Ah, look- A pair of Curbside Classics sitting together under the California sun. Two A-bodies, both built after 1973. There’s no need for a full write up, as there’s plenty of A-body (and slant-six) love to be found here at Curbside Classic. A quick Google search generated the following links:
Dart Sedan, Dart Coupe, Dart Swinger, Feather Duster, Gold Duster, Just Duster, 340 Duster, Scamp
If that’s not enough for you, I didn’t search using “Valiant,” “Demon,” or “Slant Six,” so you’re welcome to research further.
A close look at the grilles (and hoods) indicates these two A-body coupes share a sporty roofline, but do not share nameplates. The front car is a Duster, while the rear doppleganger is a Dart Sport. I’m not sure if the difference in marker light locations helps differentiate the Plymouth from the Dodge, or simply moved down from one model year to the next. Given the common fenders, door skins, glass, and door handles, I’m guessing the change occurred between model years. These A-Bodies may have been the most egregious examples of badge engineering from the seventies, but Chrysler took it to an even higher level with the Neon- two cars that shared everything except the Division badges.
Given how these two cars are parked nose to tail, I’d assume they have common ownership. Thank the Chrysler Gods that the Dodge came with a half-vinyl roof. Without it, the owner would have a hard time telling these identical twins apart.
The A-body aficionados have spoken, and it turns out there are differences between the front fender wheel arches (and perhaps the opening around the headlights). A close examination proves them right, but the two fenders are close enough in shape that I missed it on first examination. I could see myself buying a Duster fender for my Dart at the Junkyard, and bolting it on without noting there is a difference.
The front fenders & hood (along with the grille & bumper) are different between the Dodge & Plymouth versions.
Wow, I had never before noticed the different positions of the front side markers. Dodge put them above the crease, Plymouth below. A quick Google search of pictures seems to confirm this. So, I guess I can check off my one thing to learn everyday for today.
2 door A bodies did not start out badge-engineered. The 108 inch wb Valiant and the 111 inch wb Darts did not share bodies. The Dodge’s Dart 2 door hardtop was unique to Dodge. By 1970, the 108 inch wb Duster was unique to Plymouth. Then in 1971, they made a trade. Plymouth got the Dodge hardtop body and called it a Scamp, while Dodge got the Duster body and called it a Demon (changed to Dart Sport in 1973).
I miss the humble Duster. I wish my college roomie had kept his 73 Gold Duster with the 318 and the 3 speed on the floor longer than he did. That one was really fun to drive. At least it was if you could get it to start.
The shape of the front wheel arches are quite different on the two cars.
On the Duster, the front an rear wheels arches are very similar to each other, but not so on the Dart.
Nice cars,it leaves me confused working out all the many A body cars and the differences between them.I’ve still to look into the Aussie and South African Valiant and their many offspring.Dad had a 66 Aussie Valiant 4 door sedan (upright 6 non hemi) because Mum always liked American cars as well but never felt OK overtaking when driving solo.Dad’s last American car was a 72 Dodge Dart 4 door sedan slant 6 auto sadly I was too young to drive when he sold it and my brother was too much of a headbanger too appreciate it,his bedroom had pinups of Boss Mustangs and Hemicudas etc. and he looked down his nose at anything without a big block V8 like most 17 year olds.
Ah the memories! In ’95, I purchased a ’74 Duster in Denver that was that same baby poo yellow colour. It was as basic as you could get- drums all round, no power steering, no power brakes, rubber floor and a 3 on the tree. The owner was desperate to sell but even at $400, nobody would buy a 3 on the tree. So for $300 a 72K rust free Duster was mine. Even the rear quarters and boot were carrying paint without surface rust.
I sold it six months later in rust-belt Kansas City with a bad ballast resistor (I later figured out this was the cause of the ‘unfixable’ stalling problem) for $800 and thought I made a killing.
No doubt it now has a big V8 and is painted in a much more fetching colour- and a $20K price tag.
Of all my cars, that is the one I regret not keeping. In ’95, it was known as Al Bundy’s car, but today, the loser rep has died, and everyone wants one. How times change. Regardless, its character and Chryslerness set me to own many more Mopars- all of them rock solid reliable, once I learned to keep a spare ballast resistor in the glovebox.
Geez, talk about wasting money. Having completely different (but still very similar) A-body front fenders on what appear to be the same model year cars (1973-1974)? I can understand different hoods to match up with different grilles, but not the fenders. No wonder Chrysler was perpetually on the brink of bankruptcy.
In fact, the 1970 A-body Duster exemplifies the ‘best of times, worst of times’ for Chrysler. While the Duster (and its Dodge variants) was a smash success, few of those sales were ‘conquest’ sales of Ford and GM products. They were, instead, cannibalization of other, more profitable Chrysler vehicles which inevitably bled off the company’s resources and ability to come up with other competitive products.
The Dart/Demon/Duster successfully fought off the Barracuda & Challenger.Ford was careful not to make the Maverick a Mustang beater.The Chevy Nova came with a few tyre burner versions but I don’t think it outsold the Camaro.Was there a big price difference between a Duster and a Barracuda?
Base MSRP for a strippo 1970 Duster was $2172 . A Duster 340 was $2547.
A strippo 1970 Barracuda was $2764, with a ‘Cuda 340 being $3147.
A comparable 1970 Barracuda with the same engine (either a base six or 340) was around $600 more, a huge chunk of change at the time. So, yeah, the Duster was a lot cheaper than a comparable Barracuda of the same year. IOW, you could get a Duster 340 for $217 less than a six-cylinder Barracuda.
Simply put, the dirt-cheap musclecar market that the Roadrunner conquered in 1968, was usurped two years later by the Duster 340 to the detriment of Chrysler’s brand-new E-bodies.
Thanks for the info,a Panther Pink/Moulin Rouge A body or Superbee has been on my wish list for a long time,always wanted Barbie’s muscle car!
While it wouldn’t be cheap, a Panther Pink/Moulin Rouge A-body or Super Bee would still be less than an E-body. It wasn’t a popular color and they didn’t build very many of them in any body style.
They weren’t wasting money since the Dart front clip existed long before the Dodge Demon/Sport. All they did was swap on an already existing part to Dodgify the car.
I’ve always liked these duster/demon A bodies over the notchback dart/valiant twins as they had a much more sporty look about them, never mind their bargain basement basic interiors and dashes.
That said, they were good cars for their day and while the 2 and 4 door Dart/Valiant got fuddy duddy and rather frumpy, the Duster/Demon I don’t thing ever did, up through the end.
My Mom had a ’72 Gold Duster for a brief time, about a couple of years, at best, and I think it was the more common slant 6/torqueflite combo.
As everyone has pointed out, the front side lights are differently positioned from the Plymouth to the Dodge, and the grilles are different. The taillights are also different, the Dart having the two piece taillights. Sitting inside one, the only difference one will see from the inside will be the Plymouth or the Dodge emblem on the steering wheel.