The two smartest things Chrysler did in the late sixties and early seventies: One: Hang on to the A-Body compacts, seemingly forever. Two: Give that line of rolling refrigerators some new pizazz with the Duster. In lieu of these, Chrysler’s 1980 brush with death undoubtedly would have come much sooner.
The Valiant and Dart had their last (and final) re-do in 1967, resulting in the first line of cars known more for their appliance-like qualities than style. And Plymouth didn’t shy away from that association: here’s the (now) rare 1968 Valiant Whirlpool edition, available in white, avacado or harvest gold. No ice maker, though.
The ’67 – ’69 Barracuda (shot by Cohort blue387) came in three body styles, including this svelte coupe, which could rightfully be considered a sporty Valiant coupe, given that’s what it essentially was (the upright windshield being the give-away, as if one was needed). And no, the mod top wasn’t available on the Whirlpool. But for 1970, the Barracuda would morph into a whole different kettle of fish, leaving a bit of a hole in the A-Body line-up.
John Herlitz, who would later become Director of Chrysler Design, conveniently joined Chrysler after a short stint at GM, where he had seen the development of the ’68 GTO. That design continued on a theme started with the ’66 Olds Toronado, integrating its C-Pillar seamlessly between the lower body and the roof.
So how to do that with the Valiant body (or Dart, in the case of this picture), which had a very old-school “ledge” or character line that ran down the side, making the roof structure look like it was a slightly smaller box set on top of a bigger box.
Lots of clay; that’s how. Bulge out those hips, as if there were some giant drag slicks under them. As is clearly not the case with this one; but it did endear itself with the Big Wheel crowd. Well, that and lean back the windshield, and give it the most radically-curved side glass to date on a production car. Tricky, for the times, but Chrysler engineers were good at solving problems.
But a wider rear track sure would have helped. This one shows off the empty space under its hip-augmentation even more painfully.
Here we go; I knew I had a version with the right rear wheels somewhere in my files. And all of them are ’74s? Jeez, how many Dusters have I shot by now?
This was my first, a ’72, and one of the legendary 340s. A real speed freak, and my CC on it emphasized that aspect.
As well as the two layers of cord showing in the front tire. It was the best performance value for the buck at the time, by a good margin. Having done it justice (hopefully), we’ll stick to the Duster’s other qualities in this CC.
Like luxury. Presumably, that’s what the Gold Duster package was, at least for its time. It arrived mid-year in the 1970 model year, still a bit before the Great Broughamification of the compact class. That would come soon enough…
In early seventies parlance, a Gold Duster meant this, as shown: hardly loose-pillow velour and fake wood trim. Don’t ask what the basic Duster’s seats looked like; undoubtedly like the black taxi-cab seats in my Dad’s ’68 stripper Dart. Let’s just say they didn’t show it in the brochure.
The Plymouth marketing gurus got a bit carried away with the xxxDuster approach. A fold-down rear seat option was called the Space Duster Pak. Maybe they were using a bit too much dust themselves. But that was hardly the end of it.
In the Duster’s final year (1976), a Silver Duster also made the line-up. Love how that red accent band on its sides dips back up at the rear; classy.
image: thestreetpeep.com
But the Feather Duster has them all beat. In response to the energy crisis and the growing inroads of imports, the Plymouth engineers decided to show everyone what an economy-optimized American compact was capable of. Some 180 lbs were shed by using aluminum in certain body parts.
The 225 cubic inch (3.7 L) slant six got a smaller carb, a different advance curve in its distributor, a bigger exhaust for less back pressure, and a 2.8:1 rear axle. With the four-speed overdrive manual, it scored an EPA rating of 24/36. Pretty impressive, although those were the old un-adjusted EPA numbers. Maybe about 20/30 in today’s EPA numbers, or a tad less. Getting 25 mpg in a semi-decent-sized American car during the seventies was not exactly common.
The 198 inch slant six was standard for all Dusters, except the 340/360 versions. It used the raised block of the 225 inch version (which was optional), but had a shorter stroke. It was rated at 100hp, vs 110 for the 225. And the 318 was of course optional.
The Duster spun gold for Plymouth, with sales on a powerful upward trajectory, culminating in almost 300k units sold in 1974 (explains why I’ve encountered so many ’74s). But then Duster sales dropped like a gold ingot in ’75 and ’76, as folks were ready for something newer, or Japanese. The typical A-Body buyer undoubtedly found Toyota to be a logical next step in utility, simplicity and ruggedness, especially considering that Chrysler’s replacement for them was the ill-fated Volare/Aspen twins.
Solid gold, these cars were, until the hips played out. And it’ll probably be quite a while before these have all turned to dust again.
One of the few rare exceptions to the overwrought late 60s-70s designs, even though it is an economy model, or perhaps because of it.
In 1982 my first car was my Dad’s ’73 Duster. It was Gold with a black roof [but not a GOLD DUSTER
] with a 318 V8! Great car that took a lot of abuse. After about a year the front tie rods were rotting and the front wheels began to cave in, we traded it in on a used 78 Omni, OY!!
I’d like to see one of our Photo-chop gurus make a sedan and wagon out of this car. Better space utilization might have held onto some of those sensible-shoe buyers after ’74.
I know that when I daydream about building an A-body racing skiff to dock by the Imp, I start with a Scamp or Swinger for more headroom and glass area.
Better space utilization might have held onto some of those sensible-shoe buyers after ’74.
But I wonder if that isn’t part of the problem: It seems as though aesthetically pleasing, flowing lines and good space utilization are mutually exclusive, although I’m sure there are some exceptions.
I had several of these cars….calling them Rusters when the tin worm hit. Lots of trunk space, decent economy for the price.
I always thought these were really dull, even back then. Zero appeal for me. I just thought the competing models from GM and Ford looked so much better.
That yellow one with the cord showing thru the tires says it all-The Methmobile.
I’d take one with a V8… for some unknown reason this post makes me really nostalgic for a time when coupes were very common.
Economy coupes, sport coupes, luxury coupes, muscle car coupes…
While not the most stylish cars out there at the time, these did have a nice look all their own. My Mom had a ’72 Gold Duster, brown with gold accents and interior and I think the matching gold vinyl top, at least partially anyway.
She got it in ’76, sold it in ’78 to replace it with a similar type brown used ’76 Vega kamback wagon, and yes, the car looked great in brown, so there.
Anyway, the basic looks of these were great, sadly, the interiors weren’t anything to write home about since they were lifted, pretty much straight across from their more conservatively styled sedans. The 2 doors looked less dowdy than the 4 doors, but neither were terribly stylish, but the Duster/Demon had the most style of these cars.
The basic coupe look still looks pretty good all these years later, I would contend that the Volare/Aspen twins coupes did much the same, as they were the best looking of that ill fated model(s).
While their underpinnings were nothing terribly exciting to write home about, gotta give ‘em credit, they were bulletproof with their great motors, and torqueflite auto.
my mom’s first car was a Duster. It was pale green and I think it had the /6. She bought it new. There’s a picture of me standing in front of it as a toddler, but it disappeared before I was old enough to remember it. Rear main seal started weeping, my dad didn’t want to deal with it, and my grandma was going to buy a new car soon. Grandma bought a new LTD, my mom bought grandma’s Dodge Coronet, the Duster got sold. My mom says she saw it driving around town for a long time afterwards. Presumably the oil leak didn’t get appreciably worse, or the next owner got it fixed.
Speaking of Duster/Dart special editions, there was a real trippy one in 1974: The Dart “Hang-10″. It had the fold-down rear seat (to accommodate your surfboards, naturally). Exterior was white with special surf-themed graphics. Interior had bright red carpet and white bucket seats and door panels with red, blue and white striped inserts.
Like this?
Or this?
Yeah, that’s the one. I’ve seen two of them. They show up at the big Mopar car show I attend every year.
I loved the Hang 10 Dart Sport Coupe!! And I do remember the Gold Duster quite well. Old lady up the street had one . . . the same color green as the CC pictured, but with a half-vinyl (black) top.
I have mentioned in other posts, my step-mom at the time she came into our lives (and home) had the sleeper 318 ’72 Scamp. Same vinyl seat pattern as the above pictured car, but in a (very) attractive medium blue.
I remember a stripper ’74 Duster at the San Francisco Car Show; black rubber floor mats, dog dish wheel covers, belted blackwalls, three on the tree, radio delete, but the all vinyl plain-jane taxicab seats were color keyed (green) to the green paint job – again – like our CC car. Never did I again encounter such a plain-strippo car until I was in Grenada in ’83/New Years’ 84 (after the invasion). The car that was rented was a strippo ’79 or ’80 Datsun 120Y (the Datsun 210 in the U.S.) This car had no radio, heater, defroster, fan controls – vinyl seats and rubber floor mats. No tinted glass – no nothing except an automatic transmission. The dash was a sea of plastic delete/filler panels.
When I was 17 (early 80′s) and looking for my first car – a guy in town had a Duster for sale very similar to the yellow 340 shown above. My father and I went to look at it – the guy was asking over $3k for it. I thought it was great. My father said no way – too much for a car without A/C. Looking back I think he was just scared that I would get myself into too much trouble with a car like that – and used the non a/c fact as an excuse.
Mike – similar story for me when I was 17 in the fall of 1976 – and the Bank of Dad was going to finance – I was coming home with Mustang Fastbacks (including a ’71 with a 351 4-bbl Cleveland and four-speed), GTOs, a Skylark GS ragtop (’65 with a 400), a couple of Firebirds . . . . he (in retrospect, wisely) said “no way”. Choices then were down to two vehicles: a green ’66 VW Karmann-Ghia (Veale VW in Santa Rosa) and a ’74 slightly used Ford Courier pick up. The avatar is that pickup. Kept me out of speeding trouble as the Courier had 68 net, California smog chocked horsepower. Girls, though it was “cute” – so it paid off in ways I’d never imagined!
In summer ’76 I was looking for my “go to college” car. All that part time job money was burning a hole in my pocket. I looked at late ’60s Mustangs, Camaros and the like, and my dad as well said “no way”, but probably in a bit more colorful fashion. So I looked some more and found a lovely ’74 Mustang II silver w/lipstick red interior, a ’74 baby blue Duster very similar to the pic above, and a ’75 Monza Town Coupe. I chose the Monza to my never-ending regret.
My mom had a ’72 in True Blue with the slant six that she drove until the mid-’80s. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I seem to recall the base model seats weren’t that bad. Blue vinyl with plaid cloth inserts, if I’m remembering them correctly. Water leaks were eventually what led her to get rid of it. Every time it would rain, the footwells in the front would be soaked, and water collected in the trunk until the whole thing eventually rotted straight through. It’s too bad, because the body wasn’t that bad otherwise, and of course that slant six is probably still running today somewhere.
I’m pretty certain that the Feather Duster used the 225 cid Slant Six, the 198 version having been dropped after 1974.
It seems you’re right; I somehow had remembered it having the 198. I’ll fix the text.
The Dodge equivalent was the “Dart Lite”. I was visiting my Grandfolks the summer of 1976 and we went to a Family Motor Coach Association rally in southern Michigan (Sturgis, Michigan) – the organizers were giving away a maroon ’76 Dart Lite. I do know it had the 225 slant six . . . .and I believe (Zackman – heresy!) the rear windows were fixed (much like the strippo 1970 Dodge Challenger Deputy). Four speed on the floor overdrive. Belted whitewalls with dog dish wheel covers.
Of course, I didn’t win.
Of course, these Dart Lites and Feather Dusters were also n/a in California.
I spent a lot of time in these. My college roommate Dan (the son of my car-mentor Howard) had 3 of them. A blue 71 225/column 3 speed, a red 72 with 225/auto and a brown 73 with a 318 and a floor shifted 3 speed.
The blue 71 was a worn out pos. Howard was not happy that Dan (with my cheering from the side) had spent 400 perfectly good dollars on a worn out heap. In our defense, it was quite rust-free, and besides, nothing ever wears out on these, right?
The red 72 was the best of the lot. No drama, it just ran whenever we ever needed it.
The brown 73 was fiercely fast (I think a 340 might scare me) but had a carb issue. If you didn’t work the gas pedal just right the first time it tried to fire, it would grind the starter for an hour unless you sprayed a shot of starting fluid down the carb. Then it was fine. Howard got rid of that one.
Add in my very similar 71 Scamp, and I think I have the equivalent of at least a college minor in these. Rust has pretty well removed them from the scene in the midwest.
A brilliant move on ChryCo’s part, although it didn’t seem so much like it at the time. But these cars’ durability has silenced the doubters of that day. Plus I think the style only gets better with age.
Duster/Demon seem a little bit like the schoolmarm secretary who takes off her glasses and lets her hair down to reveal she’s quite the looker. Or the automotive “Georgy Girl” might be a better descriptor…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BATsSpz8aN0&feature=fvst
A little too brilliant, in fact. Lots of musclecar aficonados looking for a cheap, fast car took notice and the little 340 engine Valiant hotrod sold like ice on a hot day. Or, for the more practical, even the six-cylinder or 318 was a nice looking (albeit slower) way to get around.
For the low, low entry MSRP of $2549, one could get a nice-looking, bare-bones 340-powered coupe that would run with cars costing well over a grand more (quite a princely amount back in 1970). Unfortunately, the designed on-the-cheap Duster handily sucked-up (cannibalized) way too many of the much more expensive (and higher profit) E and B body Mopar sporty coupes to suit Chrysler execs. IOW, the Duster proved to be ‘too’ successful. In a supreme irony, the people responsible for the Duster weren’t exactly revered around Chrysler corporate hallways.
As to John Herlitz from Pontiac, it reminds me of an early design proposal for the fresh-from-the-ground-up 1970 E-body Barracuda looked so much like the 1968 GTO, it was rumored that GM threatened legal action.
The F body Aspen/Volare were rushed to factories, since Ford was making hay with the Granada. But as with any ‘undercooked’ car, ended up with a bad rep and Mopar’s near death.
The basic RWD design did last til 1989, at least, so they got some profits from it.
I don’t know about that, being the record holder for recalls likely meant that the profits on most of them were wiped out with the costs of that and the warranty work they required.
For all the different V8-powered A-body cars I had, none of them was a Duster. But my 318 4-speed 1969 Valiant Signet coupe looked just like one from the inside, and the squarish old-folks look of the Signet combined with a lack of engine callout id’s to fool quite a few people. That little coupe was pretty fast.
Step Mother’s 318 ’72 Scamp was a mondo-sleeper. That regular (leaded) gas burning, baby Carter 2-bbl, Torqueflite ladies car who jump like a startled cat with a slight snap of the accelerator; I never had/drove an equivalent body style to that Scamp (Dart 340), but knew of a guy in Junior College that had a ’69 Dodge Dart 340 GT which was scary fast . . . . he stacked it up going way too fast into the Terra Linda northbound exit (San Rafael, Calif.) – said Dart became one with the ice plants missing an an overpass pillar by a matter of feet. Front suspension was tore up along with many State of California ice plants (which this guy had to pay back the state for re-doing the landscaping).
More amusing/or sad part of this story (on how you look at it) was, in the day, around 1977, this guy had beer in the cooler in back and had been drinking it; nothing alcohol offensively charged happened to him – CHP took the report, called the tow truck, and cited him for unsafe and excessive speed. He went to traffic court and had to pay for the landscape damage.
Cops in the day would pull us over, either confiscate our beer (!!) or make us pour them all out in the curb – and send us straight home!!
Where am I going with this? That the 318s were plenty quick in these cars and 340′s even more so – scary fast. “A” body, big block GM cars, and just about any Mustang (I beat a 351W Mach 1 by three car lengths) never had a chance . . .
Plymouth used the Duster name for 3 different cars after the A bodies. Volare’, Turismo and Sundance Dusters. Never the same again.
There was a restyle down under in 71 that stayed till the coffin closed in 82, that coulda been imported to the US if theyd bothered.
I had just wondered the other day why, when Aussie production of the prior model stopped in ’71 and demand for small(er) wagons here picked up, they didn’t bring the VG-VH wagon tooling up here.
Having been born in 1969 and seeing a ton of these as a kid (though I don’t think I ever rode in one), these cars say “70s” to me like nothing else…they never looked particularly great nor particularly bad, they were just part of the landscape. And then they all ended up in high school parking lots in around 1981.
I still remember seeing the new Valiant Duster at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show. Thought it was cool sporty ‘muscular’ Valiant coupe after seeing so many plain boxy ones since ’67. Also, loved the cartoon ‘dust-storm’ icon. [I was 8]
Paul, you’re right about all the “Dusters” . . . I recall the ’71 and ’71 Duster “Twister” (served the same purpose as the ’71 and ’72 Chevelle “Heavy Chevy” – no go showboats . . . well, if you had a 318 you did have SOME go – and Twisters had non-functioning hoodscoops); Feather Dusters, Gold Dusters, Silver Dusters Space Dusters.
No Dust-Buster-Dusters. We had to wait for ’89 and GM’s geeky 1st gen minivans for that!
In the 80s, Drove a V8 duster with 3 on the floor from a rent-a-wreck place after a catastrophic failure of my 75 rabbit. After a month driving it, they offered it to me cheap but it was just too agricultural so I passed. As I recall the rear suspension was really prone to skittering over rough roads if you drove at all fast.
Really wanted to like it but it was just too crude.
My Dad was a first class Mopar man. Probably because Grandma worked at the Kaiser(Willys) jeep factory in Toledo. But I guess he was ahead of his time as Chrysler didn’t buy out Jeep until later in the century but anyway, he was also partially responsible for me being the motorhead I am today. After his stint in the USAF he must have gotten a better paying job because about the time I was around five years young I can remember the families annual pilgrimage to the local Mopar dealers. My earliest memory of any specific brand of car we had was the old 62 or so Valiant sedan with me standing by while my mother clicked of a roll of 110 on her Brownie. I can distinctly remember them having an arguement about buying a Barracuda. My dad loved them but mom wanted something more pratical so they hung onto that Valiant for another year or so. Than when the new body style rolled out in 1967 they decided that it wasn’t any smaller than what they had so home we came in a copper with white bucket seat fastback. I thought we were something special as all I remember was that air cleaner said Commando and that meant it was fast! Than mom got a job and needed a car so than a 68 “Cuda joined the fleet. It was also copper. Than dad traded the 67 in on a leftover 69 after a salesman showed him a picture of the new 70 E-Body. All the fish were the same copper with white buckets and all were 4 gears.How cool was that? I mean mom could do a redline launch and catch rubber on the upshift! I assume the 69 may have been a 318 but I do know they weren’t uber rare Formula S’ or big blocks. Anyway dad saved the 69 for my older brother to drive when he turned 16 in 1976. It sat patiently waiting in our single car garage while us kids innocently put a few(lot!) door dings with our bikes or the occasional rake falling off the wall rack. Well my brother blew it big time IMO. When the time came he decided that the quasi muscle car wasn’t his style(?) and dad ended up parking it down on the corner gas station with a for sale sign on it. $300 and there was some lucky dog driving it to school the next monday. Oh well. Born to late again! My parents continued to be Ma and Pa Mopar as they were both selling real estate out of a pair of gold Plymouth and Dodge station wagons and later mom drove a New Yorker and dad started building houses with a small fleet of Dodge D-Series trucks. The family car for “us” teenagers was his 75 Coronet coupe with the torquey 400. I can remember making my buddys cough up gas money so we could spend all Friday cruising the strip in it. I’m guessing if my parents hadn’t been that successfull with thier finances there might have been a few A-Bodies in the fleet. Us kids certainly had enough friends that drove them. Quite a few of the wide hips(might be a late 70′s Stevie Nicks child bearing hip joke in there) models IIRC. I still see these showing up almost as frequently as the 70′s X-Cars in the junkyards.
My father had a 71 duster. Forrest green, vinyl interior and the little tornado sticker on the back. It was all very impressive to a 5 year old future gear head. What other car on earth had a cartoon tornado on the back?
Of course, in my zeal to begin working on cars, I decided one day to play gas station and put the garden hose in the gas tank. I don’t remember much from that day, but I do remember that the duster would not start the next day. Flash forward about 25 years and a thanksgiving dinner when the topic of old cars came up. My father relayed the story of once buying gas that turned out to be about 1/3 water. He cursed out the station at the end of the street and had to have the whole fuel system removed and dried out. But never until that day did he know that the real culprit was much closer to home…. Ah memories…
If these cars were produced today, these so called “compact” cars during those era would now be considered a full fledged full size cars. Remember that the 2012 Dodge Charger which is considered a full size car would be exactly give or take an inch or two will be almost identical to the exterior length dimensions of these Plymouth Valiant/Dodge Dart twins.
Oh God … This dredges up repressed memories of an absolutely beautiful 74 Duster 360 that I traded off on a new Dodge Omni in 1979.
I had a 73 Gold Duster and previously had a 63 Dodge Dart. Except for the solid-state ignition system of the Duster, the Dart was better in every way. By 73 the body was overweight and the brakes were atrocious. Both cars, however, suffered from the common slant 6 problem of not reaching operating temperature in cold weather.
That was what big sheets of cardboard in front of the radiator were for! On the plus side, the damned things were almost impossible to overheat.
That’s why parts stores sell replacement thermostats.
Never understood why someone (who owns his car, as opposed to a fleet beater) would just jam cardboard down there. First, it almost always shifts (yes, I did it when I was young and dumb and didn’t know my…never mind) and gets in the fan or makes a mess. Second, changing a thermostat is easy, if you prepare with an hour of reading Chilton’s and buying K-mart tools.
I did replace the thermostat, more than once, with a 195 degree version even. But in really cold weather, the car would struggle to maintain operating temp because the heater would be sucking heat out of the coolant almost as fast as the engine was producing it. And even on the hottest days, the temp gauge would live about 1/8 of an inch up from the bottom edge of the operating range. Those slant 6s were just cold blooded, that’s all.
My favorite “special edition” version of this body is the Dodge Dart Sport Convertriple
Is it just me or does the Nissan Altima (especially the 07-12) remind you of a modern version of these?
Never had one; never got close to one.
But for my money, the style is a winner. Certainly the design under the pretty skin is. But the combination of Grandma’s Valiant face, to a suddenly Camaro-ized body, complete with Bill Mitchell hips…it just appeals to that part of me that loves the kit-bash mode.
Pretty common vehicles in México, these Valiants now are jewels for car collectors in this country. They are even better wanted than their similar Dodge siblings, although the latter had in their time the higher price of the two. I have a 1971 Dart 2 door hard top and at the gas stations constantly the younger (but very young, 18-25 yo) attendants ask me “what make is it? Is it a Valiant?” Certainly, these models had more appeal than Dodge’s.
My first car was a 1974 Duster that I purchased from my brother-in-law’s grandmother for $900 (in 1986). It was a light silvery green, with dark green bench seat interior. It had the 225 1bbl slant 6, automatic trans, and under the dash A/C (which worked great!), power steering & power disc brakes.Other than that it was pretty much a plain jane model. Mine didn’t have the fold down seat option.
My best friend had a Feather Duster at the same time, and I remember it having aluminum front & rear bumpers, I don’t know if it also had aluminum front fenders,door skins, and hood/trunk lid or not. I do remember his was a totally stripped version with rubber flooring instead of carpet, no heater or A/C, no radio, and bucket seats that looked like they might have come from the B-100 van series…really thin & plain. He did get better gas mileage than mine did, and it was faster than mine too, until I blew the original engine and replaced it with a Super 6 from a ’79 Diplomat…lol
I also ran across a Hang-10 Dart, this one equipped with a factory sunroof, and 4 speed manual. It was in a junkyard and the yard owner wouldn’t sell it… I tried for over a year to buy it from him. It was running & complete, and he was saving it to restore for his personal collection.