Road Runner Nest

I've tried looking this up here and on other forums but have yet to come up with a comprehensive list of Satellite and Roadrunner differences and/or options on these cars.

What I'm wondering is, how extensive is a basic conversion, given that I'm mainly looking for aesthetics? At the moment, I'm not aiming to make a clone that can 'fool' people, per se. Just something that looks the part, and the rest can follow.

So - were brakes or suspension different between the two? Did all RR's have Rallye interior or dash? Was the minimum spec motor for a 71 RR the 340?

A friend with '67 thru '71 Camaros was chiding me that just doing a visual clone would be like him slapping Z28 badges on his cars and calling them Z clones. Does he not realize how similar the Satty and RR were, or is he right?

i may be wrong, but i think options were pretty much across the board...other than a few items...but i think braking/suspension was the same, unless it was a hemi or 440+6 car....engines were 340, 383, 440+6, and the hemi

so to make a clone...
rallye dash
callout or airgrabber hood
bird emblem on grille
roadrunner dash emblem (many people forget to change this)
dual exhaust (of course)
emblems and bird decals on sides
roadrunner circle decal on trunk
stripes (not necessary, but look great on roof and taillights)
the "beepbeep" horn
could do painted elastomeric (rubber) bumpers - this is really expensive...if you want that look you can paint the bumpers body color
grille should be black with argent trim i believe (instead of just argent)
spoilers - front/rear (not necessary, but if you like that look...)
i think the parking lamps are clear also (that could be a gtx thing, tho)

...and that may be all...can't think of much more off the top of my head...you could have buckets or bench, auto or 3 or 4spd manual, a/c (not on certain engine combos tho - i believe hemi and +6 4speed cars were the exception), wheels i think were optional on both (road wheels, steel wheels, hubcaps, or rallyes), but most people go with aftermarket chrome anyway... not a lot of difference really....

If you wanted to do so back when these cars were new, you could order a Satellite with essentially the same stuff as a base road runner (except for the decals/stripes/badges).
The base engine was the 383 4bbl, 340/440+6/hemi were optional. On the GTX, 440 was base and 440+6/hemi were options.
Landon pretty well covered the aesthetics....the front and rear spoilers were options (not standard) on both road runner and GTX as were the painted front and rear bumpers.

How easy is it to abbreviate or 'truncate' that vinyl top? Mine has a full vinyl top but all the RR's I see either lacked it or had a half-top covering. Or should I just remove the edging and just do without? Is that a major process, removing that?

LOTS of Road Runners had the full vinyl top. GTXs too... I've owned a vinyl top RR myself...

Removing a vinyl top isn't hard, essentially you just peel it off. Of course you'll be left with all the adhesive, bondoed joints, rust and junk that's under the top. Remember, full vinyl top cars got bondo (read moisture retainer) in the seam between the roof panel and quarters (and between the roof and a-pillars too), and didn't get full paint where the top was covering.

Removing HALF a full vinyl top to make a canopy top? That would be harder. You'd have to cut the vinyl where you wanted it to STOP and NOT peel off the front half. I think that would be easier said than done...

Also, you'd need to find the proper trim, clips and mounts for the canopy top trim. Filling the holes left from the full vinyl top trim should be easy too, but best done when you're painting the car.

Honestly if you're going to paint the car, a new vinyl top would be your best bet. Then you can decide whether you want to do the full top, canopy top, or just leave the whole thing OFF.

Well, at least one thing is in my favor, as this car had its vinyl removed a while back at some point... There's a little bit of very light surface rust showing through black primer someone laid on there.

I can't wait to get this car out of the rain/elements. I may only have a carport, but it's better than where it's at!

There was a bit of water in the trunk I noticed the other night, but that could be because of the weatherstripping being totally shot (as opposed to hidden rust under the rear glass, which I don't think there is, at least not bad)...

Bad trunk weatherstripping will let that happen too...

I just recently noticed that the 72 SSP I bought has front disc and also the sual exhaust rear valence..............is that odd? Could it have been a dual exhaust car? It was a 400 2 bbl car originally.

The Satellite is the base car. Different packages is what makes the other models.
You will never find a Roadrunner or GTX with a slant six!

Yup, plenty of 71 runners and GTXs got full vinyl tops. One of my personal favorites...

Im pretty much exempt from that list with my car,

Thats my favorite to, thats what my car will look like when I finish it. A full vinyl top.