Plymouth hit pay dirt with the new fastback Duster in 1970, designed to help the rather stodgy Valiant look cool. It worked so well that Dodge got a version of the car in 1971 called the Demon. The Duster was available with a variety of youth-oriented trim packages to further entice the under 30 crowd. One such package was the Twister, which gave the car the look of the Duster 340 but without the high-performance motor. The seller’s car came from the factory with Twister trim, but the 318 under the hood has been replaced with a 340. So, if there had been a Twister 340, this would be it. Located in Wheaton, Illinois, this 1971 car is offered here on eBay for an estimated reserve of $18,000, but bidding is only up to $10,200.
Plymouth sold about 217,000 Dusters in the car’s first year out. The 1971 encore was almost as successful at 186,000 units (perhaps the Demon stole some of its thunder). About 13,000 1971 fastbacks were Duster 340s. If you didn’t want the muscle associated with that car, you could order a Duster Twister, which pretty much looked like the 340 but with a 225 Slant-Six or 318 V-8. As it was a trim option, we can’t find out how many Twisters may have been made. Source: HowStuffWorks
The Twister came with the 340’s distinctive grille and a special black “Duster twirl” bodyside tape stripe with Twister decals. The hood was largely blacked out and could be ordered with twin flat black simulated hood scoops. Lower deck stripes, dual racing mirrors, wheel lip and drip rail moldings, deluxe seat trim, whitewalls, and Rallye road wheels (without trim rings) completed the package. Source: HowStuffWorks
We’re guessing the seller bought this car for the purpose of building a Duster 340 tribute because that’s mostly what he ended up with. We’re told the seller has about $26,000 tied up in this machine, and most of it appears to be mechanical. Here’s a list of some, but not all, of what has been done with the car:
- The original 318 V-8 with 3-speed manual transmission and been yanked in favor of a rebuilt 340 with 4-speed and a Dana 60 rear end.
- New Edelbrock heads, with springs to match cam; also, Edelbrock air gap intake and 650 carburetor
- Hughes solid lifter cam and roller rockers, TTI headers
- New radiator, engine wiring harness, rebuilt Hurst shifter, H-D clutch, and flywheel
- New H-D leaf springs and shackles, Gabriel gas shocks, H-D torsion bars, ball joints, and tie rod ends
- New mag wheels and tires and brakes with a disc conversion on the front
Should the whole Duster 340 treatment not be your thing, the successful buyer will also receive the original running 318 engine, 3-speed transmission, and 8 ¾ rear end.
The rest of the car seems to be where the rest of the attention is needed. We’re told the body is solid with patches on both lower rear quarter panels. The paint is mostly original and the striping is starting to crack. You could order these cars with a full vinyl roof that had a funky alignment between the rear windows and back glass. That appears to have been replaced with white paint, but the funky angles are still there. The bumpers are new and well as the gas tank.
In the passenger arena, the car is going to need new seat covers. A new headliner and package tray will come with the deal. The headrests and steering wheel are good, but the dash pad has a couple of small cracks. The rear door panels are missing.
A genuine Duster 340 can go for upwards of $40,000, with a regular Duster barely half that. If you split the difference for a non-original motor and you’ve maybe got a $25-30,000 car. If you buy this one at what the seller hints as to the reserve, repaint the car, and re-do the interior, you may or may not have any immediate equity. But you’d have a super nice hot rod to show off for less money than the real deal.
That would be a fun little car–but the Dana 60 is about 80 extra pounds of overkill for the 340.
When you shelve the 340 in favor of a Hughes Engines 360/426 that dynoed at 595 foot pounds and 606 horses you’ll need that big Dana.
1 kind of wonders how all those CV joints(6??!) & IRS Dana? rear on a Hellcat or those on modern hi po Camaros or Mustangs will hold up.
Agreed, but this car doesn’t need it.
The cost of a brand new Strange Dana 60 rear end is cost competitive, often less expensive than having an 8 3/4 built built from scratch and is significantly stronger. It seems like overkill until you price out the alternatives and factor in what you are getting for the money.
Steve R
No argument here, but a stock 8-3/4 is fine for up to 400-450 hp with street tires. I ran an 8-3/4 with 4.30 gears in my ’65 Barracuda with a fairly stout 340 for 40 years with no problems. Now that the 340 has been replaced with a 433 c.i. 3rd gen hemi with 650+ hp, the 8-3/4 has been replaced with an IRS system with a Hammerhead center section. I won’t even comment on the cost, other than to say that the complete rear suspension and center section, not including brakes, cost more than my first house.
With Steve – finding just an A-body 8 3/4 rear end housing is getting hard – add the cost of a good posi chunk – then the gears of your choice….always had a few A bodies in my collection.
The article said an 8 3/4 rear end. A Dana 60 wa
9 3/4.
A Dana 9 3/4 is much heaver.
Troy, the article does mention the 8-3/4, but it states “the successful buyer will also receive the original running 318 engine, 3-speed transmission, and 8 ¾ rear end.” The Dana 60 is installed in the car now, as seen in the picture.
My Navy roommate Dennis had one of these. Had pretty good low end grunt till it shook itself apart and caught fire. Sometimes the “good old days” really weren’t that good
I remember seeing these back in the day but they weren’t very common. You would see a lot more Gold Duster packages than these.
Speaking of Duster destruction stories, I once put a piston rod through the side of a dark brown 74’s 225 slant six in the mid-80s. It was a slow little turd and we were beating the crap out of it per usual. I was fully into the throttle with 4 of us in the car when I heard a big sickening clunk, the dash warning lights all came on, and a whole bunch of oil smoke came pouring out of the hood. When we opened it, a hot rod was poking out of the side of the block, literally.
Super, my dad had that happen to his ‘72, but he was really hard on the car. Some kid bought it and swapped another 6 in it…
How do you grenade a slant six??? They were nearly indestructible, even when neglected.
As far as the rear differential standing up on the hellcat the simple answer is THEY DONT! I was watching a big event put on b a group of folks that arranged a big get together at a drag strip for all the owners of hellcats and demons etc. Lots of folks put slicks on their cars to launch off the line and in that one event I watched 4 cars destroy their rear ends at launch. On the street they may be fine because all you do is spin but in this situation where they could hook it proved costly!
I’ll post this now famous viral video here to remind us all of the dangers of the wrong rear end in a Dart/Duster…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=099douUPsOE
That is more of a reminder of the wrong person assembling the axle retaining bolts.
Somebody is going to pay more than 10K for that?
liked it till i saw the pigeon %$#^$ on the hood scoop. if a pigeon didn’t like it. i love it! wheres my sling shot?
I wouldn’t call it a 340 Duster tribute really, more like a tribute to simpler days when hopped up cars like this roamed the streets, high school parking lots, and so forth.
Looks good a bit on the worn side with shiny new wheels,,, hope whomever buys it continues the street machine vibe.
This is a cool build and the car is probably a blast to drive!!
Love this Twister, I owned this car in West Virginia, yes this very own car. I had a original in 1971, bought it new. Had the new Twister when my wife and I were married in 1972. Man I wish we could have it back. Allen Butcher, Ripley Wv.