Building the car no one wants
I doubt a satellite more door is an "undesirable car" Any B-body now a days get attention. I found this out because I also have a satellite wagon and at first you wouldn't think a wagon would be anything but after some of the offers I have had for it, I don't think any B-body classifies as "undesirable"
A lot of the B-body die hards will agree with you. A lot won't. There's a few who see the coolness of an unmolested 4-door or wagon, but I can guarantee there's a lot of them out there who see nothing but parts. The people I've run into have been a 50/50 split.
I remember the first die hard Mopar fan who say my car.
"What's in it?"
"383-4bbl."
"No way. Someone had to put that in there." Then he went over and looked at the VIN. "H" code. Then he popped the hood and saw E63 on the tag and thought it was one of the coolest cars he'd ever seen.
The next guy saw it and said to me, "Pull the engine and put it in a two door. It's a waste of the engine having it in a 4 door."
It's been like that since I've owned the car.
For that matter, I would go out on a limb and say the 71 duster in question is not an "undesirable" car either. However I have found an unexplained prejudice against cars like the duster in original form.
people tend to act like slant sixes and drum brakes are poison when they have functioned for the last 40+ years.
People are enamored with horsepower. What I've seen on here, though, is the appreciation of a clean body and the work that's gone into it. Sure, you're not going to get the money out a slant six car that you would a 340 car, but if you're selling it as a running project, then a lot of guys would be willing to pay a fair price as it just that: a running project.
I've got a few manual four wheel drum brake cars in the stable. I've got no problems with a manual drums. I grew up with them. They work well as long as you know how to use them. That being said, except for the Sport Satellite, the other will be turned into manual disk. I like the feel of manual brakes, but I like the shortened braking distance of disk brakes, especially since your brakes or more than likely to save your life and life of others in today's heavy traffic. One of the things to remember is that when people owned these cars there was about 250,000 registered vehicles on the road. Today, the number has quadrupled.
Now, don't even get me going on the M-bodies. I own two. Even the most faithful of Mopar guys turn their noses up at the M-bodies and see nothing but parts. These cars have literally billions of miles of real world fleet use under them. A lot of the veteran cops I talk to absolutely still love them. A lot of the veteran Chrysler mechanics I talk to remember them fondly. Yet, they get absolutely no love, being built in '80's smog era.