I grew up ''car wise'' in the late 60'/70's and there were quite few 68/9 Road Runners around at the time. While they were a great performance value then, i think they also contributed to the lack of respect for the 383. Most dealers ordered the basic models that were column shift auto's with 3.23 gears. Those cars in decent factory tune were 14.80 to 15.00 qtr. mile capable. I personally know of 2 and a 69 Super Bee that was about the same. Not to mention the 340 cars, but 400 GM's with 3.55/3.73/3.90 gears around and the 383's just never gained the ''street cred'' they probably deserved.
I did have a neighbor with a 68' 383 Bee that had all the bolt-ons, a .509 cam, 3500 ish converter and still took 4.56 gears to get into the 12's.