The 1960s was the decade of the mid-size muscle car. Just a few years later, that honor went to compact cars (for a short time) like the Chevy Nova SS and the Plymouth Duster 340. The seller has a 1972 edition of the latter, which was in its third year in the Mopar family. Over at Dodge, a similar car was sold as the Demon 340. This car was found in a barn years ago and was intended to be a restoration project, but that’s not happening under the seller’s watch. Located in Halifax, Pennsylvania, this major project is available here on craigslist for $9,000.
Plymouth sold nearly 25,000 Duster 340s in 1970 but found fewer than 16,000 buyers in 1972. Demand for performance cars was off due in part to a detuning process for emissions purposes. That didn’t mean the Duster 340 wasn’t a hot car for its size, but it had a lower compression ratio that enabled the machines to run on regular fuel instead of “hi-test”.
According to the seller, this Duster only had 38,000 miles when it was pulled out of a barn. We assume something went wrong with it at some point, and it languished for years without any attention. On the plus side, this vehicle is numbers-matching, which is great if the original drivetrain can be salvaged. The car is rated as “fair” by the seller, but it’s going to need loads of body, paint, interior, and mechanical work.
Since the seller has two other projects in the mix, he/she has decided it’s time for someone else to resurrect this former hot rod. It’s hard to tell what color the Plymouth is, and the seller thinks the vinyl roof covering has a floral pattern. This is a bench seat car with an automatic tranny, but the front seat is shot, and we don’t know if the rear area is equally rough. The build sheet was discovered and verifies it’s a legit Duster 340. Thanks for the tip, “Zen”!
Rough! Even I give these cars a positive outlook but this baby is rough 😕 it could be brought back but not by a novice hobby restoration person. This one would be a great project and challenge for Mark Worman and his crew at Graveyard Cars! I hope someone saves it. Could be a nice car again 🤔
Looks like the seller converted it from a Duster to a Ruster.
All Dusters were shipped from the factory with the Ruster option included in the base price 😆😂😆
LOFAO
just like Mustangs, Camaros …..
That’s what we used to call them in Wisconsin! You could practically watch them rust!
The rear panel on the 72s, a one year-only panel, is nearly impossible to find. I know someone who gave up looking for one, and had to use bondo. I know someone who had one of these from new, kept it in a garage, and in 6 years it needed rust repairs. It’s a shame to see a 340 Duster so far gone.
Oh wow that seems expensive yeah. You could probably get a very nice one of these for under forty, so I don’t know what the incentive here would be.
So 38,000 miles on the clock?
Looks like driven by everyone with the seat covers worn and body trashed thru rain and snow for 238,000 miles.
A cool machine shop by me makes new fenders, frames and so much more for classic hot rods but this one to me is past its saving point with cost .
Good luck with sale…
I’m with you on the 38000 miles claim, 238000 is believable.
The good: They are somewhat rare. 1972 340 Dusters get a bad rap because of the lower compression AND smaller valves in the heads. But all of this can be corrected in an instant with a 404 stroker kit. If it does indeed have a “floral” vinyl top, (Mod Top, and it may as they seem to show up most often on this color car) this will be VERY unusual and could change the price trajectory on it. If you have the build sheet, SHOW IT. Otherwise don’t waste our time.
The bad: So many things wrong with this that make the asking price unrealistic. Wrong year, wrong color, ridiculous mileage claim, trashed. Yes it may be a good starting point at 1/2 the price.
The Duster twister a couple days ago for the same price was a much better value.
Yeah, I’m wondering about that floral pattern as well. One would start thinking about the Mod Too option but I just looked at a 1972 duster brochure and the Mod Top option was not available. I believe it may have only been available for 1969 and 1970. So if this seller has the build sheet, it would be good to see if the mod top option was on the build sheet.
But in my opinion, it’s way too much money for what you’re getting and that car certainly does not look like it has 38,000 miles on it. It’s a shame that it’s in such bad shape.
Whoa, even the Mexican blanket is trashed.
Roof has floral pattern ???? No that’s brown rust, lt green alge , and spots of dark green moss. Pay 9,000.00 and sink 30,000 thousand into restoration = 40 thou then you have a 20,000 car. And 10 years of your life gone in the process. Makes since to me ….
Get it running and have a cool beater but only if the seller accepts the coming reality check.
Mopar fever hits another seller..the rust on this is tetanus central.If the engine turns still,offer up 750 bucks(it aint a 1971 340 which is the primo) Otherwise this is just junk.
find a mint western car and put all the parts from this into that car. you will way ahead of the game
The rust on the rear panel alone scares me enough, none less being a PA car and probably sitting on a dirt barn floor for 30 years. Unless you’ve already got a garage full of the parts needed to restore and can do all the work yourself I think you’d be more upside down $$ than the S.S. Poseidon.
Curious about last owner. Al Bundy comes to mind!
Just noticed the mention of floral top..or Mod-Top,Ummm..it was only 69-70 so if this had a floral top someone’s mom used a roll of mac-tac on it :P
438,000 miles.
The Good: Duster 340, ‘Nuff Said. The Bad: The price, given the condition. The Ugly: General condition, rust everywhere, bumpers missing. The Verdict: Despite the numbers matching, may be too far gone to justify spending the money on a restoration, the buyer will never get their money back if they spend what it will take to restore it to even drivable condition, let alone show quality. A parts car, unless the vinyl roof turns out to be a “Mod Top”, with the floral pattern, instead of just rust and moss, LOL!
The Mod Top was only available on 69′-70′ Barracudas and Satellites. There was a Floral Top available on 69′ Dart, Coronet/SuperBee and 70′ Challengers.
If this were a 70 or 71, it might be worth buying for the drivetrain and the few other salviagable parts left. But as a ’72 auuto in this odd color combo, even the most ardent A body enthusiast would pass on resurrecting this poor dilapidated lump.
When the taillights are nearly rusted right out of the rear panel, you don’t have much left to work with, and the vehicle is only worth scrap price at most.
The car is junk, 72 340 autos the crank was cast, 4 speeds had a forged crank. No longer a high nickel block, The rear panel is almost impossible to find. 72 no longer had the ralley gauges. Last year for the 8 3/4. Not much to see here
Lower compression wasn’t about octane ; my 73 340 says use 95 super leaded only (high test)
the color looks to be Tawney Gold Poly, which was a popular color .
No Duster ever had the mod top , the only A body Plymouth that could have had a mod top was the 69 Barracuda – no Mopar did after 1970 . It was likely a creme colored roof to match the interior .
The tail panels used to rust on the bottom lip of the taillights where water would collect. this one, have rust on top of the taillights leads me to believe that the trunk gasket was no good, or the car was covered in leaves, pine needles ,etc that clogged up the drain troughs and water flowed over and into the trunk ( meaning no trunk floor) – its certainly been sitting outside for a long time.
The 38k claim is also ridiculous. Its easily 138k , and if the seller is making this and other outlandish claims, who is to say that that v8 isnt a 318 with the 340s intake swapped ?
At best, its a parts car. The real value is if the car still has the 340, and if its rebuildable If the block turns out to be a true 340 and rebuildable . The short tail 727s were only on A body 340/360 cars ,so that’s another plus for this poor car.