1976 mpc road runner mistake kit?

[ianguilly]

I recently bought this kit on eBay, Plymouth switch to the volare body style in 1976 but this kit clearly show the 1975 fury body style. Was this a mistake that mpc caught and issued a correct kit or did this slip through the cracks? Any info would be great.

Edited April 23, 2014 by ianguilly

[unclescott58]

Your right about the real Road Runner switching to the '76 Volare body, from the '75 Fury body. I'm not sure what MPC was doing here. It's was no secret early in 1975 that the '76 Road Runner would be based on the new Volare. Eventually MPC built a Volare promo. And for '77 they offered a Volare Road Runner kit. So what was MPC thinking here for '76?

Scott Aho

[1972coronet]

"What's in a name?"

MPC did produce a 1975 Road Runner as part of their annuals , which was the Road Runner's final year on the B-Body platform .

As far as I know , MPC didn't even tool-up a 1976 Volare (nor its brother , the Aspen) ; however , MPC did produce two versions of its 1977 Volare ; an early-release under the Volare banner , with a mid-year "revision" under the Road Runner nomenclature . Again for 1978-1979 , Road Runner annuals were produced ; however , by 1980 --the F-body's last year-- a custom-only Volare was produced ( "Fuzz Duster" , moulded in black ) .

As a side note ; the 1975 model R.R. was the last model to carry the R.R.'s v.i.n. RM23 . By 1976 , the R.R. was relegated to package status , carrying only a sales code , and sharing its v.i.n. with the Volare ( either NL or HL ) . Biggest engine available was a decent-for-its-day "E57" , 190 hp 360 two barrel ...

... but , the Duster (and Dart Sport) were available with the "E58" , 220hp 360 ! The real deal was the true dual exhaust , sans catalytic converters !

So , build away ! The 'generic' big block in the kit is "correct" , as the 400-4Bbl was the top engine choice . It was , however , backed only by an automatic , not the manual trans that the kit's engine has behind it .

[Daddyfink]

Six Pack decals and a Mini Bike. This kit reeks of Awesome!

[Bob Ellis]

Have to build it as a 75 Roadrunner, or 76 Fury

[ianguilly]

I'll eventually get to it, I just bought it because of cool weird factor.

[Rob Hall]

Neat...I have the '75 in my stash (includes snow tires!) but not the '76.

[dimaxion]

MPC did also package a '76 Corvette Convertible kit . I have the remains of this "phantom" . For those of you not there in the day , The Corps would send planned designs , Model Names , and all the other information for a New MY Vehicle . In Sept . it seems . Right after the Introduction of a new MY . Unfortunately , this advance information was just that . Too advanced . Perfect Example : 1961 DeSoto . ! 1960 Edsel ! I can go on ....

This practice made more accurate Model Cars for Dealer Promos . The kit cash belonged to the Kit Makers . This practice did two things ;

Lowered Costs to Dealers for the Scale Cars .

Made total accuracy impossible .

The good always comes along with the bad .

1972 Cornet ;

"the Duster (and Dart Sport) were available with the "E58" , 220hp 360 ! The real deal was the true dual exhaust , sans catalytic converters !"

Was this an Off Road Use , Competition Only ? The Mandate is all 1975 MY Vehicles sold in the U.S.A. were requried to have at least 1 Converter . All Exhaust Gasses have to pass through it for Emissions Control .

Chrysler did get around the lighting Mandates in '68 & '69 MY's . The fines at that time were tolerable and worth the "Name Brand Identification" .

Emission non compliance would stop all sales of the Corporations Vehicles until all Complied .

Thanx ..

[unclescott58]

MPC did also package a '76 Corvette Convertible kit . I have the remains of this "phantom" . For those of you not there in the day , The Corps would send planned designs , Model Names , and all the other information for a New MY Vehicle . In Sept . it seems . Right after the Introduction of a new MY . Unfortunately , this advance information was just that . Too advanced . Perfect Example : 1961 DeSoto . ! 1960 Edsel ! I can go on ....

This practice made more accurate Model Cars for Dealer Promos . The kit cash belonged to the Kit Makers . This practice did two things ;

Lowered Costs to Dealers for the Scale Cars .

Made total accuracy impossible .

The good always comes along with the bad .

1972 Cornet ;

"the Duster (and Dart Sport) were available with the "E58" , 220hp 360 ! The real deal was the true dual exhaust , sans catalytic converters !"

Was this an Off Road Use , Competition Only ? The Mandate is all 1975 MY Vehicles sold in the U.S.A. were requried to have at least 1 Converter . All Exhaust Gasses have to pass through it for Emissions Control .

Chrysler did get around the lighting Mandates in '68 & '69 MY's . The fines at that time were tolerable and worth the "Name Brand Identification" .

Emission non compliance would stop all sales of the Corporations Vehicles until all Complied .

Thanx ..

It's not true that all cars in any state were required to have catalytic converters. They were just required to meet emission standards for that year. If they could meet it without a converter, that was OK. Honda was also selling cars without catalytic converters at this same time. In fact they made a big point out that fact in their advertising at the time. Look up info on Honda's mid-70's CVCC motors.

Scott Aho

Edited April 23, 2014 by unclescott58

[tim boyd]

Scott is correct here. Several street-legal Mopar engines, including the 1975/76 passenger car E58 360 hi-po, did not use Catalytic Converters in 1975 or 1976.

IIRC (and someone needs to double check the following), Chrysler's famous (or perhaps infamous might be a better word???) "Lean Burn" engines during the mid 1970's were a further attempt to provide emissions compliance without the use of a Catalytic Converter.

TIM

[1972coronet]

Scott is correct here. Several street-legal Mopar engines, including the 1975/76 passenger car E58 360 hi-po, did not use Catalytic Converters in 1975 or 1976.

IIRC (and someone needs to double check the following), Chrysler's famous (or perhaps infamous might be a better word???) "Lean Burn" engines during the mid 1970's were a further attempt to provide emissions compliance without the use of a Catalytic Converter.

TIM

Righty-o , Tim !

The early Electronic Lean Burn --only available with "49 state emissions"-- were sans the dreaded Catalytic Converter(s) ; however , "N95" ( California Emissions , 1970 ad seq. ) were stuck with all of the smog junk instead of the E.L.B.

Further ; for 1975 , again in "49 state" guise , a catalyst-delete option was available for the 318-powered A-bodies ! In its stead , an A.I.R. Pump was employed .

As another side note : Prior to 1976 , the California Highway Patrol was able to custom-order cam grinds for the B / RB engines in their Polara , Monaco , etc. , etc. fleets .

That all changed when Jerry "The Bald Wizard : A.B. 109" Brown was *elected* as Cali's Gov. He mandated that even police cars had to meet civilian vehicle emissions standards !

It came to a boil in 1980 when the then-new 1980 St. Regis CHP fleet arrived , complete with the wheezer 122 hp 318 four barrel powerhouse ! The dreadful , shameful cars even made headlines in the newspapers : "New CHP cars won't get to 100 mph !" (to paraphrase) .

But , alas , "49 state" cars were available with the "E58" 360 ... the same engine which didn't meet Cali's ridiculously-stringent emissions standards .

Some things never change ; Brown is back , and screwing us up even more-so than he did from 1975-1983 !!

Edited April 24, 2014 by 1972coronet

[lordairgtar]

There were some 304 V8 AMC cars without cat cons in those years too. I had a 1976 AMC Hornet X V8 Hatchback that was sans cats. I had heard that some company that made the catalytic converters went on strike and some cars were able to be produced without them but without actual verification that could be just so much folderol.

 

[Oldcarfan27]

On 4/23/2014 at 5:24 PM, 1972coronet said:

Some things never change ; (Jerry) Brown is back , and screwing us up even more-so than he did from 1975-1983 !!

Blame incompetent voters for putting clowns like this in office in this state. We get what we deserve, but some of us are praying that someday sanity will prevail in the "Golden State"