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72Rdrnner · Post by **72Rdrnner** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:08 am

Howdy All,

Just thought I'd kind of "check in" since I've added a couple of posts.

I've got a 1972 Roadrunner, which I bought brand new in June 1972 and have owned it ever since. Was a daily driver until 1989 when I parked it. Started a restoration more or less, as I did change a few things, in Nov 2003 and it's about 95% done now.

Came with a 440 4bbl, A/T, and factory air. Galen says its one of 453 built and is #27 of the 27 he knows about. It was built on June 20th which puts it real near the end of the 1972 production run. Who knows? It may be the last 440 Roadrunner built in 1972!

Still has original drive train from front to back. Went over the engine (first time it had ever been opened up) put in Comp cam, roller rockers, .030 over pistons, Edelbrock manifold, Holley Street Avenger carb, Shumacher headers and a Mopar Performance ignition (made by MSD). Upgraded the air conditoning to a Sanden compressor and coverted it to R134. The interior is box stock with only new front seat covers, headliner and carpet. The rest is just as it rolled off the St Louis line in June '72.

I have the original window sticker and build sheet (and two others I found in it) plus the original owners manual and warranty card.

It came Basin Street Blue aka Richard Petty Electric Blue, which it is now, except I used DuPont Chroma base/clear paint. All paint/body work was done in house with only engine machine work and exhaust system done by someone else. The seat covers and headliner I had done by a trim shop too.

The front suspension, drive shaft, rear end, springs, and even the gas tank was powder coated.

The car was truly rust free thanks to Mr. Ziebart. A blessing and a curse that stuff is...a blessing as no rust, a curse as I stripped it off to paint the underside back to the crossmember. Left the rest on as it had done such a good job up to now, might as well keep it there. The stripping was done by a heat gun and putty knife. Imagine that as you stand under a car (I have a lift in my garage) and heat up black stuff until it's hot and gooey, then scrape it off, all right over you! Gahhh.....

I just put a tank of gas in...first time since October 7, 1989. (I have records of every gas fill, oil change, maintenance and anything else done to the car since it was new. FWIW in 1989 that fill up was 18 gallons and cost 20 bucks. Last week it was 16.5 gallons for $39.70!

I'll see if I can get a few quick pix in this post of "before" and "now".

This is what it looked like when I got started in 2003.

This is what it looks like now. (still have external trim and some interior panels to go)

The stock wheels I replaced with the US Indy mags back in 1973 when I was in California. Put them on a boat trailer so I'd have 15 inch wheels all around.

Here's the engine when I started.

And here's what it looks like now.

If anybody's interested in seeing some more pix of the process they can go to my Sony Image Station webiste at this url.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictu ... 2121723698

All in all it's been a lot of work, but considering it's "my baby" and has been since day one, it's worth it.

I didn't do the complete "as it was new" restoration as I wanted to make it something I can cruise the Sonic Drive In with, rather than something I would be nearly afraid to drive. I did keep all the things I took off just in case though.

mopar71 · Post by **mopar71** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:50 am

Congratulations! very nice car,you did an outstanding job.

aerodynamic · Post by **aerodynamic** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:47 am

I'll second that...a sweet ride indeed. Welcome to the club!

pistol grip · Post by **pistol grip** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:42 pm

Beautiful color, Welcome to the club

1972RM23 · Post by **1972RM23** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:01 pm

AWESOME!
Welcome to the NEST!
I LOVE 1972 Road Runners and 1972RR/GTX's are my absolute favorite!
PM me your fender tag numbers and I can tell you how rare your options are (I have production number breakdowns for 1972).
AC and a 440 sort of rare combo.
B3 Basin Street Blue was the most popular color for 72 RR's!

72Rdrnner · Post by **72Rdrnner** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:24 am

1972RM23 wrote:AWESOME!
Welcome to the NEST!
I LOVE 1972 Road Runners and 1972RR/GTX's are my absolute favorite!
PM me your fender tag numbers and I can tell you how rare your options are (I have production number breakdowns for 1972).
AC and a 440 sort of rare combo.
B3 Basin Street Blue was the most popular color for 72 RR's!

It's on it's way, thanks. According to my Chrysler registry there were 453 440 A/T built in the US in 1972.

I did the Chrysler Registry thing with Galen but did the broadcast sheet decoding myself with the help of a book I found on eBay. I see on Galen's web site there is a 4-6 month wait on things like that so don't know if it's worth the time, hassle & money to get him to do it.

Also I can't figure out exactly which one of his white books to get and even if they're worth the money.

One oddity, I think I discovered. The block was cast on May 3, 1972 as indicated by the date and shift info cast into the block. But based on info I got off one of the many Mopar sites it appears the production casting numbers (3698830) are 1973. This makes sense to me as the car was built on June 20, which puts it very late in the production year, and probably the foundry had already converted to the 1973 model year.

I found two extra build sheets also. One under the right rear corner of the rear bench seat and the other under the right front bucket seat. These are in addition to the one for the car which was under the middle of the rear bench seat. The one for the car is in pristine shape but the other two are pretty beat up. But I got the VIN numbers off both of them and have determined they were Satellite Sebring Plus cars.

The one under the front seat was RP23G2G215923 which makes it slightly later than mine as it was built on June 21st.

The other one under the rear seat was RP23P2G214792, built on June 20 and is only a few cars later in the production line than mine, although the build time in the block on line 6 is earlier than mine.

There is still some question in my mind of the exact build date though. The numbr "620" is in the vehicle order number block on the build sheet. In some places I read this is the build date (the same number is on the fender tag) while in the decode book it says this is the dealer or sales bank code. So I really don't know which is right, hence my interest in Galen doing a build sheet decode.

Since I have the original warranty paperwork I know the car was delivered on June 28th at Katy Road Chrysler Plymouth in Huston TX where I purchased the car.

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

One question...why is it that often I see just partial VIN numbers on such things as eBay or message boards? Is there some danger in putting the entire VIN number out in public?

Thanks for all the help.

1972RM23 · Post by **1972RM23** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:45 am

I just sent you a PM back.
I would say no problem giving out your entire vin ... some ppl with really rare cars might get tracked down if someone spent lots of money/time to search for an owners address via in vin number.
Not the case for 99% of us.

Your car is a pretty late build date but not near the latest I've seen.
This one is 12 July 1972! I think I have seen later too.
V8W 26 END
* N41 N42 N85 N95 R11*
G11 G36 H51 M21 M31 N23
V4W U B41 B51 C16 C56
GB5 D6B5 GB5 712 263238
E55 D21 RM23 H2G 224648

72Rdrnner · Post by **72Rdrnner** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:55 am

I was kind of surprised when I got my Chrysler Registry letter and found only 27 of the 453 440 A/T cars were registered. I kind of assume, based on how I feel about my car that folks who have one would want it registered.

One of the neat things (at least to me...and retired pilots don't take much to get excited) was finding the "hidden" VIN number locations. Like an Easter egg hunt! Especially the two stamped in the sheet metal on each end of the top rear trunk member. I probably looked straight at them a hundred times before I figured out what they were! (they were reversed from above as they were stamped in from below)

I don't know if I found them all but I got four of them. If there are others they are hidden to the point they can't be seen no matter how many mirrors are used!

I'm trying to figure out how to make some sort of computer sound file (.wav?) of it with the engine running.

(just fiddling around with emoticons now)

1972RM23 · Post by **1972RM23** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:43 am

Well the Chrysler Registry thing is only done by Galen.
So not many ppl bother to send in money to register their car with Galen.
Also Galen takes forever to get thing out since he's so busy.
My registry took almost a year to get sent to me.
BTW Galens production numbers for his registry are incorrect so yours might not be accurate.

pistol grip · Post by **pistol grip** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:34 pm

Don't mean to change subjects "72Rdrnner", but what is the reason you regester your car, and who is"Gelen"...........sort of new at this, Thanks

72Rdrnner · Post by **72Rdrnner** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:36 pm

1972RM23 wrote:BTW Galens production numbers for his registry are incorrect so yours might not be accurate.

Hmmm....

OK, just for my own edification, how does one go about getting the accurate production numbers?

1972RM23 · Post by **1972RM23** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:49 pm

Well Galen is Galen Govier a GURU of the Mopar community who has vast knowledge about anything/everything MOPAR.
http://www.gvgovier.com/
He has written many decoding books and authenticates high dollar cars to make sure they are what the say they are.
He also runs a registry of vin numbers of cars he sees or that owners send to him and gives you a report for a fee.

About production numbers ... I have a copy of the options and accessories report (used to tell Chyrsler what sells and what doesn't after the production year has ended).
I know Galen has this report but he uses wrong figures in some cases (if you ask me).
I would just let you know how rare your 1972 is out of the kindness of my heart and never charge of this because I love 1972 Plymouths.
I can not copy these reports for you but am willing to share information for those willing to ask for it.

71440 gtx · Post by **71440 gtx** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:10 pm

[quote="72Rdrnner"]I was kind of surprised when I got my Chrysler Registry letter and found only 27 of the 453 440 A/T cars were registered. I kind of assume, based on how I feel about my car that folks who have one would want it registered.

One of the neat things (at least to me...and retired pilots don't take much to get excited) was finding the "hidden" VIN number locations. Like an Easter egg hunt! Especially the two stamped in the sheet metal on each end of the top rear trunk member. I probably looked straight at them a hundred times before I figured out what they were! (they were reversed from above as they were stamped in from below)

Those are not VIN numbers, they are Stirling numbers (part codes). They're used to put correct parts on the car. The only VIN numbers on the car are the rad cradle,on top the cowl, the fender tag, dash tag, and door tag. example 737 o22t51 o63t511

pistol grip · Post by **pistol grip** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:13 pm

"I can not copy these reports for you but am willing to share information for those willing to ask for it." Thanks for your generosity 1972RM23, I have one question thats been lingering in my head for a couple of months. To my knowledge in 1971 in the GTX line only 327 4 Speed 4brl 440s were built, I wonder how many out of those 327 were Tor Red. I wish I could be more knowledgeable about mopars, but I am learning. Thanks Again, Steve

1972RM23 · Post by **1972RM23** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:22 pm

No way to find out numbers of cars made with combined options (other than engine/trans/axles).
Like how many 1971 GTX 440 4-speeds w/ tor red paint, black canopy vinyl top and power windows.
You can have #'s for each option separatly but not combined.