How Did You Score Your Bird?

[stratocharger]

Hello All!!
Brock Samson AKA Harvey Birdman AKA Strat here after reading about this new site over at www.dodgecharger.com
Anyhow, I used to work for a large Newspaper in San Francisco for 24 or so years, The S.F. Chronicle and every day I'd check the want ads (Remember those?) prior to them being printed in the paper where everyone and their mom could see them, over the years that led me to some pretty sweet deals including the 440 Six Pack motor in my '69 R/T SE Charger,.. And alot of other stuff besides.. Anyhow,..
I have allways wanted a '71 Road Runner ever since '71 when I first saw them in the new car introductions in the Car Magazines.
And the cool Adverts that Plymouth ran that yr.
I had been talking with my MOPAR buddies about finding a nice Daily Driver '71 road runner but hadn't expected to find one cause as you may know stock drivable R.R.s are pretty rare and unmolested cars that don't need alot of work are like Hens teeth... So i was looking for a clean Satt. I could use as a daily without alot of work.
Anyhow,.. so, One Wednesday in April of 2006 I made my daily trip to the back shop AKA the Composing Room to view the Ads under "Collector Cars" and "Auto Parts" as they were "proofed" and laid on a table for examination for errors I spotted to my suprise "'71 Plymouth Road Runner Orig. Excellent Cond. A.T. P.S. Gold/Blk 340 78K miles Runs Great."
Welp, I pulled out my Cell immeadiatly and called the second owner who as fate would have it lived across the street from my old High School, and the next day I was the first on the scean and knew within 8 seconds of seeing the car I wanted it...
I had cash and brought my Charger and after giving the owner a tire smoking ride in the R/T and assureing him i would give the Poly Gold '71 a good home he agreed to sell it to me...
But, On one condition, he wanted 24 hours to drive the car one last day to say goobye,.. Now That's a real Car Guy!
All the time i was at his home and working out the deal his Cell was blowing up from folks calling about the RR... finally after about an hour or so he just turned it off, since he had by then agreed to sell me the car. As it turned out he had 8 cars - five of which he was selling to fund a resto on his '69 Chevy Pick up.
And i had the Stock All Original Road Runner I hadn't though I would ever find.
This photo was taken that first day.
Hello everybody Thanks and good luck with the Site.
BEEP BEEP!
more info and pics here...
www.americantorque.com/page/1/117/

[droptop]

I will start at the beginning of our '75 as I know it. The car was special ordered by the son of the owner of our local Chrysler Dealer. He was the head of new car sales. It was delivered to the dealership on 9/20/74. It was his demo until 12/6/74 with a total of 1500 miles. It was purchased by a local man who took very good care of it. You will never guess what his trade in was......A RED '67 HEMI GTX!!!!!!!!!

I purchased the car from him on 2/14/97 with just over 74,000 miles. Yes, it is a 2 owner car. The car ran and drove but had several issues from the lack of use. The back window leaked, so every time he washed the car, he filled up the trunk with water. We nick named the car puddles because it leaked every kind of fluid it had in it. I pulled the engine and trans to reseal them. I decided that the stock 400 did not have the punch that I wanted, so I added vintage '69 383 heads intake exhaust cam and carb to help it breath a little better. The short block was not taken apart. We drove the car until the fall of 2004. At that time, I took the car to Troy Angelly Restorations to take care of the rust issues (leaky back window) and to get new paint. The car barely made it back together in time to make it to the Mopar Nationals in 2005. This was the year of the Road Runner where it was on display in the special display area.

The car still runs and drives very well with just over 85,000 miles. We took it back to the Nationals this past Aug. and you would not believe the number of people that remembered it from the Year of the Road Runner display.

The original owner is now the Mayor of our town, and he asks me to sell him back the car every time he sees us.

How do you add pictures to your post?

[moparstuart]

My brother was a huge mopar nut in the 1970 . They were a dime a dozen and he used up at least 6 68-70 road runners from 76-81 . That got me to loving mopars also . My first 69 road runner high school car 84-86 beated driver. I still own it bought it for 400 bucks but have over 20 k in it now. It's been a great car and fun to have the last 25 years .


I also have a 70 convertible superbird I bought out of hemming in 96 off of long island NY. It was a rusted basket case now all pretty .

I also have a 70 post car that was my brothers , I aquired when my older brother passed away . It is my only manual trans car . It only has 36 k on the clock but needs restoration .

[Joe mama]

I had a 1973 Mecury Capri with a 440 6 pack that was my street/race car. My wife & I decided to start a family. The Capri was only a 2 seater with a full cage. When the kids came along it wasn't practical any more. My brother had a friend in Indiana that had a 1970 Road Runner with no engine or trans. We traded cars, but I kept the engine & trans from the Capri. Now my son want's to race me with his rice burner all the time.

[72n96gtx]

Been looking since Jan this year for a 71 or 72 RR or GTX,restored or project,and although there are alot of red flags to watch out for on e -bay,just found mine last friday on e-bay.1972 roadrunner gtx,B5,white canopy,white interior,auto,tach,hood pins,air grabber,all there and all matchinhg numbers.Project,but runs and drives.

[torontotony]

My story is kind of circular.

My father factory ordered a RR in March 75 and took delivery of it on June 4, 1975. He wanted a white on white car, but my mother wanted a burgundy interior, so they compromised and ordered white on white, with burgundy dash, console and carpeting. As far as I know it is the only 1 built like this. He drove it until 1990, putting on about 110,000 miles, but eventually Canadian winters took their toll on the car's body, and so he parked it in the garage where it has been sitting ever since. He always wanted to restore the car, but life's other priorities always came first.

I've owned several Mopars, including RR's (68/73), 69 Cuda, 69 Dart Swinger, but I sold them all when I went through a divorce. Since then I have always wanted to get back into another one, but everyone I have seen in the Toronto area was either a POS, or the owner was just asking way too much $$$ for it. I really didn't want to start a project, prefering to snag a mint condition turn key car. Anyway, after looking for a while, it dawned on me, for what I needed to spend on a fully restored car, i could restore my dad's 75.

So why the 75? Well, outside of the sentimental reasons, it was the car I first learned to drive in, had my first date in, cruised Yonge Street in, etc. I actually think the body style on it runs a close second to 71's in terms of overall appearance (just my opinion, not wanting to offend other years because I love them all). Also, there are precious few of these cars around. I was once told by Galen that of the 7400 or so that were built, less than 100 remain on the road (but can't really verify that).

And so, after sitting for almost 20 years, I finally bit the bullet and started with photography, documentation and some light disassembly. I am keeping a running diary of the car's progress, as I don't think anyone has ever completed a factory correct rotisserie resto on one, and god willing, I hope to have the car completed and on display at Performanceworld in 2012, followed by a trip to Carlisle.