If I were to start describing a car that was a performance variant of an otherwise mundane car that left the factory in sporty colors and some of the best looking plaid covered seats around, you’d probably think I was talking about a Volkswagen or possibly a BMW. In this case though, I’d actually be talking about the Dodge Demon. A car that was based on the mass produced Dart, but came with all kinds of fun upgrades. This car is particularly desirable as it was optioned with the 340 trim package and the 318 V8, yes I know that’s a bit confusing since one of Dodge’s engines was a 340 cui. You can find this garage find here on eBay in Mastic, New York with a BIN of $12,500. Oh and did I mention it has been parked since 1975 and has just 2,600 miles on it?
This is the kind of find I dream of! I know it isn’t the most valuable Mopar around, but these cars were quite fun and the fact that it is a low mileage survivor makes me want it that much more! How can you not want a lightweight car with a V8 upfront and plaid seats inside? Just have a look at the fantastic interior! I know the bench seat doesn’t offer the supportive grip of buckets, but I wouldn’t plan on taking this to the race track anyways. With some careful detailing, you could have this interior looking as good as new.
Here is the 318 V8 in all of its glory. I do have to ask though, did these come from the factory painted like this or was this something that was added at a later date? If it was painted, based on the accumulation of dust, it was done some time ago. I’ll admit, something just looks off to me about this engine bay. Any Mopar experts willing to chime in here?
While I absolutely love this car, I do have one complaint. I wish the seller would have not repainted it. We don’t know what the car looked like when it was found, but I have a feeling if it was stored indoors it probably looked pretty good. They say it came out of New Hampshire, so maybe it had rust issues that needed to be fixed. That seems like something buyers would want to know though. I know for many years, the first thing you did when you found a car like this was put a new coat of paint on it, but unless the paint was in terrible condition I would have left it alone. Like they say, they are only original once. Even with the new paint, this is still a desirable car and would be a blast to have parked in the garage. I would want to look it over very carefully though for signs of rust repair and to make sure it really is a Demon. So what do you think? Is this a real deal low mileage Demon or is someone trying to pull a fast one?
I drove a 72 demon with a slant 6 to high school. it was even this color
Me too! It was my favorite car I have ever owned! I hate that I got rid of it.
The valve covers do not look right. If you look at the air breather it is facing the wrong direction. The snorkel should be over the LH exhaust manifold and ducted to the manifold with flexible hosing. Other than that the engine compartment looks ok.
Nice car and not a bad price, I would love to own this just wish it had the buckets and counsel.
Bench seat lets your sweetie sit closer.
Yea, the sheet metal surrounding the left exhaust manifold has the port for the heat riser to the air cleaner snout. And there should be a vacuum hose to the top of the riser valve in the snout as well. Someone has been messing with this car that is better at making things “pretty”, than making them correct. Maybe the valve covers are switched sides?
Did you notice the spare tire? Seems to be a retread or heavily used for a car with so few miles on it.
Retread or not, that tire is to worn out to even be a spare.
yes, saw that wear on the spare as front end related. Stated milage seems off. Car does look pretty cool. Couldn’t tell if the darker corner on the lower right brake pedal was caused by wetness or wear.
Having spent a good portion of my life in the tire busisness, the condition of a spare or any other tire is a poor measure of orignal mileage. We would swap stuff around without even thinking about it. There are many other good indicators, pedal pad wear for example or even looking at the originality of the brakes. Nice looking little car. Not enough information to judge the mileage.
Those are after market Mopar Performance valve covers.
I figure that car has 2600 miles on it about like I’m still 29 years old.
It looks like the passenger quarter has been patched – there looks to be a butt-weld line running front to rear inside the trunk, and there’s no sound deadening gobbed on that side either.
Good eye.
More like 102,500 miles. Check the spare tire. DUNLOP and bald.
Chrysler cars usually came with GOODYEAR tires from the factory.
A 2500 original mile car would have a brand new unused spare.
It would if maybe someone has not walked away with it,
If it sat in a garage since 1975 then why is there a NH license plate in the trunk with a 1982 registration sticker?
Beautiful car with an interior that just makes me want to barf
My uncle bought a brand-new 340 duster duster, a year later he wrapped it around a post he could’ve bought a house for what he paid for the car back then.
He was living with my parents at the time my dad was so mad he kicked him out of the house
Seen many 318+340+360 in my day (only 58yrs old) to best of my knowledge only 340 were painted orange when leaving the factory. All others were blue, looks fairly straight other than air cleaner installed bit wonky.
Pre 71-340 had steel cranks (67-70),the 71 and up had cast cranks. Not as desired!
my parents had a 1970 Duster with a blue 340
While the 340 was the big power for this car, a 318 in an A body car is very spirited. This car is beautiful as is, but I think work has been done to it.
318 car dressed as a 340.
You call that plaid? That’s not plaid. This is plaid. http://tvrna.tvrccna.org/rauh10x10_001.jpg
Did that car eat a used car salesman?
Terrible thing to do to a Griffith. I don’t even think the “Wee Scot” Stewart would approve.
No PB or PS makes me think this was originally a basic 6-cyl Dart. My brother had a ’70 6 cyl Duster came that way, I think the V-8s came stnd with PB and PS
If it were a 6 originally, someone at least thought to put the penta star on the pass front fender at some point. All V8s got the star. Sixes didn’t from what I have read.
K-Frame(crossmember) is different between 6 and V-8, so it CAN be done, it just takes some work. Also 6 cylinders came with 9 inch drums I believe, and V-8 had 10 inchers
71 grille and all. Could very well be 4 wheel drum brakes – my 71 Dart Swinger had drums all around – stopping was always fun. Agree that the valve covers are aftermarket. I wouldn’t believe the deal with 340 graphics on a 318 car to be correct. I was always looking for better stuff for my Dart. Wouldn’t go so far as to put 340 stuff on it, but the stuff on here is readily available now. Where’s the proof that it was optioned with 340 stuff. I would definitely do some serious research on it to see what was the real deal on this one. Look under back seat for build sheet, check VIN and engine #s etc.
According to what I see on net quickly, green was not an interior option for 71 Demons, but anything could have happened back then. The Duster had a green interior option. This could be a repainted Duster with Dart front clip – the Demon was just a Duster with Dart front end – the wheel openings don’t match from the factory. Or Demon with Duster interior. I had Duster, Dart, and Valiant parts in mine at some point. 4 door seats will drop right in to a 2 dr car. Only diffrerence is the rear seat has rounded corners from the 4 dr.
Rando,
The color code for a 1971 Demon with green interior is M1F8 = Cloth and vinyl bench seat. I do not show a code for green buckets in the Demon
Ok. I could only look on web.
Rando, good points. Also, tilt forward lever for back of front seat in order to access rear, for 2dr seats. Btw, this one has a lever.
We should review what the seller says in his advertisement. He never says this is a 340 Demon. He also says it was freshly painted. I’m sure this was done up to be a clone car just as many others do with SS Shevelles, Camaros, and Mach 1 Mustangs. The issue with the air cleaners is that while installing the Mopar Performance valve covers they put the right one on the left side. That meant they had to turn the air cleaner the wrong way to hook up the crank case breather. Easy enough to fix but it should have been done before these pictures were taken. 318 car with stripes, stickers and hood scoops. I’m not a Mopar guy so, I don’t know for sure but, being a clone, it may be a bit over priced.
Readers here have pointed out too many little red flags for me. My money is on 102K well cared for miles and that it had plastic seat covers that were removed recently.
Also note that there is no fender tag, but the screws look like they’re there. Also, after 1971 all “la” series small blocks were blue, be it a 318, 340, or 360.
After reading some of the great comments I looked a little closer at the engine. Someone has done some painting in an effort to make this look cleaner. If you take a close look at what I think is the EGR on the drivers side of the engine it has overspray on it. Also on the drivers side at the bottom of the head it appears that there was paint applied directly over grease.
Looks like there was an effort to make this look like it has fewer miles on it. I would be very leary of this car, who knows what else is covered up.
Demons had different tail lights, dodge front Plymouth rear.
Looks like it does have Demon tail lights
Total scam guys, cmon
buckets were an option, so it originally did come with a bench
The only way to get the 340 graphics from the factory, was to BUY an actual 340 Demon. Period.
This here is a sheep in wolves clothing.
The 318 is wearing a EGR valve ,they didn’t happen until 1973
The instrument cluster isn’t a 340 cluster (two round dials 150 mph speedo)
The factory 340 Duster look alike with a 318 was called Twister,
it had the scoops the stripes and ralley wheels
I like the Direct Connection aluminum valve covers painted with the motor. Nice try. Because of that little replacement detail, the air cleaner is 180 degrees out of place to line up the fitting with the breather cap. The original foil heater tube placement is impossible with this fraudulent setup. And please take the darn air shocks off!! Many strange things can happen in forty-plus years…
All small blocks were blue starting in 71. Nice car, but im thinking the odometer has rolled past 100k. I would need some engine numbers to verify its a 340 before dropping that much coin, though. Seller would be way abead to steam clean the engine and swap the valve covers side to to so that the heat riser tube could be installed.
I,ve had many dusters (340s and all) and a few demons one was a original 340 4 spd. I believe the demon never had a 340 side stripe ,that’s duster stuff. and the rallys have 72 or newer center caps. engine should be orange. all that said. Its still a nice looking demon so don’t beat it up so bad. I like the looks even though its not correct. does it have a rally dash, never looked but I will.Still a nice demon for the price. Try to find something like this for that price!!
ok somebody fooled me with there pic. of the 71 correct 340 duster stripe. the demon as shone does have the right stripe. and I saw that it has a reg. dash. like they said its a 318 car with 340 graphs. I do like it!! ok I,m done.
I had a buddy in high school who had one of these. When he came over to our house, my mother who was very religious, always bemoaned his car.
Anyone notice this car sits way way too high in the rear? Something definitely going on there…
at the asking price seller needs to provide the VIN. we could use it to research this car. interesting find.
Chrysler got a lot of heat for naming a car ‘Demon’ back then (!) hence I think from the second year on it was called a Dart Sport. I think Demon is a way cool name.
I have a 71 Demon 318 and one thing different on mine is that I have a brake booster behind the master cylinder. I am not smart about cars nor a mechanic, so maybe it was normal not to have one back then? I just think its odd mine has one and this does not.
Power steering and Power Brakes whether Drum or Disc they were extra cost options. The Wheel Centers for this 1971 Demon are incorrect for this year. The Wheel Centers shown in picture are for 1972 and up to be correct. The Body Side Tape stripe shown in picture is correct for this model year. I do not know where Picture of 1971 Duster with 340 tail stripe came from.