1976 Volare Roadrunner Diff Color From Fender Tag

[76VRR318]

Hi I recently purchased a 1976 volare roadrunner that was for sale on this forum. I'm trying to find some answers to a few questions I have regarding the car but not having any luck in my searches.


Biggest thing I noticed is that the car is blue but the fender tag calls for white paint!! Now I am able to see white paint in the engine bay but no where else on the car. The trunk, under the door panels, and even a couple spots under the vinyl top (couple areas are peeling) near the opera window, all have the same blue paint. Is it possible chrysler changed the paint color on this car as it was being made? The grill is also all blue. I find it hard to believe a typical paint shop could hide the white paint so well and even undo the vinyl top just to put it back on after painting the car??

I was able to find out that the car came from ebenhadrt plymouth out in egypt,PA. I did send them an email but heard nothing back. Previous owner told me car was raced in New Jersey area. Attached are a few pics any info I'd greatly appreciate because it makes no sense to me. Thanks!!

 

[Aspen500]

I would say the car was white originally, and got changed to blue at some point in the it's life. I can tell from the pics it's definitely not factory applied paint. The factory never painted the grille body color either. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it there was a color change, if a thorough job is done. My car was originally silver/red two tone and now is B5 blue, but there's no sign of the silver or red anywhere except maybe if you look under the carpet, for example.

 

[XfbodyX]

Its easy its a EW1 white car painted what looks lik3 B5 blue I asked for the tag when for sale and was thrilled to see the A57 as if it was coded for B5 or one the blues id of bought it. But its a org. WHITE car. Always ask questions BEFORE you buy.

The pics showing the car for sale showed tons of white, esp. the engine bay shot. Also the trunk area shows blue over spray on parts that would not have over spray. And many other obvious signs of a repaint.

But just to be sure. Standing by the drivers side rear quarter side pull up the trunk seal it will have the last of the vin stamped on the rail. b6xxxxxx or 6bxxxxxx to match the vin tag and fender tag numbers. But id bet its 100% as it looks, simply a repainted RR.



Good luck.

 

[76VRR318]

It's just crazy to think someone went through the effort of removing oem vinyl top and putting a new one on after paint. To be honest vinyl top looked original to me but I'm going to go with not original now.

I'm not mad about the purchase. Price was good, came with transmission, and minus a missing trans crossmember the car is ready to drive. The good news is that I new to look for the A57 code to verify it is a roadrunner. And it is!! That was my main concern during purchase. I did not think to look at color code till after to be honest. To me having blue is better than white anyhow. And given the rollbar and some mods like an 8 3/4 rear this car is far from stock original.

Thanks for input fellas!! Glad to be on the forum

 

[76VRR318]

@XfbodyX I just checked and on the driver side under the trunk seal and the serial number of the car matches the vin serial number. I can scrape some paint off but based on what u guys r saying I'm guessing someone painted this blue from white.

 

[XfbodyX]

Thats good, tons happen in 45 years. A good repaint and even a new top is not out of the question. My V4 car will be on its third new top I know of.

I was looking for a B5 V3 like this one that was rusted and parted by someone.

 

[Hayzoos]

A full disassembly, interior removal, and vinyl top delete during a repaint is not out of the question. I have seen it done and then vinyl top added back later. I have a few family members and acquaintances in the body work industry, so I may have seen more of that than average.

 

[Aspen500]

Back in 1983 when me and a friend were in tech school (he says, showing his age), he went to stay with his sister in Kansas City to work one summer, and to buy a car where they weren't rotted to the door handles like here. He WAS a Ford man, and fully intended to buy a '69 or '70 Mustang Fastback. Came back with a '70 340 'Cuda instead (shaker hood too!) and he became a Mopar man for life at that point. Anyways, the car was silver, and that was back before fender tag decoding was a thing. It was an automatic but he wanted a 4-speed. Big surprise when pulling the carpet to do the conversion,,,,,,,,,original color was In-Violet purple. From the overspray on the outer edges of the floor pans, it was obvious the car was stripped bare when painted silver. Other than that, there was no sign the car was ever anything but silver no matter where you looked. Not the trunk, engine compartment, underneath, no where. A couple years later he repaired some small rust holes in the lower 1/4's and the car became purple again.

I'm with you on the B5 blue over white, but then again, I may be biased.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Someone either wanted to do a full color change properly or the vinyl roof was shot so they had it done at the same time.

 

[XfbodyX]

Shocked no one picked up on this.... "The grill is also all blue" and so the riddle is solved for good. And the other big give away is most will never pull the master cylinder on a common repaint.

Not near as hard to figure out as the DB Cooper Road Runner.

 

[Aspen500]

Shocked no one picked up on this.... "The grill is also all blue" and so the riddle is solved for good. And the other big give away is most will never pull the master cylinder on a common repaint.

Not near as hard to figure out as the DB Cooper Road Runner.

View attachment 46760

Somebody did pick up on the line about the grille, so there! lol

 

[XfbodyX]

Last bit from me... yea, the C16 console car, looks like the shifter brackets still in the car and looks white where the oem gear selector was.

Yawn... time to go peal potatoes.

 

[XfbodyX]

Edit... reply didnt read well. My apologies on missing you not missing the color.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

That's a lot to do with those pictures not being in this post.