in Windsor, Ontario. It came optioned with an AM radio, power steering, power brakes, remote racing mirror, front and rear spoilers and hood pins. To top it off, it only had 69,000 original miles.”

“I could tell it was being driven as-is, and had virtually no body rust or rot what so ever. I immediately messaged Warren and asked him to shoot me a couple more photos, and his bottom line price. He did just that, and when I told him I’d take it, he responded later that night that he had decided to keep the car for the time being. I was upset but definitely have been in the position of not really wanting to let something go so I understood.”

About six months later, David had just sold his ’70 Duster 340 and had some cash available along with a garage spot. He decided to message Warren again to see if he was ready to let the Road Runner go yet. Warren replied very nicely saying that David would be the first to know when he was ready to sell it but it still wasn’t the time for him to let it go. At this point, David decided to put it in the back of his mind and hoped it would be his one day.

Fast forwarding to about a month ago, David had just landed a killer deal on a fully restored ’71 Road Runner 340 car in GW3 Sno-White (look for a feature on this one very soon!). “I posted some photos on Facebook when I got it. You know how it goes when something doesn’t happen at the perfect time but happens at the less than ideal time? Well, I got a message from Warren about a week after I got the White Road Runner home saying he saw that I just got the White ’71 but he had just decided that he was ready to let the Tan one go and as promised, he was giving me first shot at it before listing it.”

“Having just purchased the White one, I was tight on cash and space so I really had to think about it. I thought long and hard over night and I just kept telling myself not to let this one pass by. At this point I had wanted it for nearly two years so I couldn’t say no! With the perfect patina, rust free body and options, it was the car I was looking for; so I bought it,” says David.

Less than a week later, a transport truck showed up with the Road Runner on it. From the minute it drove off the truck, David wasted little time making some small changes to get it to the look that he had en-visioned. He says, “I put black police wheels with slicks on it, yellow high beams and a “Direct Connection” front vanity plate. It was the “Ratty” driver I always wanted. I slapped a plate on it and started driving it.”

“Warren was right, she drove great. So much so that I decided last minute to take it to the Chrysler Nationals in Carlisle recently. I originally registered the White one for the show field but there are plenty of show cars and fully restored ones at Carlisle. There are very few original paint survivors. It was quite the hit. Something about an original car that people love. I’m one of those people myself.”

David trailered the car to the show and drove it all over Harrisburg and Carlisle for 3 days straight. He tells us, “It was a blast! Friday morning I parked on the show field and to my surprise, Warren parked next to me with his other ’71 Road Runner! He came all the way from Oklahoma and we finally got the chance to meet. We both found it very cool that he was parked next to his old car.”

“The show went great and it made it back home safe and sound. A lot of people ask, “What are your plans with it?”. My answer is simply just to drive it! I have a garage queen already. This one is now daily driven and exactly what I wanted. The only additional thing I plan to do is to add rear window louvers but you all know how hard they are to find. She’s a true blue original survivor and I plan to keep it that way.” I even had Robin McQueen over at Automolove.ca design an awesome banner of the car which proudly hangs on the wall next to it!”

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