[harpelbow]

Hi! New here. Looking to buy 79 Volare advertised as Road Runner. How can I confirm the car was born RR?
Will your response go to my home e-mail or will I look for it here?
Thanks

 

[valiant67]

Welcome. You have to look for the option code on the data tag to confirm if it's a Road Runner and that code should be A57. Unlike earlier Road Runners, the VIN won't ID it, just the option code.

 

[dana44]

By this time, wasn't the Road Runner just a dressing package and not a model, kind of like the Charger after 1975? Basically a Cordoba with a badge?

 

[Bearhawke]

By this time, wasn't the Road Runner just a dressing package and not a model, kind of like the Charger after 1975? Basically a Cordoba with a badge?

Yes and no. The 1975 Road Runner was a B body (small) Fury two door with specific badging and its biggest engine available was the 400-4V with non catalyst dual exhausts outside of California. I saw one with that 400 engine brand new in a Chrysler Plymouth showroom in Virginia in 1975.

The 1976-80 RR's were definitely Volare based.

 

[dana44]

Yeah, that's right, one last year as a real Road Runner. I was saying the Charger was kind of the same way, it was, in 1975, a trim level with the Charger named Cordoba body, nothing more. Which engine it had, I don't know.

 

[TWX]

Yeah, that's right, one last year as a real Road Runner. I was saying the Charger was kind of the same way, it was, in 1975, a trim level with the Charger named Cordoba body, nothing more. Which engine it had, I don't know.

Yes and no...

To my knowledge, the Charger's VIN didn't start out "SS" like the Cordoba, it started out "XS", and there were a few luxury options not available on the Charger.

The differences are probably akin to the Chrysler Cirrus versus the Dodge Stratus. Sheet metal is basically identical, but the plastic stuff and upholstery are different, and there may be some minor differences in the suspension parts to make one firmer than the other.

Now, the late-seventies Charger Daytona to the Charger is probably more like the Volare Roadrunner versus the regular Volare...

Of course, Dodge kind of jumped the shark at the end of the B-body era. There were two distinct B-body two-doors and two distinct cars branded as Charger. One shared sheet metal with the Cordoba, the other shared sheet metal with the Coronet and the non-royal Monaco and at least one Plymouth. The Cordoba-bodied car carried "Special Edition" or "SE" badges, while the other one was simply "Charger".

As to the F/J/M bodies, there was a two-door M-body Diplomat that shared a wheelbase and many of its parts forward of the B-pillar with the Volare and Aspen, but had a different rear roofline and trunk lid, and obviously a different header panel and grille. And the '80 Volare and Aspen shared fenders with the Diplomat and the other M-bodies.

 

[Bearhawke]

Yeah, that's right, one last year as a real Road Runner. I was saying the Charger was kind of the same way, it was, in 1975, a trim level with the Charger named Cordoba body, nothing more. Which engine it had, I don't know.

I'm 99.9% sure that all three two door B bodies for 1975 could be had with any of the V8's up to the 400-4V (dual exhaust Federal/Canadian and single with catalyst for California). Now for weird: to the best of my knowledge the only 440 B bodies were 4 door sedans and they were all police package vehicles. Too; for at least 1975-76, the only way to get a 440 B body, again 4 door only was to specify the California emissions package since the 400-4V was the top dog in any Federal B body.