1974 · Plymouth · United States
A Nameplate, Not a Model, One Last Time
In 1974 a GTX nameplate came with the Road Runner's optional 440 four-barrel, TorqueFlite required; Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book counts 386 of them.
United States · researched through 2026-09-22
Plymouth's 1974 data book states that a GTX nameplate is provided with the Road Runner's optional 440 four-barrel, sales code E86, explicitly naming the GTX badge as part of that engine option rather than leaving it unlabeled. That 440, with dual exhausts and a high-performance camshaft, is rated 275 hp SAE net at 4,400 rpm and 375 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm, at 8.2:1 compression, and required the TorqueFlite automatic; no manual-transmission pairing is documented for it in the sources consulted.
Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book counts 386 Road Runners with the 440 package inside a Road Runner hardtop total of 11,555, but this record's own production notes flag the 386 as reported rather than verified, since no Chrysler build record or registry count was found to confirm it and Mueller names no underlying source of its own. No GTX-package price was located in the sources consulted, leaving the prices section of this record empty for the year.1
Two further claims were found but not tabulated. Secondary sites again describe 1972-1974 Road Runners ordered with the 440 as "Road Runner GTX," a naming convention this record notes without adopting outright, since the 1974 data book itself names only a "GTX nameplate provided with" the 440 rather than a combined "Road Runner GTX" model designation. A magazine-style blog separately states the 386-unit count came entirely with automatic transmission, attributing the figure to unnamed "factory data" without citing a specific document or page, so this record carries that all-automatic claim only as an unpublished lead alongside Mueller's 386.1
A Performance Axle Package, restricted to the Road Runner, bundled a Sure-Grip 3.55 axle, a seven-blade torque-drive fan, and a 26-inch high-performance radiator. A heavy-duty 440-amp battery, power steering, and power front disc brakes were all standard, rather than optional, equipment with the 440, meaning a buyer ordering that engine also received those three items automatically rather than choosing them independently. No prices for any of the four items above were found in the sources consulted, so the combined added cost of ordering a 440-equipped, GTX-badged Road Runner for 1974 remains undocumented in this record beyond the bare fact that these items came bundled with the engine.
On the Road Runner, engine call-outs appeared on the hood with the optional 360, 400, and 440 engines alike, but the GTX nameplate itself was provided specifically with the 440, distinguishing that one engine's badging from the other two despite all three sharing the same hood call-out treatment. Sixteen exterior colors were charted, and vinyl roof choices ran to a canopy style in white or black and a halo style in black, white, green, gold, or parchment, the halo style restricted to the Road Runner. Tape stripes ran to an optional hood stripe in red, black, or white and a roof-strobe/body-side stripe in the same three colors that came standard on the Road Runner regardless of engine. Interior trim ran to all-vinyl bench seats standard in blue, green, or black, plus a pleated all-vinyl bench, all-vinyl buckets, or Wimbledon cloth-and-vinyl bench and buckets, the last in a red, white, and black plaid pattern, all restricted to Road Runners fitted with the Interior Decor Package or Decor Group.
Fact sheet · 1974 · United States
The numbers
1974 Plymouth GTX (Road Runner era) — In 1974 a GTX nameplate came with the Road Runner's optional 440 four-barrel, TorqueFlite required; Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book counts 386 of them.
Coverage: Partial — researched sections are shown; missing ones are not yet sourced. Researched through 2026-09-22.
Every figure is labeled with how sure we are. Reported means a manufacturer, registry, or reference figure we cite but have not reconciled against factory records ourselves. Disputed means credible sources disagree and both are shown. Rows are separately scoped; don't add them together unless the note says they make up a total.
Production
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road Runner with GTX 440 package1 Road Runner GTX (440 package) · 2-door hardtop · 440 4-barrel V-8 · not stated Mueller counts these inside the Road Runner hardtop total of 11,555; the Road Runner year record carries that total. No transmission split is given by this source. | 386 | not stated (reference-book production table), model-year | Reported |
No Chrysler record was found for 1974 GTX production, and no GTX package price was found; the production row comes from Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book. Engines, paint and trim come from Plymouth's 1974 dealer literature for the Road Runner host model; the Road Runner year record carries the host-model production figures.
Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book (2015) gives 386 Road Runners with the GTX 440 package for 1974, inside its Road Runner total. A whole-year GTX figure cannot be stated separately from the Road Runner total (searched 2026-09-29; no source prints one). It names no Chrysler record, so the figure is reported, not verified; a Chrysler build-record count or the Galen Govier Mopar registry would confirm it.
Engines
| Engine | Factory rating | Availability | Built |
|---|---|---|---|
| E86 · 440 4-bbl V-8 (dual exhaust, high-performance camshaft) 440 cu in · single 4-barrel | 275 hp @ 4,400, 375 lb-ft @ 3,200 (SAE net) | optional on Road Runner only; TorqueFlite required | Not yet sourced |
Ratings are the manufacturer's advertised figures under the standard shown (SAE gross before 1972, SAE net after). They are not dyno results, and gross and net ratings can't be compared directly.
Transmissions
| Transmission | Availability | Built |
|---|---|---|
| D34 · TorqueFlite automatic | required with the 440 | Not yet sourced |
Options and packages
| Code | Option | Price | Installed |
|---|---|---|---|
A36package |
Performance Axle Package (Road Runner only) | — | Not yet sourced |
F25sales code |
Heavy-duty battery (440 amp, standard with 440 engine) | — | Not yet sourced |
S77sales code |
Power steering (required with 440) | — | Not yet sourced |
B41sales code |
Power front disc brakes (required with 440) | — | Not yet sourced |
Paint
| Code | Color | Built |
|---|---|---|
JA5 |
Silver Frost Metallic | Not yet sourced |
KB1 |
Powder Blue | Not yet sourced |
KB5 |
Lucerne Blue Metallic | Not yet sourced |
FE5 |
Rallye Red | Not yet sourced |
KG2 |
Frosty Green Metallic | Not yet sourced |
KG8 |
Deep Sherwood Metallic | Not yet sourced |
KJ6 |
Avocado Gold Metallic | Not yet sourced |
HL4 |
Sahara Beige | Not yet sourced |
KL8 |
Dark Moonstone Metallic | Not yet sourced |
KT5 |
Sienna Metallic | Not yet sourced |
EW1 |
Spinnaker White | Not yet sourced |
TX9 |
Formal Black | Not yet sourced |
KY4 |
Golden Fawn | Not yet sourced |
KY5 |
Yellow Blaze | Not yet sourced |
JY6 |
Golden Haze Metallic | Not yet sourced |
JY9 |
Tahitian Gold Metallic | Not yet sourced |
V4W / V4X |
Canopy vinyl roof: white / black (Road Runner and Satellite 2-door; extra cost) | Not yet sourced |
V1 (halo) |
Halo vinyl roof: black, white, green, gold or parchment (extra cost on Road Runner) | Not yet sourced |
Tape stripes |
Hood tape stripe (red, black or white; extra cost) and roof-strobe/body-side stripe (red, black or white; standard on Road Runner) | Not yet sourced |
Color names are the factory's. We don't show color swatches, because a screen color is no guide for a restoration.
Interiors
| Code | Trim | Built |
|---|---|---|
B2B6 / B2G6 / B2X9 |
All-vinyl bench seat with adjustable head restraints, standard on Road Runner: blue, green, black | Not yet sourced |
C2B6 / C2G6 / C2Y3 / C2X9 / C2L3 |
Pleated all-vinyl bench seat, Road Runner with Interior Decor Package (A88): blue, green, gold, black, parchment | Not yet sourced |
D6B6 / D6G6 / D6Y3 / D6X9 / D6XW |
All-vinyl bucket seats, Road Runner with Decor Group: blue, green, gold, black, white | Not yet sourced |
W5EW |
Wimbledon cloth-and-vinyl bucket seats (red, white and black plaid) with center cushion and folding armrest, Road Runner with Decor Group | Not yet sourced |
F1EW |
Wimbledon cloth-and-vinyl bench seat, Road Runner with Decor Group | Not yet sourced |
Identification
- GTX identification
- On the 1974 Road Runner, engine call-outs on the hood with the optional 360, 400 and 440 engines; a GTX nameplate is provided with the 440.
Identification
Read a 1974 Plymouth VIN
The VIN decoder runs in your browser and never sends the VIN anywhere. How the factory numbered this year's cars:
Same model year
Also in 1974
- AMC AMX The final Javelin AMX: 4,980 built, with the Go Package's cowl induction dropped and a production run that stretched into November 1974.
- AMC Gremlin X and Spirit AMX The Gremlin X gained a 'hockey stick' stripe. The 304 V8 remained available, but no X or V8 counts for the year were found.
- AMC Javelin The Javelin's final year: 22,556 non-AMX cars on a production run extended into November 1974.
- Buick Riviera Colonnade pillared roof; 20,129 built, 1,698 with Stage One and 4,119 with the GS handling option.
- Buick Skylark Gran Sport, GS and GSX The last year a 455 Stage 1 could be had in a Buick intermediate Gran Sport; 3,355 were built, 478 of them Stage 1.
- Chevrolet Chevelle and Malibu SS The SS was gone; the new Laguna Type S-3 coupe carried the Chevelle's performance image, with a 235 net hp 454 still on the engine list.
- Chevrolet Chevy II and Nova Spirit of America Nova (RPO Z51) offered on the Custom hatchback per the source. Enthusiast-compiled production: 390,537 cars; Super Sport 21,419.
- Chevrolet El Camino SS Colonnade-era El Camino; Chevrolet's 1974 data pages define the RPO Z15 SS option for the El Camino Classic. Team Chevelle's production totals give 51,223 El Caminos built, 4,543 of them with SS equipment.
- Dodge Challenger The last original-era Challenger shared a catalog with the Dart; the 360 replaced the 340 as the optional engine and production ended in April 1974.
- Dodge Charger The last B-body Charger before the 1975 personal-luxury redesign, with 5-mph bumpers, carried-over powertrains and an SE that accounted for 30,957 V-8 cars.
- Dodge Dart GTS, Swinger and Demon The 360 replaced the 340 in the Dart Sport, and Flory's production table counts 3,951 Dart Sport 360s at a $3,244 base price.
- Ford Maverick Grabber Grabber production fell to 23,502 by Classic Industries count.
- Ford Ranchero GT The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 11,328 GTs were built, per reference-site counts in the Standard Catalog lineage.
- Ford Thunderbird Sixth-generation personal-luxury Thunderbird; the record holds the production total and the luxury-group option prices only.
- Ford Torino The 1974 Torino grew again and added the Gran Torino Elite; the Gran Torino Sport survived only as a formal-roof hardtop, with 23,142 built.
- Mercury Cougar Outside the muscle focus: 91,670 Cougars for 1974 per Wikipedia's table.
- Oldsmobile Cutlass, 4-4-2 and Hurst/Olds The Hurst/Olds paced the Indianapolis 500 again and offered a 350 for the first time: 1,800 coupes, 380 of them with the 455 W-30.
- Plymouth Barracuda and 'Cuda The final year: Barracuda and 'Cuda hardtops with a standard 318 and a new optional 360, and 11,734 built before the line ended.
- Plymouth Duster 340 and 360 The 245 net hp 360 replaced the 340 in the Duster's best sales year: 3,969 Duster 360s among 281,378 Dusters, with Twister, Gold Duster and Space Duster packages priced separately.
- Plymouth Road Runner The last Satellite-based Road Runner; production roughly halved from 1973.
- Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am A new nose and the last Super Duty: 10,255 Trans Ams, 943 with the SD-455.
- Pontiac GTO The last original GTO: a package on the compact Ventura with a 200 hp 350; 7,058 built.
- Pontiac Grand Am A revised nose and 17,083 built, only 342 with a four-speed.
- Pontiac Grand Prix The 455 remains the SJ engine as Grand Prix volume falls to under 100,000.
- Pontiac Tempest and LeMans With the GTO moved to the Ventura, the LeMans GT package became the intermediate performance choice, backed by 350, 400 and 455 V8 options.