Need info on 73 Runner?????

[crznyt]

Thinking of trading my 67 Thunderbird project for a 73 Runner project I believe the orig engine was a 318 but will now come with a 400 which I think was an option for 73. How hard is it to buy parts for this car eg: fenders or patches, quarters or patches, doors or patches you get the idea? The person with the car seems to think the rear frame may be a bit soft on the driver side and will need the trunk pan done. The only reason I am asking about parts is I drive and restored a 66 Charger and parts were far and few between along with the 60 Fury convertible we did also a nightmare for parts.
You don't see alot of 73 Runners anymore and want to make it as nice as I can if I trade.
Any help would be great.
Cheers from the great white north ( Windsor On ) Don

 

[rsd859]

I havent had to buy any body or frame patches for mine. But yes some of those parts are hard to find. moparmarks on here is a good sourse for parts. Classic Industries and Year one.

 

[Someotherguy]

Unfortunately, they re-pop very little body panels for the 73-74...I had to weld in raw sheet metal patch panels for all my rust holes...

 

[73frostmistsatellite]

Not much is out there from a reproduction sheetmetal standpoint. A few patches is about all you can find. If you are patient usually fenders etc will pop up for sale. Unfortunately if there is much rail damage I probably would pass unless you have a parts car.

 

[Bruzilla]

Hi Don, I'm on my 7th 73/74 Road Runner, and while these have always been my favorite cars, since they were made after 1972 they have never been in enough demand to generate a lot of interest in reproducing parts. The only sheet metal they reproduce body wise are two small partial panels that go ahead and behind of the rear wheel wells. The biggest problem with these cars was poorly designed drainage holes in the rear. They would get clogged pretty quickly and allow water build-ups to form, hence you see a lot of these cars with moderate to severe rust in the quarters. Basically if you see any rust along the lower areas of the quarter panels, the car is finished unless you want to spend big bucks getting original replacement panels or you know someone who can fabricate new ones for you. Another area of concern is the void under where the windshield wipers are, especially on 73 cars. The 73 hoods look like the 74 hoods, but the 73 hoods had little slots cut in the rear of them to allow more air to flow to the vents. These let more air in, but also let in pine needles, leaves, bugs, and all sorts of other junk that would get wet and cause rust down there, so make sure you check this area well too.

That's the bad news. The good news is the front clip and door areas didn't have these same problems, so there are lots of good fenders, hoods, valances, and doors on the market. There are also floor pans, but I don't know about frame sections although ones made for 71/72 cars should work.

Lastly, I don't what the market for 73/74 birds is up there, but there are quite a few of them down here that are priced very nicely, and I would think you could get a very nice one for less than you would pay to restore one up there.

 

[crznyt]

Here are a few shot's of the car. The vin starts RM21 and I am going to get the rest today I hope but I was told it was an original 318 that now will come with a 400

 

[rsd859]

does it come with the grille and headlight bezels and the headlight rings? It looks like a major project to me.

 

[crznyt]

Yeah I need to find out about the missing parts, this is the kicker the guy that has it took the door panels and rear seat out for another project.

 

[rsd859]

Door panels are expensive. I think you will have your hands full with this one. I dont know what you capabilities are but it looks like a major job to me.

 

[crznyt]

Thanks this will be a hard one to decide on.

 

[73runner]

I concur completely with Bruzillas comments.

I am finishing up my 73 for the second time. It came out great the first time about seven years ago. I repaired the lower fenders with the patch panels but spent a lot of time, money and effort repairing the rear window sheet metal at the lower corners. The rust in this area leads to a rusty trunk floor and the floor under the rear seat. i would check these areas before making a decision. Likewise, the header panels between the fenders sometimes rot and are hard to find.

The reason for the second resto was due to rust in the firewall/ upper cowl joint that required complete disassembly of the interior and removal of the engine. I called Sherman about their e body cowl panels but they told me that it wouldn't work though they are very very similar.

I took advantage of the work I had to do and the fact I had to pull the engine to go ahead and rebuild the original 340 with a mild cam but otherwise left it stock.

My 73 was a dealer order car with power windows, sunroof, a/c, am/fm stereo with rear speakers, rally dash with tach, 3.55 limited slip diff, bucket seats and console. It was numbers matching when I found it as a running shell without an interior. Since my first car was a SSP with the required interior and it was suffering from all of the above rust, I bought the runner shell and built it instead of restoring the SSP. I jumped in not knowing a lot of the above and I don't regret it, especially since this was such an oddball car.

I will be posting pictures soon of the completed engine bay.

Another area of concern are the k frame mounting bushings. These originals by now have all failed and replacement nos bushings are very rare. I went with the black poly mount bushings and will report on them when complete.

If you find that the main body is good and you decide to start the project the good news is that mother Mopar made a lot of this model between the 73 and 74 model years. So there are still a lot of them out there and a lot of the 71 and 73 non visual stamping are the same. In fact, some parts like the door pull reinforcements from the 71 and 72 actually make a nice upgrade. Ditto on the earlier rear stainless window trim.

Some unique trim is now beginning to appear like the rear bumper filler, interior upper door panel skin by Legendary, etc.

Finally, you are in luck that you found this site. So far, everyone have Ben great and the site is a great resource for information and vendors.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Bruzilla]

I agree with everyone's assessments of this car. You've got rust through in front of the rear wheel well, and I would bet you'll find it throughout the quarters. There's rust/damage to both fenders, the upper valance (which means the lower valance is also probably toast), the door, the quarters, and the bumpers are roached pretty bad too. It also looks like a bench seat car with a green interior, which also impacts value as bucket/console cars are more desirable than bench/column cars, and unless you're going to keep the green exterior a green interior doesn't go well with any color besides green or white.

This car is definitely restorable, but it's going to be a very expensive process, and for what these cars are selling for these days I would suggest finding one with buckets/console that's in restored, or at least better, condition and buying it. This car does have a lot of good parts on it if you can get the guy to part it out. Those mirrors and the trim strip over the rear bumper are often missing from these cars.

I would sure like to know what happened to those bumpers though. That rust through where the missing bumperettes were is pretty unusual. Normally you see some discoloration or variance in shininess where a bumperette was removed, but I've never seen anything like that before.

 

[crznyt]

Yeah you guys are right I am going to pass on this one I just liked the notion of trading instead of buying. Like I said I went through hell trying to find good parts for my 66 Charger and this would be the same.
Thanks to all that put their 2 cents in and if you find one for trade let me know lol.
Cheers Don in Windsor

 

[rsd859]

Anytime! I also like to do the trade game. But you gotta be smart and do your research first. Something else will come along, and we will be here to help!

 

[Ron 73]

Here is one link that will help with a few body panels, Any parts you need you could find a lot hear putting in a wanted ad in the appropriate spots.. Good luck.

http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MP-2763L

 

[73runner]

Best of luck finding your dream car. I agree that you can do better than this particular example. It's a little to gone to consider it for much more than parts.

 

[Bruzilla]

Best of luck finding your dream car. I agree that you can do better than this particular example. It's a little to gone to consider it for much more than parts.

And that really sucks too. If that were a 71/72 car, it would be perfect for a resto but since it's a 73/74 it's doomed. At least the parts from it will get some other cars back on the road.

 

[pdiz]

And that really sucks too. If that were a 71/72 car, it would be perfect for a resto but since it's a 73/74 it's doomed. At least the parts from it will get some other cars back on the road.

It's ironic, isn't it, because when the '73 year came out, sales of the bird skyrocketed. I agree, the body lines are more "generic", but as someone who isn't rich and always wanted a "real" muscle car (performance V8 and a manual), it allowed me into this segment. Before that, it was all 318s and auto on the column, if you know what I mean.

Oh, and I have more money into mine than I'll ever get out, but it's okay, I don't intend to sell it anytime soon. I say if you honestly have the resources to fix it and like the car enough, go ahead and save it, one less Mopar in Mopar heaven. But it looks like a major undertaking.