Pillared coupe, hard top? What's it mean?

[Confederate1969]

Time for a silly question! I should know this but I don't and it has been bugging me for quite a while. What is the difference between a pillared coupe RR and a hard top RR? To go further, are these the only other two options aside from convertible, or were there more?

 

[Roadcuda]

Time for a silly question! I should know this but I don't and it has been bugging me for quite a while. What is the difference between a pillared coupe RR and a hard top RR? To go further, are these the only other two options aside from convertible, or were there more?

If you look at the door window area of my car you'll see a chrome strip that covers the post between the door window and the rear window. The rear window does not roll down, but instead is hinged on the post and just swings out at the rear of the glass just a few inches These cars are also known as "post" cars. On the hardtop cars, you can roll down both the door window, and the rear window and have an no obstruction from the vent window back to the front of the "c" post You can also tell from the first part of the vin number which one you have. With my car the vin starts with RM21, for a post car, The RM23 vins are for hardtop.

 

[Basketcase]

mine has a stainless stip on the post.

 

[ACME A12]

[quote="Roadcuda] If you look at the door window area of my car you'll see a chrome strip that covers the post between the door window and the rear window. [/quote]

Not all of them got the stainless trim - some (like my A12) are body colored here. Just FYI.

There is one other aspect to this which many people overlook; the post cars are Belvedere-based and the hardtops are Satellite-based. Belvedere's were low priced cars and Satellites were high priced cars and the RRs fell neatly in between (at least at their inception - later variants such as the Superbird blew this out of the water...) - hence the "RM" as in "Medium Priced" model designator. If you never picked up on this before then think about this: When is the last time you saw a '68 Satellite post or a '68 Belvedere hardtop...???

:yesnod:
Ray

 

[Big John]

I think I read once where the 68 Roadrunner was intended to just be coupes. The early cars I've seen were a lot plainer, more Belvedere-ish then the later cars. The coupes out sold the hardtops the first year and the hardtops outsold the coupes in 69.

 

[Roadcuda]

[

Thanks Ray, that's something that I didn't know about. It also shows how one can look at things, but not really know, or pay attention, to what they are looking at. In regards to your last sentence, I can't say for sure that I have seen one. I guess I'll have to pay more attention to that.

 

[SomeCarGuy]

The breakdown in '69 was 82,000 total, 2,000 verts, 32,000 coupes, and 47,000 hardtops. Roughly.

 

[roadrunner69]

I nevered payed attention to mine until my brother said something
about it being a coupe. All I know was it was a factory 4sp
and a heck of a deal.

 

[droptop]

The VIN is different for the hardtop and the post cars as well. RM21 is a post car, and RM23 is a hardtop car.

 

[glhcarl]

[

Ray,

While it was available as a stand alone option the stainless trim strip on the B-Post came with the A87 decor group (deluxe interor, chrome exhaust tips, rear seat arm rests, etc). I actually perfer the painted area but I am not going to change mine.

 

[mcmopar]

There is one other aspect to this which many people overlook; the post cars are Belvedere-based and the hardtops are Satellite-based. Belvedere's were low priced cars and Satellites were high priced cars and the RRs fell neatly in between (at least at their inception - later variants such as the Superbird blew this out of the water...) - hence the "RM" as in "Medium Priced" model designator. If you never picked up on this before then think about this: When is the last time you saw a '68 Satellite post or a '68 Belvedere hardtop...???
[

Hmmm - never heard that before. From what I have seen, heard and read all road runners were based on the Belvedere model while all GTX's were based on the Satellite models. According to Jack Smith (the father of the road runner along with Gordon Cherry) the road runner was Belvedere based. This would be a good research project. I'm gonna have to check this out.

 

[ACME A12]

The following is excerpted from the A12 Registry Website:

I think where a lot of confusion regarding interiors comes from is people not understanding what the STANDARD interior was for a given model AND the differences from Dodge to Plymouth.

Part of the problem is that the RR and Bee enthusiest forget that these price classes and trim grades encompass more than just these particular cars and also include all of the A, C, and D model cars in 1969 as well. Therefore there are many price class/trim grade "crossovers" that don't seem to make sence when you are only looking at one model.

The RR was based on an "M" (second digit in V.I.N.) price class as was the Super Bee. However, the Dodge line "M" price class had a upgraded standard interior compare to the same "M" price class for Plymouth in the COUPE models.

Now the reason for this and where the real confusion comes from is beacause the RR is REALLY based on two different models and price classes where as the Bee is only based on ONE model and price class.

Why?

Well, the Bee which is based on a Coronet 440 model had both a 2 door coupe and a 2 door hardtop offered in this model.

The Plymouth only offered the 2 door coupe in the Belvidere line and did not offer a 2 door hardtop, the Satellite offered the 2 door hardtop but not a 2 door coupe.

What all of this means for the RR is that rather than designating the V.I.N. model as TWO DIFFERENT price classes, they chose to have just one with an "M" price class. Technically this is not "correct" as the coupes that are actually based on a Belivdere which had an "L" price class had the cheaper L trim grade interior standard. This same interior was placed in the RR coupe even though it had an "M" price class. It is coded on the fender tag as an M for medium trim grade interior but it is REALLY an L class interior and SHOULD have been coded as an L trim grade interior. I have no idea how the trim shop was instructed as to how to keep this straight when these cars were built, but the L class interior in 2 door coupes was the standard (non bucket or decor group optioned cars) interior for these cars even though it is shown as an M trim grade. This is why your car has the L class (or L trim grade) standard interior steering wheel. If your car would have been built with the A87 RR decor group you would have gotten the H2 vinyl bench seat and deluxe steering wheel with partial horn ring among other things. Again, confusing as the H trim grade interior is on the same level as the Super Bee or Coronet 440 for BOTH the coupe and 2 door hardtop standard bench seat interior.

I have an original Dodge Dealer Color and Upholstery Book for back up proof on the Dodges but not a Plymouth book. There may be another member that has one that can post pictures of some of those pages that would give you a visual difference between these interior.

Darryl Dayton was the author. One of the most knowledgeable RR guys I've ever encountered. He also has the library of Mopar reference material to support anything that he throws out there... His reply was in response to my attempt to understand how my A12 could be coded for a "Medium" grade bench seat interior and yet everything is standard issue bottom-feeder Belvedere...nothing "Medium" about it... Anyway, there is nothing refutable about Belvedere's being posts and Satellites being hardtops. No research required.

Ray