70 Roadrunner - tips before buying

Going to check out and probably buy a 70 roadrunner after work today. It's sublime, originally a 383 but now has a 440 automatic with some bolt ons. The car looks really nice and appears to be a good deal.

Is there anything I should be aware of when looking one of these over? I've had a challenger, darts and old trucks but never a b-body.

Thank You!

You trying to fill up the new pole barn

Check around the back window always seems to have rust there

Same thing with any B-body of this vintage. Rust in the quarters and trunk, as well as rockers I think are the areas most prone to corrode. All repair panels are available now thanks to AMD.

Best looking B-body of all time IMO, but I am biased.

Make sure all the little pieces and parts are there, as there are a lot of 1-year only parts on the 70 as compared to other B-bodies. Some things (especially interior pieces and trim) can be harder to find if they are missing.

The car is pretty mint. Both rear quarters have been replaced. Looks like an early 90s resto as the paint has a couple imperfections. Inerior is very well done. Trim and glass are good. Black vinyl top is nice. The wiring is hacked up a little. It sounds like a rowdy 440. Somebody tried to make it too much racecar though. Battery in trunk and other minor debachary.

The shifter is all kinds of funky and total garbage with the reverse valve body. Anyone know what/how these work? Or recommend a replacement?

Overall it's AWESOME and I'm picking it up later this week.

1969 radio and faceplate. Check the lower corners of the rear glass for rust/bondo.

That shifter looks awful

Missing that third pedal, but that's easy to correct along with that shifter...


Nice find! good luck with it, best year for a 2nd gen B body

Underside of the trunk lid lip is prone to rusting. x2 on what others have said about the rear window corners.

Yes - the shifter is horrible and the harness has been hacked up. Needs the bulkhead plugs in the firewall.

I think I have a factory 727 valve body which hopefully makes the shifter better.

It has solid engine mounts which makes no sense on a street car and edelbrock dual four intake. I'll probably put a single carb torker or performer intake. It needs to be daily driver friendly for the wifey.

I'm sure there is some bondo under the paint but I couldnt find any rust. Pretty sure its an enamel paint and not base clear so its was probably painted in the 90's.

Man I’ve seen some weirdball redneck add-one over the years but that dead fish pistol grip takes the cake. Is there no end to the goofy things people will do?

Lots of good thoughts here I won’t repeat. When the lower rear windshield corners rust, it can mess up the package tray where it attaches to the Dutchman panel. Some people do a hack job there and replace the Dutchman but not the package tray. Get in that trunk. On a Roadrunner, you want to check the VIN against the fender tag against the door sticker against the core support. So many parts interchange with other B’s. Is it a real Roadrunner? The footwells are famous for rot if it’s a northern car or if the heater core leaked.

The reverse valve body is no big deal and most aftermarket cable shifters can adapt, but if you want a stock shifter, it’s gotta go. It’s likely a manual VB too and it’s doubtful the little lady wants to bang gears in traffic. Easy fix. The real beast will be hunting down the shifter linkage. You can replace the shifter mechanism with reproduction parts but the linkage you’ll have to dig for, and the stuff under the floor is tough to find. It not only connects to the trans but to the steering column and is a one year affair.

Fuse panel is in the glove box behind a panel. Check it out, that’s a factory AC car. See what’s missing. The wiring can all be bought new. It’s the least of your worries.
68-70 B’s were the best mopars ever made. Enjoy.

Good score

I had a shifter like that and it was always loose and hard to shift as you have to push down on it to go from park to another gear. I went back to the stock shifter and suggest that for you also..check torsion bar supports and frame under the battery on both sides. I actually found two cars with frame issues on the passenger front.yes passenger side..hard to see on the ground but better on a lift

More rust on the passenger side makes perfect sense up in Babylon as you drive on the wrong side of the road. That is the side that gets all the gutter splash full of road salt. Otherwise they rust around the rear window first, which leads to the trunk, package tray, trunk hinge supports, deck filler panel, deck filler panel supports, quarter panels, trunk extensions rusting. Probably forgot something in there.

As stated, best fix for the shifter is adding the third pedal.

Not sure where you all are finding your wives, my wife daily drives a 67 Land Rover with manual everything and synchromesh on only 3rd and 4th.

Forgot to mention, our 70RR has solid mounts with a fairly stout 452. No problems on the street and better than the junky replacement rubber mounts that failed on the passenger side of all things. Even with solid mounts it is amazing how much the velocity stacks move under hard acceleration.

Looks like Seka rode that shifter back in the day

Picked it up last night. Found a bad spark plug during test drive. The solid mounts don't seem like an issue now that it's running smooth on all 8 cylinders.

The 440 must have some compression as it's rowdy. It does ping a little under load so I'll have to fix that. I'm guessing it has a 3500 stall converter.

The trunk was full of parts and I think I saw the factory shifter in there.

Nice score!

That is nice. You will have fun.

Nice RR, though I'm partial a bit. Hopefully that PLYMOUTH decal on the quarter (s?) can be removed Looks like all the engine bay A/C stuff was removed. If the seller doesn't have any of it and you want to restore the A/C for the wife, will be very difficult to find the correct hoses, heater control valve, and metal lines. None of this stuff is repro'd AFAIK.

Nice Road Runner! Good score...I for one, like the Plymouth decals
on the 1/4's...