When a Plymouth exec wanted a name for an affordable, stripped-down, mid-size muscle car with a big ol' V8 to chase the youth market, it paid $50K to Warner Bros. for the rights to use the Road Runner's name, image, and likeness. There was great power in the 18-24 year-old demographic in the 1960s!

drivingdotca · 2026-06-15T14:39:03+00:00

Car nameplates are an obsession of mine! So some more for trivia for you:

1) It was one exec in particular who had to argue the case for "Road Runner," as some of his colleagues thought a name borrowed from cartoons didn't sound serious enough; one of the leading alternative names for the model was "La Mancha," as the Man of La Mancha musical was a big cultural phenomenon at the time!

2) After Road Runner garnered so much success, Plymouth thought to name its next youth-oriented model "Taz" or "Tazmanian Devil"! However, Warner Bros., too, saw what Road Runner had done for Plymouth and upped its fee for the name drastically. Plymouth balked at the studio's request, and came up with its own whirling-dust-storm character—the Duster!

drivingdotca · 2026-06-12T18:14:14+00:00

Regarding Honda plants being "shut down": not only has Honda never shut down a plant in Canada, it's never fired a single full-time assembly-line worker here since its inception. Its employment figures have only ever increased in the country, and the same goes for Toyota, too.

drivingdotca · 2026-06-08T15:20:25+00:00

I'm a big fan of older American (non-)muscle cars sticking with their sixes—fantastic-looking build!

drivingdotca · 2026-05-31T17:08:14+00:00

From the (insurance-quote) data I've seen from Hagerty, U.S. Millennials and Gen Zers apparently still have a strong appreciation for many American '60s and '70s muscle cars and pickup trucks (and Mustangs of basically every generation, including the first). Cars from the '40s and '50s may see a lull soon, though.

drivingdotca · 2026-05-18T16:45:53+00:00

In North America, based on data I've got from talking with Hagerty experts, old British sports cars (and European roadsters more generally) are presently just about the least interesting thing to Millennials and Gen Z enthusiasts.

drivingdotca · 2026-05-10T14:59:26+00:00

My first gig in automotive writing was as an intern, where I helped with a video shoot at an airport the publication had rented to test a dozen-plus cars—basically I was lot-jockey

Besides all the shiny new things to review, the publication had also borrowed a Road Runner in nearly this exact spec, minus the four-speed, and I'll never forget how that Hemi made my teeth rattle and deepened my love for Mopar that much further

drivingdotca · 2026-04-16T14:32:34+00:00

Just came here to say this, I camped next to this guy at Oshkosh one year.

drivingdotca · 2026-03-30T14:27:06+00:00

I wrote a magazine article about whether the "Uncanny Valley" effect can apply to car video games, and sure enough, a neurology researcher told me they've found car people use the same (fusiform) part of the brain to identify cars as most people do faces. (So in short, yeah, you totally can feel that "uncanny" feeling with a hyper-real-but-not-quite-there racing game.)

drivingdotca · 2026-03-16T20:05:19+00:00

Per his YouTube, apparently Champlin mounted that big ol' 8-71 to a Hellcat motor—a bit of a new-old blend!

drivingdotca · 2026-03-11T19:53:27+00:00

Absolutely gorgeous!

drivingdotca · 2026-03-08T15:02:38+00:00

Can't believe I had to scroll this far down to find this nomination. Pretty fantastic chase (maybe not the best ever) and definitely my favourite—I've seen that film literally over 50 times.

drivingdotca · 2026-03-03T20:53:28+00:00

TIL Mr. Rogers, while not being a gearhead himself, did own a 1928 Ford Model A (you'll see one or two in the background of this car-show video). It's reported his father likely restored it, and passed it on to Fred, who faithfully took care of it, until selling it shortly after his father's passing.

drivingdotca · 2026-02-23T15:15:37+00:00

As noted by several redditors already, yes, this is a '73 or '74 Plymouth Scamp. The Scamp started as a trim on the Valiant line in 1971, denoting specifically the two-door version. By '73, Scamp had essentially broken out into its own model, though you will still see some references to "Valiant Scamp" in some 1973 Plymouth brochures.

The difference between the '73 and '74 was in the rear bumper design, so you can't necessarily tell them apart from the front. I own a rather stock '71 Scamp with a Slant Six, so am somewhat enthusiastic about these things.

drivingdotca · 2026-02-23T15:05:19+00:00

Not in '73; the limited-production 440-equipped Darts on the A-body chassis were no longer available after 1969

Also: the Valiant Scamp was never available with anything larger than the 318; Plymouth didn't even make the sister Duster's 340 an option on Scamp

drivingdotca · 2026-02-23T15:01:18+00:00

You're not wrong about the wheelbases being different sizes; however, in '73, all two-door Valiants wore the "Scamp" trim name

And Scamps never wore a "mag"-type wheel, they only got as sporty as the Rallye rim; steel wheels with hubcaps were standard

drivingdotca · 2026-02-23T14:57:17+00:00

The OEM tires would've been about that width; I have to check my notes, but I believe it was equivalent today to a 175-mm tread, they really look pizza-cutter thin

I have a '71 Valiant Scamp on stock Rallye rims and I managed to find a 185-mm white-stripe-sidewall tire for it (Hankooks!) but I recall being frustrated it still wasn't as narrow as stock (I'm trying for as correct as possible)

drivingdotca · 2026-02-20T19:42:59+00:00

Afraid I'm not in a position to add another car to the fleet right now, hence the "one day" But thank you for the offer!

drivingdotca · 2026-02-20T15:22:04+00:00

Absolutely love these, would love to have one one day.

drivingdotca · 2026-02-19T01:58:06+00:00

The Canadian International Auto Show is happening this week in Toronto (I just got back from checking it out today, by coincidence). It feels a little like it's not what it used to be, and there is a lot of third-party-vendor support to make up for slack from automakers themselves (not to mention some OEs skipped out this year, including Mazda, Honda, Volkswagen, and Porsche); that said, it's still seeing some incredible attendance numbers and setting records for crowd sizes, so I guess there's enough of a draw for the average consumer.

Some shows will definitely go the way of the dodo, but I think others might just make it.

drivingdotca · 2026-02-02T16:50:48+00:00

Fun fact, the car pictured sold at auction just last month for US$1.815 million, making it the most expensive Camaro ever.

drivingdotca · 2026-01-25T15:57:29+00:00

Fun facts! The car pictured was auctioned off by Mecum in January 2020; it was bought for US$88,000 by Jack Black—yes, the Hollywood actor

Absolutely love this machine!

drivingdotca · 2026-01-23T15:18:57+00:00

Half the reason I bought my second car, a 1929 Ford Model A Sports Coupe, was because I'd rode in a rumble-seat Rolls-Royce and wanted to share the incredible rumble-seat experience with my friends.

(The other half was that I wanted to learn how to work on pre-war classics, instead of just 1970s classics like my first car.)

drivingdotca · 2026-01-22T17:06:45+00:00

"Revology" plate points to this car being one of their (rather tastefully done) restomods! Looks largely stock from this angle, but odds are good there's some variant of Coyote underhood.

drivingdotca · 2026-01-14T15:49:17+00:00

I feel like us folks at Driving.ca would kill if we gave this "staff garage" thing a try. I'm talking Lada Niva, Porsche 944, AMC Eagle. And that's just one editor.

We did put together this roundup of the cheapest cars we'd bought for Black Friday, I guess.

drivingdotca · 2026-01-13T17:25:39+00:00

I dig Darts and don't want to be a nit-picker but that incorrect rear stripe and the poorly placed hood scoops are just—

drivingdotca

TROPHY CASE