Late 70’s B body cars

[C Body Bob]

Those of you who think the late 70’s MOPAR B body cars are cheap piece of junk need to take one apart. I’ve owned several, parted out 2 & currently Swiss cheesing FURYIOUS. These cars have more bracing & extra metal than even the late 60’s C body cars I’ve parted & those are considered tanks. I’ve burned up 2 cryogenic expensive drill pits & broken one. One of the local demo guys told me he loves the darn things. He says they can take more punishment than other Disco Era Cars. I believe it ! No wonder these cars are so heavy.

 

[CBODY67]

Back in the '80s, I became aware that a BARE Cordoba fender weighed MORE than a similar Chevy Monte Carlo fender IN its cardboard wrapper. Plus Chrysler shipped them to the dealers BARE, too! If not excessively banged around by the contract carriers, they were fine.

The issues I saw with the XX cars was, for some reason, rust while "newer". A friend bought a new '77 Cordoba that had perforations ABOVE the roof rail on the passenger side, from the inside out. He traded it before it got worse. As others had a similar situation on the vertical side sections of the deck lid, by observation . . . in TX.

We traded for a '75 from CA. I raised the deck lid and noticed surface rust where the outer shell had "itched" against the inner structure. NO seam sealer under the paint, as was normally the case on everything! A cost-cutting move in the pre-bankruptcy days?

There was that one '76 Road Runner on Barn Finds several years ago. Had a nationally-known rust proofing waxy compound installed. Only thing it sealed any escape of moisture from the lower B-pillar area, which was fully involved in a serious rust problem, as a result of the encapsulated moisture, over the years. LOTS of complex stampings in that area, it seems. Just had to open the door to see it.

When I was doing the dual exhaust on my '80 Newport, seeing that NOTHING hung below the rocker panels, it occurred to me that Chrysler designed those cars to be the pursuit vehicle that would not die from running over curbs (damaging or "removing" the exhaust system in the process). A lot of that car seemed to be designed with ease of maintenance and less warranty time for some repairs, as a result. Perhaps the B-body cars had some of that same orientation? Seeing that they were the premier cop car of choice for many jurisdictions?

Get them while they're still "cheap and unwanted"! Updating the power train with add-ons or the Gen III replacements might be the next trend in Mopars? At least with Iridium NGKs so the cursed spark plug accessibility would not be so much of an issue on the B-engine cars.

Thanks for the information!
CBODY67