Mike, Tony and John--Thanks for your comments!Mike, I finally did it--I melted the body of the '34! (but I've got another one on the way!!!--I will NOT be defeated!! 
)
Tony, that is one sweet-looking truck! I'm sorry you had to get rid of it!
OK, well, the birds are FINISHED! Here's the update and finished pics!
I made some seat belts from masking tape and Detail Master seat belts.
In order to get the Air Grabber hood to sit properly high on the carbs, I
had to put a .030 spacer under it to raise it a little. It fits nice
and snugly into the cowl.
Net, the bodies were put together and the wheel clearances checked--BLECH! The wheelbase is way off! To fix it, the only thing that seemed reasonable was to cut off the
wheels at the posts and put them back on with a small spacer; in effect,
creating a "dog leg". Here's the photo...(ignore the dust and
fingerprints for now!)
The brake master cylinders were all wrong--I cut the big
balloony-looking back off, and reshaped the piece to something more
appropriate. It is painted in a mix of Tamiya Silver and Gold to get
that tint.
Next, what would a Road Runner be without a "Meep, Meep!"?!. To fashion
the horns, I used some old Photo Etch for a 1/72 Russian tank (my main
genre of modeling), along with a 1/72 Tiger II shell end, and a 1/35
shell casing end. I glued them together, added dented impressions around
the edges of the brass PE exterior to simulate bolts, and painted in in
Cracker Barrel paints "lavender" I also added a copper wire, to attach
to the alternator.
Next, I weathered the Black car's engine bay with some MIG "Panzer Grey
(faded)". Just brush it on, and voila!
Black is my "daily driver" (I WISH! 
) and the red one, more of a "show car".
The completed 440-6.
The 383 in the Black Bird
The "sit" of both vehicles--the sit on these models is too high in front, and needs to be corrected. See the previous posts for showing how I used both spacers under the rear, and a re-positioning of the front wheel pegs to achieve this angle.
The red one is painted with Testor's Two-part Lacquer system; the color
is "Hemi Orange"; the Black car is painted in Tamiya Black. The decals
are Kieth Marks. Wiring by Detail Master and Radio Shack.
Here's some individual shots...
The painted-on stripes on the underside; part of the "Decor Group Option"
.
The Kieth Marks decals has these little Road Runner emblems that you can
stick on a piece of styrene, and then if you carefully cut them out,
you get that Road Runner emblem on the grille!
Well, it's a relief to get these two birds done successfully! Thanks for everyone who left a comment, and who have contributed to this post and helped me in the build! 
All critiques, comments and comments are always welcomed! 