When I whip out my camera to get a shot like this in (stopped) traffic, the response I get when folks notice me varies considerably depending on the car I’m driving. It’s invariably one of understanding and mutual admiration when I’m in the truck. I can’t say that’s always the case with the my xB.
This Duster is one of a few still plying the streets. It’s hard to imagine a time when Chrysler A-Bodies won’t still be in regular daily use, but sadly, it will happen. These have to be one of the most accessible and easy to keep running “classics” ever, with their bullet-proof drive trains and rugged chassis. If I was to drive an old-timer sedan or coupe on a regular basis, that would be my first choice. Or my recommendation to someone else with that intention.
I am right there with you, Paul, on these Dusters… Wish I could find a yellow ’71 / slant-6 like the one my dad owned. For a classic, it would be relatively inexpensive to own and operate.
Here, try this one. Beige is almost yellow. 🙂
https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/5187341768.html
!!! Thanks, JPC – I would want! I wonder if I could get Indy resident Jim Grey to test drive it for me? (It’s even got dog-dishes!)
Or then there is that other Indy resident . . . . 🙂 Let me know if you are serious, I have loads of wheel time in these.
My bad, JPC!! If I wake up tomorrow and am still thinking about this Duster, you may see an e-mail from me. 🙂 And thank you!
That’s a nice ‘ Bundy-Mobile ‘ but I can’t see $5K for one as much as I love A Body Mo-Pars .
I still see them being junked my families of Elders , VGC , no dents , not much mileage , always a ‘leaning tower of power ‘ slant 6 and Tourqueflight slush box
It seems they more often got power steering than power brakes… ? .
I’ll never find an affordable ’64 Barracuda with this drivetrain setup , I’d go into debt to buy one if only I could find it just for the fun of setting it up for serious road burning .
-Nate
Nate, don’t I recall that you live in California or some other rust-free climate? These things with bodies this clean are mighty few and far between in the central/upper Midwest.
Yes, my Scamp was a power steering car with no power brakes. That was a popular combo here too. These things were easy to steer with manual setups, so add the famous Chrysler Full Time Power Steering and you could park it with your pinkie.
Thanx JP .
I’m keenly aware that the MidWest is (? was ?) home to twice as many MoPars as GM products back in the day ~ in the 1960’s and 1970’s your Junk Yards were teeming with cool old pre 1960’s MoParts , simply awash with those wonderful Keller cars I love so much .
I miss my 1939 Dodge four door .
BTW : yes I live in So. Cal. land of unwanted mostly rust free any old thing , it pains me to see so many (IMO) perfectly good MoPars being crushed for scrap after almost nothing is scavenged off them .
-Nate
Panther pink,340 pistol grip shifter please. One of my wish list cars for a long time
The A-body never got the pistol grip.
Thanks for that I’ve seen a few home brewed ones at shows and assumed they came like that
Wise choice!
Give me a 2 door Dart…I prefer the boxier lines. Slant six, automatic, cloth bench seat, steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps. My wife would have a cow, but I think it would be a great commuter car.
I’ll take a 74-76 2door Valiant, large slant6, 4speed stick, and cloth bench seat. Limited slip if I can get it, for traction in winter. No power steering please. Plain white with a light grey interior, or a light blue-grey interior. I don’t care what it has for wheels because I plan to upgrade to larger diameter steel rims.
The picture reminds me of something. In the late ’70s my girlfriend Sharon drove a hot Duster, the same yellow as your truck. Not hot in the power sense, hot in the stolen sense.
Sharon’s mother fenced cars for a living. She had bought the Duster supercheap from a rather dumb thief, and then couldn’t sell it. So she let Sharon have it.
That’s the definition of a SQUARE car. Shady types won’t be seen in it for any price.
” Sharon’s mother fenced cars for a living. She had bought the Duster supercheap from a rather dumb thief, and then couldn’t sell it. So she let Sharon have it.”
May you always live in interesting times =8-) .
The 1970’s certainly were .
-Nate
A good choice for an easy to work on and cheap parts daily driver. A slant 6 with maybe an overdrive 5 speed conversion would be a great way to go. Just start off with a good, straight rust free example and drive it for many years, especially if you are lucky enough to live in a no/low rust climate. No smog checks, tattle tale boxes and affordable insurance. Even no yearly registration if your state has 30 year and older “classic plates”, as long as you follow the rules. All that and a great conversation/admiration starter to boot.
Make mine a Gold Duster, any year, with a slant 6 and automatic. Unfortunately, this being Florida, I have to have A/C…..”factory” or Vintage Air.
Oh yeah, I forgot about a/c…was the factory a/c integrated into the dash, or did it hang under the dash like an afterthought?
The 5 speed idea sounds interesting…what would fit behind a slant six?
There was a slim ductwork unit that mounted across the bottom of the dash, though it was fully integrated with the heating and ventilation system. That 1967 compact dash panel was evidently not engineered with a/c vents in mind.
Like this.
With the air conditioning shut off and the dash vent open, even without a fan running you could get a mini hurricane inside the car at speed – especially if you opened up the flipper rear side windows.
That dash pic makes me want to hop in and fire that thing up. Didn’t Chrysler use oddball radios for some period of time with both dials on the left end, more like rheostats than knobs?
By the time the Duster hit the scene, the unique Chrysler thumbwheel radios had become nearly extinct. I believe the last Mopars to get them were the 1970 E- and B-bodies. In fact, the 1970 E-body thumbwheel radio was the one with both wheels on the left side and may have been a one year only deal, making them somewhat rare.
Plus, from what I’ve read, those metal thumbwheels would get pretty damn hot to the touch, too.
Any metal interior parts on dashboard will get really hot in summer, sometimes even in winter. It’s the only part I don’t miss true metal parts.
The plastic gears in the thumbwheel mechanisms would strip with long usage. Any car radio shop worth its salt knew how to fix them. Nowadays…probably not!
That one’s got factory air. Our ’71 Scamp had dealer installed air conditioning. The control panel actually had really slick looking illuminated buttons instead of the sliding mode selector. The air registers were the same. Since the A/C was added on, our car retained the closeable vents for fresh air in the footwells. On the Scamp, they were operated with doors that had twist-latches. On our ’66 Coronet, there were two pull knobs on either side of the steering column that controlled them.
Appears some have modified T5’s from ’90’s Mustangs to fit. Not just a simple bolt in affair, however. Another person used a Dakota 5 speed by modifying his slant 6 bellhousing. Sounds like it was an easier fit, but the trans hump had to be enlarged.
Steel case Celica.
Why not the three speed with overdrive that actually came in the Duster?
Many, many happy miles in A bodies – my own 71 Scamp and my college roommate’s 3 different Dusters. I am like CincyDavid, in that I prefer the 60s hardtop style of the Scamp/Swinger to the 70s fastback style of the Duster, but I could be happy in either.
If you could keep the silly things from rusting (and could live with the Insta-Split ™ vinyl seats), it could be one of the few “permanent cars” out there. I was perusing my local CL and saw a 1970 Duster /6-auto that is a nice rust free original. Unfortunately, it matches the awful color combo that I suffered with in my 68 Newport: a hearing aid beige car with green interior. Ack.
Why I have a feeling about one of this appears here.
Stuck right behind windshield.
Its no secret that I love A bodies, but especially the Duster/Demon. These make great classics for someone that actually wants to DRIVE an old car and for all the reasons listed above. Doesn’t matter if you want just an old car just because its simple and easy to work on, for the old school look and feel, or to build a stupid fast hotrod…the beauty of these A bodies is that theyre durable, parts are available and you can still buy them for reasonable prices. A pristine turnkey 340 Duster would set you back in the low $20K range which is an unbelievable bargain, given how ridiculously expensive all muscle cars…especially Mopars have become. Clean /6 powered A bodies in running driving condition can be had for in the $5K range or less.
Ive always said that the wheels/tires either make or break your ride…and the Duster/Demon illustrate this better than anything else I can think of. With wimpy narrow wheels (like on the featured car) these look downright dowdy. But with staggered widths and the right style (A bodies and slot mags are meant for one another) even a plain jane /6 Duster looks absolutely bitchin.
If still unable to afford an A-Body, there is still F/M-body to choose from 🙂
In my area, the F/M/J cars aren’t too prevalent. Which is bizarre since it seems that the PNW loves Mopars more than many areas.
Love the classic Mopar A-bodies! The Torqueflite + Slant Six is a bulletproof combo.
We were a GM family growing up but plenty of our family friends had Mopars with that familiar high pitched starter ignition sound…
The high-speed torque pitch of the ‘Highland Park Hummimgbird’ Chrysler starter is a sound that is pure nirvana for the Mopar enthusiast.
Unless, of course, the ballast resistor has crapped and the car won’t start…
One of the things I remember about my ’75 Duster 360 was how difficult it was to change the oil filter. The torsion bar was right in the way of easy access. After I unscrewed the filter, then I had to juggle it along the torsion bar until there was a gap big enough for the filter to drop out. Meanwhile, hot oil is dripping everywhere (including on me) during the process.
That was why they sold the shortie oil filter. PH43, if I remember correctly.
I think you are right about that number, but it is still a very tight fit. I usually let it all drain into the pan with the filter still resting on the torsion bar, then wiggled it out. That lets the exhaust pipe cool more too.
Yes, there’s a flashback for you! I had a 75 Dart Sport with the 360. For about eight weeks. I totaled it in a one car accident on black ice, another story for another time.
That oil filter was a real b!tch to get to. But the oil filter on a 2.2L Chevy Cavalier is worse! And you had the same deal with reaching up to a filter past a hot exhaust pipe.
Good times….
It’s a shame there hasn’t been a cottage industry with NOS parts for the Duster like there is with the first generation Mustang. You can find parts to repair/replace virtually anything on a Mustang with relative ease. The Duster is every bit as good a classic (and, in some ways, better), but they’re more difficult to find parts.
In fact, it seems almost criminal how it’s easier to find parts for an early E-body Mopar than it is the much more livable A-body of the same vintage.
Layson’s, Atlas Obsolete, Year 1 IIRC all source A Body parts. Most prevalent are the offerings for 67-77. Earlier As have fewer new repro parts but I have new headlight rings on my 63 Valiant, pedals, dome light cover, etc on it as well as turn signal cancellation switch, headliner, interior upholstery, new bits and fasteners and weatherstripping etc etc etc.
Much better availability than in the 90’s, pre-internet, and not just JY parts these days either, but new, reproduction style.
Great business for someone with the means and ability.
I am also a big A body fan although the Duster body is my least favorite. I have owned 5 of them tears ’67, ’69. ’71, ’72 & 74. All were 225 slant 6 and auto. Today I wish I had kept all 5, what was I thinking in getting rid of them. The ’67 Dart was the biggest one of the 5, almost the length of my ’67 Coronet but a little narrower as I remember. Another one I wish I had held on to.
Is that Roadkill’s Duster? Did it sound like it had an rv sourced 440?
On the street coming into my neighborhood from the northeast, there is a pair of Curbside Classics, very probably with common ownership: a 1963 (or so) Chevy II station wagon, in shiny red; and a 1975 Dodge Dart Custom 4-door sedan in what looks like factory light blue with a white vinyl roof; but it may be a good repaint.
The Dart looks to be the most-often driven, but both cars do move over the course of a week.
As the former owner of a 1974 Plymouth Valiant Custom sedan, I drool over the Dart but it is apparent that the owner knows what he’s got.
I remember that many of these had different colored gas caps. People would leave them at the pump or have them stolen by other owners who had lost theirs.
Im a big Duster fan. Whenever I see an early one, I always think of the album cover to The Cars’ “Heartbeat City”
That image was pinched directly from the brochure.
I can’t argue with the ease of keeping one of these on the roads (as long it doesn’t rust!!) but for a regular driver, I think I’d look for a M body 5th ave or Diplomat.
At this point, the badly built ones should have been weeded out. The only downside I can think of is the “lean burn” system, and if that isn’t working right, backdate it to an early ’70s electronic ignition and carb.
Every so often, I see this showroom new looking 340 Duster in Petty Blue, with white stripes and I really want it badly. I’ve seen that car at least monthly for over 32 years now, and it always looks so damn good. When it was for sale about 25 years ago, I came so close to buying it. It was super cheap back then, and my GF talked me out of it. I don’t hate her for it, but I never really forgave her for it.
This car may very well be Chrysler Corporation’s biggest success story. Reportedly developed from only $15 million dollars and six weeks (!) in secrecy, they may have very well kept the company afloat during the latter point of the 1970’s. The curved side glass trick was a very effective way of hiding the car’s true Valiant roots. Their initial sales absolutely destroyed the previous year’s Valiant 2 door sales numbers, and also unfortunately likely killed any success the E-body cars could achieve. The juxtaposition of these cars is an interesting and depressing senario of a company that was clearly in denial of their fear of innovation or any form of leadership in the market.
There was also a “hatch” type with a fold down rear seat. Very Plymouth Barracuda !
The comments here really take me back! My first car was a ’63 Valiant 100 2-door sedan. It had a 170 slant six and a three on the tree; white with a seafoam green interior and tiny 13″ bias ply tires. I still remember the whine of the starter and the exhaust note—I flogged that slant six mercilessly for 6 years and it never did blow up! Truly a car that I could have kept forever. The FL humidity and salt air meant that rust was a challenge, but relatively easily managed over its life. 25 years later when I see people from high school they still remember my car.
I liked my old Dart, but if I were to delve into old RWD Mopars that aren’t Chargers or E bodies this would be my choice: The 1978 and later F body Volare and Aspen. Same leaning tower of power, similar torsion bars and better interiors. The attached pic is STILL one of my dream cars from the late 1970’s, along with the 1979 and later Trans Am and Mustang Turbo.