UPDATE 04/03/2023: It is not unusual to see a classic reappear on our desks at Barn Finds when a seller is unsuccessful with their first listing. This generally occurs within weeks, although this 1975 Plymouth Silver Duster is an exception. Six months have passed since they initially advertised this classic, and it appears nothing has changed apart from the price. When we originally featured in September 2022, the seller’s price was $13,000. If you’re kicking yourself for not pursuing it earlier, it may have been a wise choice. They have relisted it here on Craigslist, with the price slashed to $8,300. That’s a substantial reduction, and if you’re like me, keeping the extra cash in your wallet is always welcome. I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder T.J. for the original lead and to Pat L. for spotting the price-dropped current listing.
09/06/2022: The Duster was a popular fastback coupe based on the ’70s compact Valiant. While it used the same sheet metal as the Valiant from the cowl forward, the rest of the body was different. Besides being a sporty alternative for buyers, you could get the Duster with some V8 small-block muscle. This 1975 edition has the “Silver Duster” option, a trim variant along the lines of the Gold Duster with some other marketing gimmicks that Plymouth cooked up. In rather nice, mostly original condition, this Duster hails from Downers Grove, Illinois, and is available here on Craigslist.
Plymouth offered the Duster from 1970 through 1976, with a rebadged version available from Dodge beginning in 1971 called the Demon (later the Dart Sport). By 1976, the A-body platform was getting a bit long in the tooth, and demand was in decline, so Chrysler debuted the Plymouth Volare/Dodge Aspen as the Valiant/Dart successors. But enough buyers still wanted a Duster or Dart Sport that they overlapped in the showrooms during 1976.
Always trying to grab buyer attention, the Plymouth team created several trim variants of the Duster over the years, including the Gold Duster, Space Duster, Feather Duster (with some aluminum pieces to lower weight to improve gas mileage), and the Silver Duster, like the seller’s car. Although many were sold wearing Silver Cloud paint, other colors could be ordered, and this burgundy Duster with silver trim looks quite classy.
The body and paint look tidy until you get close and notice a few scratches and scrapes. The half-vinyl top is newer, and the seller says some “paint and wheel well panel work” was done to the car before they acquired it but didn’t go into greater detail. The interior is where this machine shines, and the “Boca Raton” plaid interior looks perfect or something close.
Under the hood resides Chrysler’s venerable 225 “Slant-Six,” which is said to run well except for some possible carburetion-related issues. The car has a few things you can chalk up to age, like the finicky roll-down of the driver’s window, and some of the dash lights are dimmer than they should be. Also, one of the rear springs sits lower than the other, so the car should be hoisted up on a lift to see what’s happening there. Plymouth cranked out 120,000 Dusters in its next-to-last-year, and this one might fall into the “Custom” category, which accounted for just 38,000 copies.
Beautiful car, but why not fix the small quirks and ask big bucks? That leaves open questions from buyers who think something is being hidden from them. Always liked these interiors. Stylish and durable. The Duster/Valiant line was so much better than the Volare/Aspen that replaced them. The body styling should have been freshened up and kept selling them at a price advantage. The Volare fiasco cost them dearly just when they could not afford a bad reputation. The goofy transverse suspension for the “big car ride” was awful, and the build quality and rust issues were unforgiveable.
They’re asking big bucks but not fixing the “small” quirks. And the “carburetion” problem? For ’75, slant sixes were so badly smogged out they couldn’t get out of their own way. I know, I owned a Dart, same year.
The “Leaning Towah of Powah,” and a busted rear spring. What’s not to like?
They already are asking big bucks.
I agree 100%, especially with a slant 6.
Apparently seller had this thing financed because the bank wants $5k before releasing title nice condition duster this is one to have when Russia or China releases the EMP on the USA
Or with that rant last week….it could be self-released and then blamed on the aforementioned one or other.
So this thing would run and one could travel in style in those seats. lol
This is a cool car and a good find – but $13,000??!!? With a slant 6? A 1975 model is not valuable. Maybe half of what they are asking would be more appropriate.
I am in the same camp as some others. A very nice car ,but I think 13 K is too much. It is interesting, I would pay asking for the Red Chevy ll on B/F , but not the ask for this car. I guess I am a prejudice , snotty , stuck up, privileged buyer. I hope I am not that in real life.
Dash lights that are “dimmer than they should be”? These last generation A-body instrument panels are lit with bayonet-style incandescent 194 miniature bulbs that are either ON or OFF. If an area of the instrument panel is “dimmer than it should be” when the headlights or parking lights are on then a bulb is burned out and it’s time to “assume the position” — lying upside down on the driver’s seat with your head on the floor, looking up from below to find the bulb fixture that you need to twist out so that you can replace the bulb contained therein.
All of my A body cars I’ve owned have a dimmer on the headlight switch , and they can be made brighter if needed. That being said, with the 194 bulbs they are no where near as bright as modern cars, even at full bright !
It’s what LED conversions are for!
I owned a ’75 Dodge Dart Sport that had the exact same Boca Raton interior. It was burgundy with a gray vinyl roof on the front part, auto, a/c, 318, rally wheels and side stripe. Nice car!
Gawd……Those are hideous seats in this Dustbin.
Never saw the appeal in these cars. Oh well….ugly girls need love to…
I guess. lol
Ugly is an opinion, but crazy comfortable, is a fact.
I wouldn’t mind having this car – for that price though, the springs, dash, etc should be fixed –
Fix the issues with it be a great starter car for a new driver learning to drive.
With the known issues and no underside shots, I’m thinking more like 5K.
Broken spring? Or broken mount due to rust? Stay away from ’75 slant sixes because for that year they suffered from “unleaded fuel only” more than most other motors. Horribly gutless.
My mother’s first car was a 75 Silver Duster bought in the early 80s. It was white with the same color interior as the one above, with the same red vinyl top. It had the 318 with no A/C, and seemed adequately powered. I say that because I used to drive it up and down the street when I was in my early teens, until my father found out and took the keys away. It was badly rotted, with rotted, broken off leaf spring mounts so the rear end of one popped through the hole in the trunk. Ran great, but was unsafe, so it got junked. Like most mopars of that era, they sadly became rot boxes.
I got news for you, if it was badly rusting , so was every other brand of car in your area. That’s the main reason why cars were junked. They made millions of dependable Ford Mavericks , now almost none exist .The same as Chevy IIs Valiants , Gremlins etc…
People are watching the car auctions and then think their car is worth thousands more than what anyone in their right mind would pay. Didn’t like them seats back in the day but can appreciate them now. Koool