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Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe...yes!

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:13 am
by sdweatherman
Yep, you guys are going to think I am nuts with this one. I happened upon another factory sunroof car in my area. This one will be an incredibly challenging project for my retirement years, when my welding and fabbing skills are much better.

The story begins around 2015 at a local Mopar car show. One of the Mopar owners at the show mentions that he knew of a 71 or 72 Plymouth Satellite or Road Runner that happened to be upside down at the bottom of a ravine out east on the South Dakota prairie. It was way down an embankment off the side of the road, and had been there for at least 20-30 years. He thought it might be a Road Runner, but wasn't sure. We parted ways and I kicked myself for not grabbing his name.

A few years passed and I was telling this story to another fellow club member Jeremy, and I described the guy to him. He thought he knew who I was talking about and gave the guy a call - bingo. After contacting Doug myself and having him send me some pictures, I knew I was interested in the car. At the price he quoted me, worst case scenario, I would still come out ahead with all the little parts I could scavenge off it. The pictures revealed a very sad looking car, and not a Road Runner, but a 1972 Satellite Sebring Plus. After studying the pictures some more, I told Doug that I would be interested in the car, and we set about plans to extract it.

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Before seeing the car in person, I was trying to not get too excited about it. I told myself that the only way that this car even gets a remote chance of being resurrected is if it has these 3 qualifiers:

1) It has to be a true sunroof car.
2) It has to be a big block car.
3) And it definitely has to still have its fender tags to prove it.

The day finally came to meet with Doug and we went out to extract the car. I could not believe how far down the embankment it was! Using a lot of chain and posts to get it to roll up the hill easier, it was up on the road within a couple of hours. It looked even sadder when we rolled it off of its top. We drug it up on a trailer and got back to Doug's place to give it a close look over. Remember my three qualifiers? As "luck" would have it, it met all 3. And not barely, this car was a stunner when it was brand new.

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This 'Sebring Plus is one of the highest optioned '72 Pluses I have come across. So much so that the fender tag is completely full! One more option and this would have been a two-tag car! On top of that, it sports a super color combo. This car is Hemi Orange with a white interior and white canopy top. Not only does it have a big block, it has the 400 4bbl HP engine - the beefiest engine you could order for the Sebring Plus. Some of the better options that came on this car include, of course, the sunroof, A/C, power disc brakes, dual painted racing mirrors, bright exhaust tips, the AM/FM with console mounted cassette, and power windows.

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The car took a very hard hit to the front end, and it will take some time to sort out what can be saved and what will have to be replaced. I have already concluded that I will have to find a donor car, as finding all the sheet metal and front frame rails, along with all the nuts bolts and brackets individually would not be very cost effective. But there is no hurry as I have several years before I retire and am able to get started on this one.

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:51 am
by 71bird
I think that is called a re body.

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:53 am
by Eric
Nicely optioned car. N95 California car too. Lot of work there.

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:53 am
by 71Beeper
Still some good pieces on that one.
The rear tail panel looks better than mine.
Hows the trunk floor?

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:57 pm
by sdweatherman
71Beeper wrote:
Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:53 am
Still some good pieces on that one.
The rear tail panel looks better than mine.
Hows the trunk floor?
Since the car sat upside down for 25+ years, the floor pan and trunk pan are in really good shape.

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe...yes!

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:11 am
by sdweatherman
So it begins...A few weeks after extraction, Doug hauled it into town and dropped it off at my friend Jeremy's place. I got it up on some blocks and went to work on it. As you can see, the front end was pretty much toast. I got the fenders and valance off. Then went to work on cutting off the driver's frame rail. Looks like the passenger inner fender is repairable, but went ahead and cut off the passengers frame rail as it was slightly twisted. I have a mint passenger frame rail anyway. Now that the front end is taken care of, I will build a body dolly so I can load it up on my trailer and haul it home - just as soon as I finish my car corral. I promised the wife I would not clutter up the yard with my junk. Other than pulling off parts and pieces from the shell, it will be in this state for quite awhile.

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Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:31 pm
by Midnight_Rider
Yep, you're crazy :D

But it's a good kind of crazy 8)

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:29 am
by steved
Dang, Scott...

She's a beaut.

sjd

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe...yes!

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:10 pm
by sdweatherman
A little work left before I can put the car into hibernation. Got the body dolly constructed so that it is easy to move around.

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Wanted to wait until my car corral was done, but I was running out of good weather to move it up to my house. So, loaded it up in the trailer and got it set in the unfinished corral.

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Finally had a decent day a few days ago to finish the fence pickets on the corral. Still need to get some gates constructed, but am happy I have one of my babies finally home!

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Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 8:54 am
by Davies
Still a lot of work to be done but I'm glad you're getting there!

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:12 am
by sdweatherman
Early last week when the weather was half decent, I went out to the car corral to give the poor beast a little bit of a clean up. I brought the garbage can out and with a broom and dust pan, I cleaned out all the garbage and dirt on the floor pan and trunk area.

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I also pulled my spare passenger door and trunk lid out of the garage and installed them on the car. In the process of cleaning, I found several pennies, a dime, and a quarter. The newest coin that I came up with was dated 1985. So best guess is that this poor car left the road in the mid to late 80s.

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If I get some good weather during the winter, I may break out a bottle jack to see if I can straighten out the roof a bit.

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 6:31 pm
by Midnight_Rider
If there was a 'like' button here, I would hit it... :beer:

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:07 pm
by 71GTX
Nice save!

Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe...yes!

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:47 pm
by sdweatherman
One of our distant club members just happens to buy/sell/trade Mopars and Mopar parts out of eastern SD, and I had heard from a couple of other members that he had a complete 1972 Satellite on his Mopar Farm. When I took my work training trip to Kansas City last month, I stopped in to check out what he had. Sure enough, in the back row sat a near complete 318/Auto Sebring Plus that will be a near perfect donor car for my wrecked project. So at some point later this year, I will grab a trailer and collect the sacrificial car to rebuild my uber retirement project. My car corral is getting full!

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Re: Another Plymouth B-Body Sunroof car saved...well...maybe...yes!

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:09 pm
by ralley72
If you need a set of rear frame rails I have a set from a 72 B body already removed. I'll give them to you if you need them. I'm not to far from KC, depending what part your in. Little south and east.

Mike