Hi Anthony,
I don't disagree with what you are saying. I guess the idea was to make the Herlitz-redesigned B-body a 'B-body for all', especially if not everyone wanted a RR. Making the car look different (w / different trim levels and color schemes) would have been the first challenge. How do you make the car different enough to appeal to a whole range of buyers who don't want a RR? End result - the Satellite / Satellite Sebring / Satellite Sebring Plus and Roadrunners. All those different options / trim levels add up to quite a mouthful.
Most people seem either like the '71-72 B-bodies or hate them. I always thought they were the coolest, most original (read bad-ass) looking design of the 70s. When I first started looking for a '71-72, I was after a Roadrunner - preferably Black-on-black / 400 / 4-speed (wait - just like this one below). The 71-72 B-bodies look great in so many colors (especially darker ones) it is hard to pick a favorite).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCLjMs5B-Mg
BTW - if Bullitt had been made in 1972, this is the car I think the bad guys would have used to get away from McQueen. Of course, then he would have been driving a '72 Mustang, so he would not have gotten anywhere near them
In the end, I couldn't find the car I wanted in time (I had to drive from TN to LA), but this SSP came up in the right condition and the right price. It is not a color scheme I would have ordered myself as some of the lighter colors sure can make the cars look on the heavy side, but the lower grey does have the effect of slimming the car down. Over time I have grown to like the color scheme because that is how it has always been and I see very few cars like this now.
It is all a choice. I could redo the car in the color / trim I wanted, but I don't have the $ to go for a full color change / resto and I don't want to do to do an outside respray only (I like the carpet to match the drapes, if you know what I mean). The color scheme on my car is what is on the build sheet / fender tag, so I will keep it that way. In fact, some time during the past, the car was resprayed, but in a brighter white than the Ermine White, so that will be redone.
Every year more and more Satellites / SSPs are cloned into RRs, which although not a bad thing (unless you are trying to pass the car off as a real RR), means there are less and less original trim Satellites around (all these cars are just shy of 40 years old). Even now, if I pull in for gas, people ask me what it is. If I say it is a Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus, I get blank stares. If I say it is 'similar to' a luxury Plymouth Roadrunner, I might get a reaction 50% of the time.
I used to look for the really hot cars at shows (still do), but as time goes by, I am also happy to see a nice survivor or restored / restified plain-jane. The '71-72 B-body Satellites (and '73-74) have to be one of the last affordable muscle Mopars left. If it was up to me I would have one of each.
Ian B.