1969 Road Runner Convertible PROJECT

[chapdog105]

Droptop...while on the subject:
Where can I order a windshield for my vert??? And the weather stripping from under the trim from the top of the windshield...
How much can I expect to pay for my new convertible top installed? I have a quote from a local shop, but want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.

 

[sax69]

I Paid $1,200.00 for the top, glass rear window, pad kit well liner and labor.

 

[droptop]

Here is a good source for glass. 250 plus shipping for clear or tinted.
http://www.autometaldirect.com/showitem ... d%20Clear&

I have had price quotes from $1100 all the way up to $2500 on a top, glass window, and well liner. All I told the guy that wanted 2500 was that "all you had to do was say you don't want to do it." Don't know why that pissed him off. :loco: :loco:

 

[Big John]

I'm pretty sure the windshield for the convertible is the same as the 4 door sedan and the station wagon.

 

[chapdog105]

Thanks for the help fellas.

Also...there's always an also...

I have 2 sets of doors for my car. One set are the originals, the metal is in pretty bad shape but the glass, trim, and hardware are fine. I also have a set of 68 doors from Arizona with no rust, good glass and trim but from a hardtop.

Is there any difference in the doors between a hard top and vert?
Someone told my dad years ago that there was a difference in the vents and glass...but he's not sure.

My plan is to use the Arizona doors for the metal, and use everything else from my original doors. Will this work?

 

[chapdog105]

On another note...
I'm dreading putting the side glass back into my car more than anything.
How long realistically is this going to take? I plan I getting someone (anyone) that has experience re-installing the driver and passenger side front and rear glass to help. Anyone have any advice??
I know getting the glass out was a big enough pain in the @$$ before I took the car to blast.

 

[mannye]

As far as I know those doors should be fine. And don't sweat those seats, they aren't 69 RR buckets, although the buddy seat looks right. You may have had a bench/buddy original front seat setup like I had in my first vert. Those are nice because your girl can still slide up right next to you when you lift the armrest! :devil:

That back seat is valuable, rare and looks to be in great shape. I bet with a good cleaning you might not even need to re-cover it.

I have envy! Half the fun is seeing it go from "before" to "after" and you have a great starting point there. Are you going back stock or restifying?

 

[chapdog105]

Mannye,
I'm a little torn on my restoration...
I guess that what I'm really looking for is a badass car that I can enjoy with my family. I don't want an 11 sec. rocket that I can't take more than to the corner because it overheats and/or breaks. I'm looking for a reliable rocket that looks good, but doesn't disappoint the old timers that know everything there is to know about these cars (you guys) at local shows.

Having a convertible, because they are rare, really puts the owner in a difficult situation because you want to keep the car as original as possible due to the increased value. Even though I'll NEVER sell my car, and the value is technically irrelevant, it would be foolish to get too far from the original look of a 69 vert.

As much as I don't want to compromise the original aspects of my car, somethings will not be original. For example,I don't have the original 383, but I do have a 440 four barrel for it. I'm having the car painted back to single stage R-4, but I'm adding the two black stripes on the hood and fenders (pretty common on R4 verts). The car also came with full Plymouth hubcaps, which I'm ditching for a set of Magnum 500's with redline tires. I'm also switching the drum brakes over to disc. The car was pretty bare bones from the factory.

I know that just about everyone on this forum would disagree, but I LOVE the Year One 69 vert "Red Runner". I could never afford to do that kind of restoration, but I think it's pretty cool. I think it would be pretty cool to see a convertible "A12" look, with a 6 barrel carb and A12 hood with the A12 wheel look. A car like that never existed, but it would be cool to see. I'm just not willing to do it to my car.

I'm only 31, so obviously I don't remember seeing these cars everywhere. I've had to learn a lot about the subtle differences between the 68-70 B bodies, along with option packages, and everything else.
I don't know anyone in my neck of the woods (Detroit suburbs) that is my age with a Roadrunner vert.

 

[ACME A12]

Pretty much nailed nailed my thoughts on the YO red RR... :lmao:
Billboards on a '69 B-Body make me want to uke: Might as well have added a Daytona wing, some Super Bee side scoops, a cowl induction hood scoop, and a set of ZL-1 fender flares while they were at it... :leave:

IIRC the location of the door locks is different on the '68 doors vs. the '69s, if that matters to you. Somebody chime in here that knows for sure; I've only ever had '69 RRs so I'm not swearing to anything...

 

[69hemibeep]

Door locks and the emblems on the outside are different as far as I know. As far as side glass goes, I had good help that has done allot of windows and we spent about an hour on each side by the time you align the two pieces together with the top. And it does take two.

 

[droptop]

The side glass, vent window, and the chrome housing for the vent are different on a convertible. The windshield has more of a slant on the hardtop. The doors will interchange between HT and convt. The vent windows will interchange with a 4 door. Also the pivot for the vent window will interchange with a 4 door for the convt.

 

[droptop]

I'm pretty sure the windshield for the convertible is the same as the 4 door sedan and the station wagon.

The only part numbers I can find are for a hardtop and convertible. I would say it is plausible, because the vent windows will interchange in a 4 door and convertible. Therefore the rake of the windshields would be the same.

 

[John69RR]

A noticable difference between the 68 & 69 doors is the location of the inside lock buttons. The 68's are farther back than the 69's.

 

[ACME A12]

A noticable difference between the 68 & 69 doors is the location of the inside lock buttons. The 68's are farther back than the 69's.

That's what I thought... Thanks for the confirmation, John.

 

[moparstuart]

A noticable difference between the 68 & 69 doors is the location of the inside lock buttons. The 68's are farther back than the 69's.

That's what I thought... Thanks for the confirmation, John.

68's are much better if you are going to pull and dukes of hazzard and climb in the window :jester: :jester: :jester: :jester: :jester: :jester:

 

[mannye]

Mannye,
I'm a little torn on my restoration...
I guess that what I'm really looking for is a badass car that I can enjoy with my family. I don't want an 11 sec. rocket that I can't take more than to the corner because it overheats and/or breaks. I'm looking for a reliable rocket that looks good, but doesn't disappoint the old timers that know everything there is to know about these cars (you guys) at local shows.

Having a convertible, because they are rare, really puts the owner in a difficult situation because you want to keep the car as original as possible due to the increased value. Even though I'll NEVER sell my car, and the value is technically irrelevant, it would be foolish to get too far from the original look of a 69 vert.

In my opinion, while it is rewarding and fun to restore something back to 100%, it becomes a little silly to do it to something that won't have value or even historic significance. I see little point is spending thousands of dollars restoring something like that unless you're a millionare now and that shit brown 84 Toyota Corolla has significance to you and you want to display it in your living room or whatever.

No one should be telling you what to do or not to do to your own car with your own money. Especially when you have a car that's already lost its original engine. To be honest, if I had the time, extra money and space (mostly the money...lol) I would look for a ragtop beater that I could turn into a modern resto-rod.

 

[ACME A12]

No one should be telling you what to do or not to do to your own car with your own money. Especially when you have a car that's already lost its original engine.

Mannye, if you're referring to my comment about the billboards on the YO Runner then please allow me to clarify: I was voicing an opinion, not telling him to do or not to do anything. Of the 6,000+ posts I've put up on this board probably 100 or more of them have read "It's your car. Do what YOU want to with it." Personally I'll never like donk wheels on a musclecar, especially a '69 RR, and I don't care for anything "foose-ified", or one year only E-Body graphics packages on anything other than a '71 E-Body, or a Z-28 cowl induction hood scoop (while I'm at it - not that anyone mentioned this other than me) on a MoPar even if it has 1,000 HP and a cage certifying by NHRA for usage in sub-nine second blasts down the 1320. Just don't like 'em. My opinion. And I'm entitled to it. If someone else likes that crap they can spend every hard earned dollar they have on them. They just shouldn't hold their breath waiting for me to say "Hey, that looks great"...

I don't think that missing the original engine is any biggie either. I'd bet that a third to a half of the remaining A12s (maybe more???) don't have their original engines - and maybe 10-20% of those that supposedly do actually have restamped blocks because people have no scruples... I've yet to meet ANYONE that said "Yeah, I found this sweet Hemi (A12, M-Code Dart, V-Code Challenger, 340-S, WO23, A100 P/U, etc., etc.) project, but I didn't buy it because it didn't have the original engine". It just doesn't happen unless they're in rarified air financially. In today's collapsed market you'd have a hard time convincing me it makes much of a difference for even the high-end, ulta-desirable cars as long as they were lovingly put back together with a date-code-correct block... I do think that it is really neat when the block has survived - like in the case of Bob's Hemicar - but I don't think this is much of a driver for most people in the market for a car; I think most are more focused on the VIN (as in what is supposed to be under the hood), the options, and the correctness of the restoration (if it is finished). Further, think about how people react at the mere mention of a Hemi or A12 project with no engine at all for sale - this alone makes me think that most people (other than the mega-rich) think about this as I do... :cents:

 

[droptop]

No one should be telling you what to do or not to do to your own car with your own money. Especially when you have a car that's already lost its original engine.

Mannye, if you're referring to my comment about the billboards on the YO Runner then please allow me to clarify: I was voicing an opinion, not telling him to do or not to do anything. Of the 6,000+ posts I've put up on this board probably 100 or more of them have read "It's your car. Do what YOU want to with it." Personally I'll never like donk wheels on a musclecar, especially a '69 RR, and I don't care for anything "foose-ified", or one year only E-Body graphics packages on anything other than a '71 E-Body, or a Z-28 cowl induction hood scoop (while I'm at it - not that anyone mentioned this other than me) on a MoPar even if it has 1,000 HP and a cage certifying by NHRA for usage in sub-nine second blasts down the 1320. Just don't like 'em. My opinion. And I'm entitled to it. If someone else likes that crap they can spend every hard earned dollar they have on them. They just shouldn't hold their breath waiting for me to say "Hey, that looks great"...

I don't think that missing the original engine is any biggie either. I'd bet that a third to a half of the remaining A12s (maybe more???) don't have their original engines - and maybe 10-20% of those that supposedly do actually have restamped blocks because people have no scruples... I've yet to meet ANYONE that said "Yeah, I found this sweet Hemi (A12, M-Code Dart, V-Code Challenger, 340-S, WO23, A100 P/U, etc., etc.) project, but I didn't buy it because it didn't have the original engine". It just doesn't happen unless they're in rarified air financially. In today's collapsed market you'd have a hard time convincing me it makes much of a difference for even the high-end, ulta-desirable cars as long as they were lovingly put back together with a date-code-correct block... I do think that it is really neat when the block has survived - like in the case of Bob's Hemicar - but I don't think this is much of a driver for most people in the market for a car; I think most are more focused on the VIN (as in what is supposed to be under the hood), the options, and the correctness of the restoration (if it is finished). Further, think about how people react at the mere mention of a Hemi or A12 project with no engine at all for sale - this alone makes me think that most people (other than the mega-rich) think about this as I do... :cents:

One thing is for sure about Ray, is that he will never ask for change back from his :cents: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

 

[ACME A12]

One thing is for sure about Ray, is that he will never ask for change back from his :cents: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

I think Harold nailed that one...

I should amend one thing in my little, discursive response...and that is that I should have stated "because some people have no scruples"...

:jester:

 

[mannye]

Actually, no, I wasn't referring to the billboard comment In fact, I completely 100% agree with the billboard comment! Billboards are for 'Cudas.

There was a resto-mod vert on the cover of Mopar Action a few months back that IMO was completely ruined with huge white billboards. The rest of the car looked nice, and I don't remember if it was further ruined by "dubs" which I can't WAIT to see go out of style.

But I still think that unless you're talking about a car with truly limited production (lets say 100 or less... like a 69 hemi RR convertible) doing a faithful 100% dead nuts concourse resto is throwing money in the space heater. I (and that's just me) would consider a missing original engine as license to upgrade brakes, suspension, interior etc.

Of course even having said that, if anyone is watching "Chop Cut Destroy" it's a real shame that they decided to Rebuild the ONE OF ONE OR TWO Charger brochure car like it was any other rotted out barn find. There is an example where the historical significance of the car would have required the total concourse treatment even if all that was left was the cowl and the vin plate. The finished product looked nice, but still it was a shame. But then again... his car, his money.