Road Runner Nest

My name is Thomas, and I live in Jackson, Mississippi. I just wanted to introduce myself. I have watched the forums here for years and joined earlier this year but didn't post. I have loved these cars and just wanted to share my story.

When I was a younger man and not long after I got out of high school, I started reading Mopar Muscle magazine. I had been an avid HotRod magazine reader for years and had always wanted a cool musclecar of my own. I always like the issues from HotRod that were themed "Dare to be different". So I wanted to get myself a cool car that wasn't a lame old Camaro or the typical Rustang. I picked up the Mopar Muscle mag and after a few issues I saw a '71 GTX. The styling floored me. I remembered seeing Daisy Duke driving one like it in the first season reruns of the Dukes of Hazzard. I knew when I saw that GTX that the 71-72 B Body Plymouth was the car for me. Satellite, Roadrunner, or GTX... It didn't matter which.

I couldn't get the car out of my head and as I was coming home from a friend's house a few weeks later I passed an old auto shop in my hometown of Katy, Texas. It was night but I thought I saw something familiar... I turned around and pulled way up on the side of the place and there it was. A 1972 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus. It was rough. Still had the original metallic brown with black accents. I went home and could hardly sleep thinking of it and wanting to get my hands on it.

I went back and the shop's owner said it was headed for scrap. I jumped at the chance to save that car. I bought it and slapped it together enough to be able to drive it home, and to/from work. I sold my other car and went crazy on that Satellite. I didn't run my AC or heat at my house during the Summer so I could save more and spend it on the Satellite. I rebuilt the whole car over a couple years. I did everything myself.

The last thing I had to do was have it painted, so I saved up. I was driving it home from work one evening and just before I got home, as I was doing about 50mph, a chick pulled right out in traffic in front of me and we crashed. I was frantic. I was heartbroken. I peeled myself out from under the dash of that car. It was one of the most terrible experiences of my life. The cops showed up and told me the girl was an illegal from mexico who had no insurance and no driver's license. They told me I was just Sh** outta luck. I was all cut up. The car was ruined. All my work and money and time was gone. It was a hard pill to swallow...

This was it just before it was "stolen" from me in 1997...



That whole experience really changed me. I was hurt and scarred both physically and mentally from that whole episode. It took a long time to get over it. I promised myself that when I was older and had saved up for a long enough time, I would again reward myself with my dream car.

Well this year I moved to Mississippi and began looking again. I searched craigslist like a man on a mission. I found quite a few but almost everyone of them sold before I had a chance to get at it. Finally a couple weeks ago I found one in Georgia. I didn't take a chance on losing it, I just sent the dude the money he was asking and had the car shipped to me. It's almost the same car I had so many years ago. Originally a metallic brown 1972 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus. It's rough and it needs a lot of cosmetic work but it is structurally sound and it runs damn good already.



You will see me on the boards. I am looking forward to having another chance at this. I just wanted to share my story here and introduce myself. I will keep you guys posted as I build this car. I appreciate being able to learn from you guy's experience.

Fantastic story! We are all glad you are here, even more so if you post more pictures.

Welcome! I can tell the 71/72 Plymouth B bodies are the ONLY car for you from what you have gone through. Good luck with your new adventure.
chris

Welcome!
Great story, Mopars never really get out of your mind.

Love your story! I have one similar except it was a 68 Cuda fastback that was hit by an undocumented visitor from the south and got the same S.O.L. result. I eventually replaced it with a 67 and then sold it to buy my 71 rr.

Good luck with your new project.

Here's the fender tag from the new car. I decoded it using the decoder on MyMopar.

RP23
Plymouth Belvedere, Satellite
Premium
2 Door Hardtop

G2G: 318 150Hp(net) or 155(net) 1-2BBL 8 Cyl
1972
St. Louis, MO, USA

207682: Sequence number

E44: 318 cid 2 barrel V8 230Hp
D34: Light Duty Automatic Transmission
HT6: Doeskin Poly Exterior Color
H6X9: Trim - High, Vinyl Bucket Seats, Black
TX9: Black Diamond Int. Door Frames
601: Build date: June 01

252469 - Order number

V1W: Full vinyl top, White
U: USA Specifications
B41: Front disc brakes w/standard 10" RR drum
B51: Power brakes
C21: Center Front Seat Cushion
C56: Bucket Seats
G11: Tinted Glass (all)
G37: OS Dual Racing Mirrors
H51: A/C and Heat
J25: 3 speed wipers
J52: Inside hood release
L31: Hood/Fender mounted turn signals
M21: Roof Drip Rail Moldings
M33: Body side moldings
N23: Electronic ignition
R11: Radio solid state AM 2Watt
26: 26" Radiator
FND: Unknown

The brown paint, white top, and deluxe black interior is a combo I have never seen before. Sounds kinda neat. I wish I could see a picture of one done up like that. Anyway, I was surprised when I got the car because the PO told me it was just a base Satellite with 4wdrum brakes and no power. I was happy to see it had the front wheel discs and it seems to be a pretty well optioned out car. It also seems to have been produced pretty late in the run too... 6/01/72. Possibly one of the last? Who knows? Very interesting though

Welcome!

Welcome to the Nest!
That is a farily late build car. Without checking my records, I believe 72 model year cars were built into mid July.

update: the latest Scheduled Production Date I have for 72s is 7/14/72

I like stories with happy endings.

I've been busting my butt on the car. I just thought I would add a little update.

I guess it's still not much to look at and it's hard to notice a huge difference by the pics but a ton of work has been done. I'm getting close to being finished with the body work. I bought a media blasting setup and disassembled, then blasted large portions of the car (the rust problem areas) and replaced bad and missing steel. I've gone over the whole car at this point and only have to test fit the Roadrunner hood and new AMD front valance before I can do the final block sanding. I have been shooting it with a high quality buildable primer to get it as flat and smooth as I can.



The car was missing so many odds and ends that it was going to cost me a small fortune to round it all up piece by piece so instead, I bought a complete Satellite Sebring parts car. It had been parked since '83 but hadn't been hacked so I think it was a wise decision.

The guy I bought the parts car from had tons of Mopars and just so happened to have a few Roadrunner hoods leaning against a tree. He sold me one with some nice hood call outs. The hood had a lot of surface rust so I had to spend a couple days slowly blasting that thing back into good shape.

Since my car is a SSP, and doesn't have the original engine, I figured I would just make this car into what I wanted instead of doing a restoration. I am painting it Jet Black, urethane base coat / clear coat. I've already accumulated all the stuff to re-do the deluxe black interior and I will begin that as soon as the exterior is shot and re-assembled.

Here's a shot of the cleaned up engine and compartment. I just ended up shooting the engine compartment with a flat black as opposed to trying to get my hvlp guns in the tight areas and shooting it base/clear. Plus it makes it easy to touch up later down the road. The engine is a good running 360 and it has a mild cam. Sounds damn good. Edelbrock 4 barrel carb and performer aluminum intake. I went through everything. I replaced any questionable wiring and soldered all the connections. Every piece of rubber under the hood has been replaced from cooling hoses to vacuum lines and everything in between. All the ignition system has been sorted. I gave it a full tune up and upgraded lots of stuff. Even got some fresh chrome going on under there. It's not finished, but pretty close.



Anyway, I just thought you guys might like to see the progress. It will be painted within the next few weeks and I will post new pictures when I have done that and re-assembled the car. I'm chomping at the bit!

Wow! Looking great!

I feel your pain. when I was 19 I bought a 71 satellite sebring plus, a high option factory surivor. I loved that car until a couple months later a kid turned left on a red light and ran into me and wrote it off. I knew even then that someday I'd have my dream car again. 14 years later and I'm currently building my dream car which will be finished by spring. Its a great feeling...

I finished all the body work last week and spent a few days disassembling the front clip and getting everything ready for paint. It was the most involved body work I had ever undertaken. I had to replace some bad panels, took the car all the way to the metal, sandblasting and sanding it back, shot buildable primer 3 times (some areas got another coat), blocked the entire car 3-4 times to get it right.

So today I shot 3 coats of Jet Black base coat and 3 coats of Ultra Clear. I'm just working out of my garage here, doing the best I can with what I have to work with. I think it came out pretty good. A few flaws here and there but I really kind of expected that due to the conditions.

Being black, and still in the garage it's a bit difficult to get a decent quality pic but here goes...



I'll get it out and start sanding and buffing it next week. I will post more pics soon.

Wow, looks very nice! Are you going to be parting out the parts car?