In the late 1960s, insurance companies were cracking down on muscle cars by raising premiums on youthful drivers. That led auto manufacturers to look for ways to get around the insurance gods. One avenue was to equip lighter compact machines with hot, small-block V8s instead of big-block screamers. One such car was the Plymouth Duster 340, a variant of the Valiant. This Lime Green edition from 1970 is said to be fairly solid, but no mention is made of its running condition. Located in North Tonawanda, New York, this vivid Mopar is available here on eBay where the bidding stands at $9,154 without cracking the seller’s reserve.
Between 1968 and 1973, Chrysler installed nearly 217,000 of its 340 cubic inch V8 engines in various products. With a rated output of 275 hp, it was the ideal motor for a 3,000-lb. car to instigate a stop-light challenge on a Saturday night. More than 56,000 of them could be found in 1970 editions of the Plymouth Duster and Barracuda and the Dodge Dart Swinger and Challenger. Just under 25,000 were sold in cars like the seller’s Duster, which the provided VIN suggests is the real deal.
We don’t know if the 340 motor or 727 automatic transmission are original to this Plymouth which has 21,000 miles on the odometer (or 121,000). It comes with an upgraded camshaft, so the motor has been delved into looking for more performance tweaks. The 727 has a floor-shifter with a manual valve body and the gear ratio is 4.11 with a posi-traction rear end. The seller says he/she doesn’t know much about Dusters, but enough to share this info with us.
The body is reported to be sound, and we assume the bright green paint is original, but a hint of blue can be found under one of the rocker panels. The interior is partially original as the back seat looks stock, but the front bucket seats were lifted out of something more modern and different than a 1970s Plymouth. The carpeting may have been pulled and the presence of fake wood paneling on the door panels suggests maybe a trim upgrade came with this auto when new. Weekend project anyone?
They were awful then, they’re awful now. Cheap does that, yet for whatever reason they are “worth” top dollar.
This is a nice 340 Duster project. Don’t know if the reserve is set at $10,000 or higher. I didn’t see the fender tag but the vin confirm it’s a 340 Duster. Then check the block to make sure it’s 340. I wish the sellers would clean and wash before posting. It’s like they don’t care if they sell it.. Otherwise this will be a fun ride this summer. 🐻🇺🇸
And a rocket 🚀 Bear 🐻 these move out with the 727 and the snappy rear gear set. Column shift is cool 😎
The wood piece on the door panel is no upgrade , its not the right part for this car. The right panel has the correct one. I’d say it was repainted , and then someone installed an incorrect hood scoop on it , and the fenders may not be original to the car unless things were changed when it was repainted – The v8 emblems would not be on a 340 car, and there would have been a small Valiant emblem just above the Duster 340 sticker . The poverty hubcaps are wrong for this car as all Duster 340s came standard with rallye wheels . It looks decent, but a bit rough ,and it may be cobbled together , so a good looking over would be the thing to do before any high dollar bidding went on IMHO
This is a good counterpart to the yellow one above. If you got it for 10K, could you make it look as nice as the other for 20K? If there was minimal rust and the paint was good, I think you could. But you would need to work for free. Back in the day this was a $500.00 beater, in some ways it would be fun to do just that!
The seats are hideous. I’d say it started life as a B5 blue car, if one was to sand off some of that black in the engine compartment it’d probably expose more blue. I’d be more apt to believe it has 3.91 gears as 4.10s for an 8 3/4 rear were only available from the aftermarket.
Those are some hellaciously large headrests. I have no idea what those seats came out of…but they should put em back!
Guaranteed not to get whiplash!
Headrests good for Spaceballs’ Dark Helmet character. lol
Hey I am new to this website. was just wondering if this car is still available. Please feel free to email me back
I concur, those seats are hideous!, Maybe from a Plymouth lazer, or merkur xr4ti, or whatever the heck it was, but if bones are solid this could be a nice car again, those rear wheelwells are begging for 295/50/15’s.
70 dusters didn’t have the accent stripes, the rust on the exhaust tips tells me there is rust. The hideous buckets are made for a trash bin. I bet it doesn’t run, most likely a head gasket caused the failure. 727 with the reverse valve body says beat me along with the rear gears. And God knows there are way too many line green mopars already. This one needs a on site full inspection before purchase.
Agree. Upstate NY usually means rust.
Hard pass at anything close to $10K.
my dad use to have one when i was born in71 i wish i could give him his duster back again and this is the same coler
Had a 68 Camaro SS with a built 350. Dad was always on about a 340 Duster, and the horsepower potential for the money.
Someone please save this car . If I had it my way I would get a barn & start saving some of these lost autos
This is definitely a mix of parts. The steering wheel is from a 71 or later. 70 had a flat steering wheel. 71 was first year of energy absorbing wheel. Brake pedal rubber cover is correct for a 70. It has the 70 grille. 70 was the only year that they had the medal insignia on the grille. It was gone in 71. The big thing here, believe it or not, is the gauge package. This was known as the “Duster Cluster” with 150 speedo and a provision for an optional factory tachometer. This was the set up from the 69 and a little earlier barracuda.Check the vin. If it says VS29 at the beginning, it was born a 340. Then check the block, trans, and rear. to see if the numbers match. There are a lot of people out there trying to pass clones off as real cars. If you are not sure, Galen Govier used to be the Mooar Guru. Don’t know if is still alive. If you want to verify an old Ford, go with John Marti. Known as Marti Report. I’m an old timer who had 3 of these. Just trying to help others not get ripped off.
Yes it does seem that lots of folks are putting ‘SS’ or ‘V8’ etc badges on plain Jane versions of their properly equipped big brothers (or sisters, if you prefer), leaving the buyers to figure out what they have actually purchased. I understand trying to upgrade something or just make it more powerful, or cooler, but when you’re thinking about investing large sums of money into a classic auto, you really want the real thing! No way of knowing this by the pics, but it sounds like several of you guys know what you’re looking at, thanks for the detailed info! I’m wondering if Mr. Worman could (or would) shed some more light on the subject. If so I’m sure you’d have to take it to his shop, unless it was something way more sought after than a Duster…
You don’t need “Mr. Worman” to decipher muscle era Mopars. The average everyday mopar enthusiast can read a VIN and know what car it is and what engine it came with. We can read a fender tag and know the car’s original colors and options. Furthermore for everyone saying take it to “Graveyard Carz” there’s several hundred shops around the country that restore Mopars and a GYC restoration would probably cost in or near six figures and many years of waiting.