At the end of the 1960s, Plymouth was looking for a way to attract more youthful buyers to its Valiant line of compact cars. The solution was to add a fastback variant to the mix in 1970 with its own unique body from the cowl back. The car was an instant hit, and 340 performance versions of the auto are in demand even after 50 years. This 1971 Duster was a Plain Jane model with a Slant-Six engine, and it looks to have been baking like a pizza for several years in non-running condition. Located in a scrap yard in Logan, Utah, this old Mopar is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $4,195. Is anyone up for a ratty muscle car conversion?
The Plymouth Valiant went from “square” to “hip” in a single model year. After selling 217,000 Dusters in 1970, the company wasn’t about to mess with success, so the 1971 Duster was pretty much the same car. Sales dropped a tad to 186,000 copies but some of those may have been siphoned off in-house as the Dodge Dart got their version of the Duster called the Demon. The Duster would remain a fixture in sales literature until the Valiant was replaced by the Volare in 1976.
As the story goes, this ’71 Duster has been out of commission since 2003. No reasons are given as to why and a few minor things have been borrowed from it over the years. The car may have once had either two-tone paint or a vinyl top and the interior is one step away from disintegration (must have had a lot of exposure to the Sun). Though in Utah now, it still carries blue California license plates but has a clean title. It hasn’t been able to escape the rust bug, but it also doesn’t appear to have been chewed beyond the point of fixing it up.
Just a few years ago, this would have been considered just another old car and well on its way to the crusher after being stripped. Now, care must be exercised in loading it up on a trailer as the brakes are shot and the driveline is not connected. But it seems to have a lot of potential – if your goal is to create a Duster 340 clone. Restoring a Slant-Six Duster probably doesn’t leave the owner any upside potential in value. Or as the seller says, you could go the Roadkill route and do just enough to the Plymouth to join the “ratty car culture”. To help you decide, a video of the Duster can be found here. What would you do?
Already up to 5K??? Really??? Buyer beware. The shackles holding the rear springs on will pop up thru the trunk if they haven’t already. Mopar engineering design flaw.
My parents had a 74 Silver Duster in white with red 3/4 vinyl top, and red cloth interior. They had that awful problem with the leaf springs. It was a rot box. If the one featured in this article was from California and Utah, it might not be rotted, but it’s pretty ratty, and would need anything and everything to make into a decent, drivable car. I wouldn’t pay $5k for it.
Its called rust , and all cars can succumb to it; its not a design flaw and all rear leaf cars can have the same issue – this one looks pretty solid, and if you can find a popular 50+ year old car with minimal rust , its going to be selling for a lot more than a less desirable one.
Wasn’t that long ago this was a hundred dollar car, and often not even that. People just want a hot small block platform, I understand that, but in the end, will we have any humble, regular, cars left for future generations to see what was the norm?
Another chronic problem with those cars- at least here in Rustachussets, was that the latch posts which held the doors shut would corrode, loosen and eventually fail.
My buddy The Bird had one that happened to and we’d try to hold the doors shut with the “ safety” belts !!
That’s what the seat belts were for on those cars
If had the cash, would put a hot 340 in it. The car needs meatier tires as well. Dad was always on about a 340 Duster, cheap power. Would be in his memory.
Shoot me, but I’d slide an almost 300 hp Pentastar with either the 8 speed automatic or 6 speed stick that can be found on them.
And you would instantly ruin the value of the car. Here you have a numbers matching all original to start with if you keep it all original it’ll be worth way more than you start butchering on
The original slant 6 wouldn’t be worth anything to me in the situation, and the car would rot.
Originality depends on what it is originally.
I’ll do with my property as I see fit – killed people in combat for Freedoms.
I’d pay more for the proper hot rod than the original slant 6 – because it would be worth more.
Nope had one problem child
You got the car for sale
Al ( Bundy),,,Katie Sagals nasal “kvetch” was classic,,,AAAAAAALLLLL went through every guy like a dentist drill. He called it a Dodge, but ’twas a Plymouth.
Sure was a good looking body style.
Had a feather Duster, kept the appearance stock. Cut left side engine
Mount out, dropped a 65 383 cid 440 rt cam, elephant ear mounts. sub framed it.
391 posi. No shackle issues, but both leaf pads on rear end welds were
Seeping rear end lube. Fun light to light car. Pass anything but a gas pump!😃
Slant Six Mopars from this time period were some of the most reliable cars on the road. They were easy to work on, had enough power, and were not that expensive! Great Cars!
Dan, they were ultra reliable (I had two slant six Valiants in my younger days, and they were good, cheap transportation, but they were prone to oil leaks, so I always carried a quart or two. I drove the ’69 Valiant across the country and back without a hiccup.
My dad had a blue one, same year, … His had a 318 Automatic… Great body , no rust to speak of.. Had over 100K and jumped timing.. wouldn’t start.. Sold it for scrap.. Got 35 bucks for it.. I should have bought it from dad.. But I already had 2 other cars…
My neighbor bought a 70 ,with a 318! While her son was in college,I took her to work,and I would keep the all day while her she was at Work! It was a Gold Duster! I had my foot in it! I was in my 11th grade at Spingarn in D.C.! As always I had some good times!
Did you fail 11th grade english?
What would you keep all day?
And your spacing is hideous!
Just saying.
Really Vic? This attack has what to do with this car? Btw (that means by the way Vic), my degree is in English, which is always spelled with a capital E. Just saying.
We had a 73 Duster, slant 6, three-in-the-tree, police car gold, hub caps, am radio, no cigarette lighter since that was an option and Dad didn’t smoke (Mom did, and that was a poor judgement choice by Dad…). $2300 new in ’73. Not much of a car but I learned to drive a manual on it. This was in MI and I’m sure that one has since returned to the soil whence it came.