The seller calls this 1970 Plymouth Duster a pasture find and they say that it was sitting for 25 years, but it looks far too nice for that. It must have been one nice, dry pasture. They have it listed here on eBay in Cuero, Texas, which is pretty hot and humid so I would have expected to see much more rust on this car than there is. There is a single bid of $3,999 and no reserve.
The seller provided a ton of photos which is always nice and the car really does look solid overall, doesn’t it? Cuero, Texas gets 38″ of rain a year and it’s super humid so I would have expected to see much more rust on this car that there appears to be. The underside looks great and looks like it would clean up nicely.
1970 was the first model year for Plymouth’s Duster and most of us know that it only came in this two-door coupe body style. It was based on the Plymouth Valiant which could be had with four doors but this was it for the Duster. I wonder what a four-door Duster might have looked like, hmm…
Ok, back to this particular Duster. You can see that although it does look solid, it’ll still be a full-blowed (as they say) restoration project. The interior is as empty as an Amish Amway meeting hall and I don’t see a floor shifter here, bummer. I have a great upholstery shop that I use and this interior doesn’t scare me as it would have before finding these guys. I’d put Dynamat on everything, well, not the windows, but you know what I mean. The headliner is long gone and it’s ready for your custom touch, or just bringing everything back to stock spec would be nice, too.
There is a 318 cubic-inch V8 sitting under the hood now but this car originally came with a slant-six. It was originally a green car and as long as it needs a full restoration, just pick a color and go at it. I’d keep a V8 of some sort but I’d want a different color than red. How would you restore this Duster?
Are they sure this was a six popper when new? and green?. It has 340 on the rear fender, with all the stripes and the hood. And under the hood looks like it’s always been red or this way for decades. Always liked the 1970, If this was only a lot closer. ( and it would not be red). Nice find.
I wondered about that, GP, but the VIN decodes to being a 225 slant-six with a 1-barrel carb.
Naw, it was green…look at the steering wheel…and that 340 looks like a second grader painted it on
These stripes aren’t original. The striping kits on this car are from a ’71 Duster 340. The ’70 Duster 340s had a double black (only color available) stripe down the side, one above and one below the midline body crease, and the rear stripes only (also black only) went between the taillights. The ’71 stripes seen here were available in black or white.
Nice write-up, Scotty!
Plan on putting a heater core in it.
We all just learned from Uncle Tony that the 1970 trunk lid is a one year only design in that it doesn’t have a body line down the middle of it like all later ones do. They found that the lid easily dented without that line.
I found one of these in Mexico that is in nice condition. Here is a picture of the front. Asking is about the same as the one featured here.
It is a slant 6 with a floor shift 3 speed.
Here is the rear. You can see where the Mexican cars had the letters Valiant on the rear.
You will notice those bars on the bumpers. A lot of Mexican cars had those to protect the lights and other parts.
Just for the heck of it, here is the interior.
Miguel, you should adopt that car! Thanks for the info on the trunk lid, did not know that!
That was my first thought on the interior, there’s so little left why not change it from black to beige or even green if you repaint the body to the original green. I’d upgrade to the full-width-woodgrain dash trim though.
Came with the leaning tower of power..currently has a 318..has 340 script on the flanks..put a 392 HEMI in it and have some fun
The deck lid change was a running change during the 1971 model year. The hood, body side tape stripes , 340 decals ,and tape stripe on tail lamp panel were added and not available on the 1970 model. 1970 models had different stripe options. A real 340 Duster from 1970 would have had the rallye instrument panel with oil pressure gauge and optional tachometer or performance vacuum gauge in the middle of cluster.
My dad had 1 and it just rusted away very quickly.Bruce.
My company car was a 1970 plymouth duster and it was yellow when I was an exterminator for Getz in 1970 in Atlanta Ga.
I had a 1970 Duster in college. It was a 225 slant six, auto, that was an Ohio Bell company car. Got it for $800 with 80K miles on it. Sold it to a friend 3 years later with 130K miles. It had some body rust, being an Ohio car, but the floors & trunk remained solid. Great car!
I had a 1970 Duster in college. It was a 225 slant six, auto, that was an Ohio Bell company car. Got it for $800 with 80K miles on it. Sold it to a friend 3 years later with 130K miles. It had some body rust, being an Ohio car, but the floors & trunk remained solid. Great car! Though its nickname was the Dumpster.
Guys that car wasn’t even the mighty 225 slant 6 originally. The fender tag info provided in the ebay description shows B0B in the VIN so this car was built with the 198 slant 6 (and the automatic transmission). Can you say “woof, woof?”
The tag also confirms it was originally green on the outside and green on the inside. Built around Thanksgiving of 1969 and surprisingly has a few decent options for a car with the base engine.
This thing has been worked over HARD but body condition looks very good.