A list of the last of the finest......

Got a call from a friend the other day asking me if a 1978 Road Runner was worth anything.  "The guy only wants $500 for it."  "It's not even worth that, even if it's nice." I replied. "Why?" my friend asked. "Because it's a Plymouth Volare with a decal package that's why." "When they came out, the magazines lamented the passing of the Duster." "Their Junk"  "If you want a $500 318 or 360 Volare for your kid or something I guess it'd be okay, but their not worth restoring." "Thanks." my pal said, and didn't buy the car. He asked me how someone who wasn't a gearhead would know what not to buy when looking at potential musclecar projects.  Here's a list that may stop you from buying or way overpaying for a car that's not the real deal. # 1 The last "Real" Chargers and Road Runners were built in 1974. This was the last year on the "B" body platform. The 400 and 440 V8s were still available. 1975-77 "Chargers" were ( Yuk! ) re-badged Chrysler Cordobas. The "Road Runner" name was shamelessly put on a very few Plymouth Furys in 1975-76, and then even sadder-the Volare in 77-78.  # 2 The last "Real" Olds 442 was built in 1977. This was the last year they were built on the A body Cutlass platform and the last year you could get a V8 over 400 cubes. The 455 was available until 1975, and in 76-77 the 403 was the top engine option. Worse than what Chrysler did with the Road Runner badge, Olds shamelessly put the legendary 442 moniker on a bunch of anemic G-body's in the '80's, and hit an all-time low when they put it on a front-drive, Quad 4 Calais. # 3 The last "Real"-i.e.- Javelin based AMX was made in 1974. They still had the swoopy body that Mark Donohue won the Trans-Am championship with in 1971, and the 360 and 401 V8s were still available. The 1977-80 AMX's were based on the econobox Hornet/Spirit platform, and had 258 inch six-cylinder or 304 2bbl V8s with about 120 hp!  # 4 The last "Real" Mach 1 Mustang was built in 1973. The 351CJ was the top engine. From 1974-78 the awful Mustang II was Pinto-based, and the "Mach 1" 302 2bbl put out about 135 hp.  It wasn't until 1983 that the Ford factory again produced a Mustang with a 4-bbl carburated V8 and more than 150 hp. But you know the history of the "5.0".  Were talking the "Original" Mustang here. # 5 The last "Real" Pontiac GTO was built in 1973. This was the last year it was based on the A body LeMans platform, and the last ones with a 400 or 455 V8. In 1974 the GTO name was put on the smaller X body ( read Nova ) chassis, and the largest engine was a 350. In 1975 the nameplate was dropped altogether until it was resurrected in 2004 on the Holden Monaro chassis with- Gasp! a Chevy engine. Hope this clears things up for potential buyers. Mastermind