Mike Berglund, from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, bought this ’77 Volare Road Runner from his paint rep’s girlfriend when he was 19 because it was painted Panther Pink at the time. He made several half- hearted attempts at customizing the car over the years but lost interest each time because the ’77 wasn’t really something to get excited about.
Six years ago, Mike decided to get excited and finish the Plymouth using fac- tory parts from different year Mopars. He knew the ’70 ’Cuda elastomeric bumpers wouldn’t fit, so he tucked and smoothed the ’77’s fat, ugly 5 MPH bumpers to try and mimic the ’Cuda’s.
The shaker scoop is really unique on a car like this. Most F-body guys go with a ’72 A-body twin-snorkel scoop. Ho hum! Mike went his own way here, picking up a repop bubble from Year One. He made his own base plate out of aluminum, cut a hole in the ’77’s hood, and made his own adapter ring for a finished look and added strength. He shaped a piece of 2×4 as a buck and hammered metal around it to finish off the bubble and not have to buy expensive shaker grilles. Mike says the job is not as easy as it looks, requiring tons of measuring, mock-up and metalwork to get it right—which he seems to have accomplished. The scoop is finished off with a rubber seal made from a Neon trunk seal.
Under the custom hood beats a 0.040˝- over ’69 383 with 516 heads done to 915 specs. Inside is a Comp Cams 274 Extreme Energy bumpstick while two 750 DP Holleys on a Torker II intake feed the beast. Exhaust details include modified B-body headers, custom 3˝ stainless pipes and Magnaflow muffs. The engine was assembled by Mike’s pop, Dennis Berglund.
The 383 is backed by a ’69 A-body 833 4-speed rebuilt by the aforesaid father, The driveshaft going back to the ’69 B-body 3.55 Sure Grip 8¾˝ also is custom. Mike made his own quad-shock setup to nix axle windup and wheel hop, and fitted an adjustable pinion snubber. New rear leaf springs replace the stock iso setup. Wheels are 15×7˝ rallys.
Inside this driver (Mike’s not into the show scene) is a pistol grip shifter that Mike grabbed out of a ’71 Charger, and got it to work in the factory console. The rear seat came out of an ’80 LeBaron while ’74 Road Runner front seat covers from Legendary are the closest match he could find to the rear seat. ’69 Road Runner interior emblems and the tuff wheel are the finishing touch.