To Clone or Not to Clone?

[72 Hillbilly Blue]

Why clone? Why not make something faster than a Road Runner. I lost no sleep pulling my Satellite's 318 and replacing it with a 440. Besides, Richard Petty's stock car was a Satellite. Shirley Muldowney's funny car was modeled after the Satellite. That cartoon bird is on too many products now anyways. Us Satellite owners have total freedom to modify these cars without the finacial repercussions.

[billzilla]

If only it were as easy as that one sentence: "I pulled the 318 from my Satellite and put in a 440."

[Smellslike1974]

I know,poeple are all about Road Runners these days..
They forget that Satellite was out before the Road Runners,and the rr's were made from the sattys,not the other way around.

[72 Hillbilly Blue]

If only it were as easy as that one sentence: "I pulled the 318 from my Satellite and put in a 440."

Well the transmissions had to be swapped. Plus the new carb, new plumbing, re-wiring, pulling everything that has to do with the AC, and all the other work it takes, but nothing is more rewarding.

[Smellslike1974]

I had no problem with my 318,in fact i wanted to keep it in the satty.

But i got a very good deal on a 400 so i figured why not stick that in there,and keep my original 318 to my satty close by.

[dartomotive]

This brings up an interesting point. When is a car a clone?

Upgrading from the base model to a higher performance model, better & bigger motor with all the badging, like my 71. That's a clone.

But what about a motor swap in a High performance model? For example, a 383 Road runner gets upgraded to a Hemi, and the HEMI badging goes on it. Is that a "clone?" It was born a Road Runner. Or is that just an upgrade.

The 318 Satty gets a 440. But stays a Satty. That's not a clone, or is it?

My race Dart was born a Swinger? Now races with a full cage, one plastic seat, and an aluminum interior, lexan windows. BUT GTS stripes and emblems. Clone? No way. It's a race car. Or is a race clone?
Thoughts? Happy Motoring, (Mike) Dartomotive

[Smellslike1974]

no,i dont think engine swapping makes a car clone.

If it did,then putting a engine from another model would make the car with the swapped engine a clone.

Its all about the badging.
A 440 in a satellite is a 440 in a satellite
Sa satty with a rr hood or spoiler is a satty with a hood and spoiler,but to and the bird,well then thats the breaking point from a non clone car.

[fourforty6pac]

You cant call it a clone till it is exactly the way a RR or GTX came from the factory springs, torsion bars, torque boxes,everything with the proper date codes, ect, ect. You certainly can't call a 72 with out the grill a RR or GTX clone, hell that wouldn't fool a blind man. A clone is an EXACT copy isn't it? Sorry but thats the way I see it. Clones should be held up to the same standards as the real thing, but not in the same class in shows, of course. Why couldnt a clone win best in show? Most times there is more work involved in a clone (more parts to find). So when your done with your clone and the hood is closed, the only thing different from the real thing is a letter or two on the vin,. I'm not making a clone to get rich, I'm doing it to build a car the way I would have ordered it in 72. I would have did a 71 but couldn't resist a fairly straight totally rust free 72. Some 72 parts are down right tiugh to find.

[Smellslike1974]

I know someone who swapped vin tags from a ss to put on a regular chevelle.

Now he says he has a Super Sport Chevelle.

That makes me

The only ss things he owns are the vin plates he took from the true ss that hes junking because he didnt want to do the work it.

[71GTX]

"The Plymouth Road Runner was the no-frills muscle car version of intermediate Belvedere and Satellite built by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Road_Runner


The 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner (and its companion, the Dodge Super Bee — from here on, we’ll talk about the Road Runner incarnation, since it was more common and first out the door) were fairly unique. Based on the heavy luxury cars in the B-body line (Belvedere / Satellite)

http://www.allpar.com/model/roadrunner.html

[Smellslike1974]

Actually wait a minute..EXACTLY!

[billzilla]

I thought the 71-72 RR and Satellites were basically exactly the same when equipped with the same motor, other than trim? WERE there suspension or tranny components only the RR or GTX had..?

If a Satellite was really the same car with various trim and options packages, then I say you take a Satty, paint and decal it correctly and it's a clone. Anything between that and making every tiny detail RR-accurate is splitting hairs, IMHO, because the fender tag doesn't match, anyway. Who cares if a RR ((color)) didn't come from the factory with a ((trim/color)) interior?

Speaking of which, I don't get the tag ripoffs. Do they just slap those tags on rough cars with no obvious options to fool people? Because if the car has interior, seats, motor and badges it'll be obvious to even newbies that the codes don't match. Restoring a bare frame or junker car to suit the options on a random ebay-purchased tag would be as much money as the car would sell for, I'd think... Unless you own a shop, I suppose.

[Smellslike1974]

well what ever car your swapping the tags from,you can just go through and find what you need,and what the car was equipped with.

[billzilla]

If you have the original Road Runner you're getting the tag from, why the hell would you swap option items from that into a Satellite? LOL

If you're just taking a tag (like from ebay), chances are you're going to have to replace or recolor the interior, repaint the car (engine bay, etc.) and possibly find another motor, tranny, exhaust, dash, linkage, wiring system, etc. on top of trim, decals and such. And even then, the VIN won't match, right? And you're talking about huge $$$.

It just doesn't make sense unless most people out there only look at fender tags and not VIN, or who are willing to pay top dollar for a non numbers matching Runner knowing full well it might be a Satellite.

Even then, most of these cars are 'known' since there's so few and the community so closely knit. It seems almost every RR or GTX that comes up on ebay, someone here or at other Mopar sites knows something about it.

[Smellslike1974]

Who said anything about making a rr a sattelit?

I mean if you wanted you satellite to be a rr.

someone could just get the tags from a junk rr,decode,it and go shopping.

And vala they have what looks to be an original rr.