The Plymouth Duster was introduced in 1970. For 7 years the Duster body style remained basically the same- In that timespan it would also become the best selling car that Chrysler had ever offered.

The Duster was invented to compete with the "new style" Chevy Nova. It is not hard to see the similaritys between the cars, however Plymouth designers did a much cleaner and sleeker job than the bulky Nova.

It would not be an easy task to design the car. The designers were ordered to use a limited budget, and in order to meet this demand, had to use the existing Valiant chassis. The budget restriction was placed on the Duster designers, because the new E-body's (Challengers and Cudas) were using much of the funds for thier entirely new tooling requirements.

You may recall that the 1970 Duster is the only year where the car sports the "Valiant" nameplate on its fenders. The main problem with using the Valiant chassis is obvious if you see a Duster with stock wheels and tires on the rear- The valiant rear end is narrow and the Duster looks a little odd with the rear tires tucked so far in the rear. In fact the designers of the car used spacers to get the rear wheels out further when presenting and photographing the car. Although the car would not be sold with the spacers, it did make for nice photos.

The duster was fitted mainly with slant six and 318 V8 powerplants. However a performance model would be needed also. The 340 engine was a serious contender and was the obvious fit for the new Duster C.K. Duster C.K.? What is that? Its the Duster Clark Kent. Yes indeed, the first 340 powered Duster was designed to be the Duster C.K. Complete with a Duster CK logo of an empty phone booth with its door left open. As if Superman was now on the loose. The CK also had a large Superman "S" emblazed in full color on the underhood insulation. How cool is that? Pop the hood to your car and there is a giant Superman logo right in your face.

Unfortunately the decision makers at the time thought it was lame and it was quickly dropped. The performane car would now be named simply "Duster 340" The 340 Duster did have some neat extra goodies though. The 727 automatic would back the engine or a heavy duty 4 speed was available, with a Hurst shifter. An 8.75 rear end was out back. The car also would get some added looks if wanted. A rear wing, rally dash, hood scoops and stripe kit was added. With a set of rallye wheels the Duster 340 looked mean and could back up its looks with its 340 engine. This potent package could be had for $3000.00. Chrysler was the king of musclecar design-hands down.

In 1971 the Duster remained the same- However the Duster 340 would get some upgrades in the looks department. A new "Sharktooth" grille was designed and made its way onto the car. It is undoubtedly one of the coolest grills ever designed- and remains a very sought after piece to this day. New tailights were also designed for the 71 340 Duster. The tailights however did not make it onto the Duster in time for release and found their way into the Dodge camp now placed on the new Dart Demon. Thats right, those Demon tailights were originally meant for the 71 Duster 340. The Demon was invented after the success of the 70 Duster, it was made from a 71 Dart front clip with a Duster rear clip. A Demon 340 would be the performance offering- sporting the same type of dress ups that the Duster 340 had, minus the cool grille.

The Plymouth Scamp was also created in 1971-a Duster front clip with a Dart rear clip, but strangely enough uses the tailights from the 1970 Dart, must have been some leftovers. I really like the looks of the Scamp- I just have a hard time with the name. No performance model was ever offered with the Scamp.

Another Duster variant was introduced in 1971. The Duster Twister- This was invented because the Duster 340 was now being picked on by insurance agencys. The Twister had the 340 look, stripes, scoops, bright colors etc...but was fitted with the slant six or the 318 V8, 2 bbl. It was a way to get the 340 look without the insurance premiums that went along with th 340. The Twister also got a "Twister" decal on the rear quarter and a plaid cloth interior treatment. Below is a picture of a Twister I once owned. If you are curious if your Duster might be a Twister- look for "A51" on the fender tag.

In 1972 the Duster got a new set of long thin tailights and also, as on all mopars, the now generic dodge/plymouth marker lights. I believe by 72 all the slant six cars were now the 225 inch version- 198 inch slants were found in some of the earlier cars. The 340 car in '72 remained essentially the same- The Sharktooth grill remained but was painted a little different. The hood scoop was now a dual snorkel scoop, similar to the scoop on the 70 T/A challengers.

The "Gold Duster" was also introduced in 1972. This was a trim package and not a performane model.

One thing to note is that Dusters were available with sunroofs, these cars are very rare.

1973 saw the most major changes in the Duster. The tailights were completely changed, the sleek bumpers were now replaced with federally mandated 5 mph bumpers. The grille was changed also. Other differences were the inside door handles were moved to a different location, and the Duster 340 no longer had a special grille. The 340 was detuned with a lower compression ratio, but still was a powerful performer. I drove a tired 73 340 4 speed Duster not long ago and was impressed with its power. Especially considering it had 130K on it.

The slant six models would still sport the small bolt pattern wheels- but the v8 cars would now all have the 5 on 4.5 inch bolt pattern like the rest of the cars in the mopar line up- What was the deal with A-bodys having the small bolt pattern in the first place????

The Gold Duster and Twister models were still available in 73.

In 73 the Dodge Demon would be majorly redesigned and renamed the Dart Sport. The name change was due to pressure from reigious organizations that did not like the Demon name. I am a Christian myself, but dont think driving a car called a Demon, changes my heart in any way- oh well. Nice to see that Chrysler was responsive to the request. I am not sure the new design deserved the Demon name anyway. The Demon is one of a kind, offered for two years only and I think it worked out better that way.

Another cool thing was the new electronic ignition was introduced across the whole line of mopars and to this day is a proven robust ignition system. Disc brakes were on nearly all the cars now. Although, I have seen a few 73 models fitted with the 8.75 rear unfortunately the 8.25 now replaced the bulletproof 8.75. Who's desicion was it to get rid of the 8.75 anyway?

Another option in 73 was the Space Saver option with the fold down rear seat and folding trunk sperator. Very cool. I have owned a couple cars with the fold down seat and it is pretty handy and well designed.

1974- no more 340 cars- the performance model would now have the 360 engine.

1975- Twister no longer availble.

1976- The last year of the first generation Duster- Yes, they made Dusters beyond 1976 but they were on the F body chassis and look just like Volares-

In 1976 Plymouth offered the Feather Duster. This was a slant six powered car with a lightwieght deck lid and exhaust system. It also was fitted with a 3 speed manual tranny with Overdrive. The idea was to build an economy car. In my experience owning a couple of overdrive fitted cars, they would be good for 25 mpg. I really like the slant six fitted with the Overdrive tranny- its a nice combo and fun to drive. The Dart Sport version would be called the Dart Lite

Plymouth and Dodge made some other variants in 1976. The "Spirit of 76" Duster was also availble to commemorate the bicentennial- basically a sticker package, a simple "Spirit of 76" sticker on the rear quarter panels.- The one that I had seen was fitted with a slant six, manula overdrive tranny and striped red, white and blue, bucket seats. Nice car- too bad it was being all parted out in a junk yard. Well, at least I got the seats and the Hurst shifter.

Dodge also offered the Hang Ten Dart. Very similar to the Spirit if 76 Duster. With the striped cloth interior. It had a fold down rear seat so a surfboard could be placed in the car. Its rear quarter sticker was sort of red and blue wave looking thing with the word "Hang Ten".



Thanks.

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