That was the slogan that headed the Plymouth Rapid Transit System Caravan tour. A mobile display of factory customized high-performance cars and parts toured coast to coast during 1970 and 1971. It appeared at over 150 Plymouth dealers as well as racing events across the country. Featured in the Caravan were a 'Cuda, Duster and Road Runner whose bodies had been altered and wildly painted by some of the nation's top custom shops according to Chrysler Corporation's design specifications. Also included in the Caravan was a duplicate of Drag Racing Champion Don "The Snake" Prudhomme's Plymouth Barracuda funny car. The car was equipped with a supercharged and injected Hemi engine that put out more than 1,500 horsepower.
Also in the display were two cut-away engines, a 426 Hemi and a high-performance 440 6-bbl, along with two-sided parts boards that displayed all of Plymouth's optional high-performance goodies. One of the most interesting aspects of the show was a 27 minute movie on the history of drag racing.
The Chrysler-Plymouth Division described the Caravan as "A customized interpretation of our New Plymouth Rapid Transit System. We have in this single exhibit all the elements of this program, which consists of providing the hi-performance cars, the special parts, and the ideals of how-to-do-it information for car owners who want to personalize their cars to really make them individualistic."
The premier showing of the Caravan was in New York City with over 73,000 people attending. The show traveled in a huge 55 foot long specially constructed and outfitted trailer which was 13 feet, 6 inches high and was brilliantly decorated in bright yellow along with the Rapid Transit design. This unit was also used as the background to the display. The four cars and two display engines it carried were capable of a combined 3,400 horsepower.
The Caravan was put together by the Display Division of Promotions, Inc. The crew of the Caravan consisted of two or three men who were on hand to answer questions as well as describe the performance capabilities of the Caravan cars as well as the entire line of Plymouth automobiles. Also on hand was complete information on the availability and use of special high-performance parts. Each dealership was required to provide four men to help set up and dismantle the display. They were also given guidelines on how to promote the caravan and how to use it to help them sell cars and performance parts.
The customized cars of the Caravan were the real draw for visitors. Intended to show what car owners could do with their own cars, they ranged from the mildly customized Duster to the extreme changes made to the 'Cuda. Because of the change in body styles of the Road Runner in 1971, a totally new Caravan version was built. The Duster and 'Cuda were restyled for 1971 to freshen them up. Three of the four Caravan cars now reside in Steven's collection. The '71 Road Runner being all original while the '70 Road Runner and '70 Duster have been meticulously restored.
Check out the RTS cars in the collection.
1970 RTS Caravan Road Runner
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1970-71 RTS Caravan Duster 340
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1971 RTS Caravan Road Runner
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