Plymouth Duster

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The first Plymouth Duster was a semi-fastback version of the Plymouth Valiant automobile, produced in the US from 1970 to 1976.

Image:1971PlymouthDusterTwiser 340.jpg

1971 Plymouth Duster Twister 340 ad. Both cars are sporting the rare "shark tooth" grille.

The Duster competed with Ford's sporty fastback styled Ford Maverick compact, which was also introduced in 1970. This car replaced the rather plain Ford Falcon which had competed with the Valiant. The Duster resulted from the Plymouth planning staff's desire to use their allotted 1970 restyling money for something more desirable than the usual two and four-door Valiants. Working "under the radar", Plymouth designers and engineers pulled off a neat trick - a close-coupled coupe design that managed to fit all of the "hard points" of the existing Valiant platform, but provided the new and exciting product that the planners wanted. The Duster was also created to fill the slot that was formerly occupied by the Valiant-based Barracuda. When the Barracuda moved from its A-body platform to the new E-body platform in 1970, this left a hole in Plymouth's lineup for a low priced youth-oriented car. The Duster would fill this gap beyond Plymouth's expectations, and would be one of many factors in the sales failure of the E-body pony car Barracuda.

Several versions were designed for different market segments, from economy to performance, often with fanciful names such as Feather Duster, Gold Duster, Space Duster and Duster Twister.

1 1970 - Introduction
2 1971-1972
3 1973-1976
4 Muscle Car
5 Revivals of the Duster name
6 Cultural References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] 1970 - Introduction

In 1970, Plymouth unveiled its new Duster model, which was based on the 1969 Plymouth Duster I concept car. Following in the Barracuda's footsteps, the Duster was all Valiant from the cowl forward, but the rest of the car was completely different. Using a semi-fastback and a special rear valance with twin horizontal taillights, it aspired to portray the performance and youthful look that Plymouth desired. For 1970 only, a small Valiant badge went on the front fenders just above the Duster badge.

The Duster was available in two models — the standard Duster and the high-performance Duster 340. The standard engine was Chrysler's long-serving, reliable Slant Six. The smallest available V8 was the 318 (5.2L), but the top-performing engine was by far the 340, rated at 275 hp. Performance was brisk with 1/4 mile times in the mid-14s at almost 100 mph, which was good for a car wielding less than 400 in³. With the factory optional 3.91 rear end, the car was documented to run high-13s in the 1/4 mile in stock trim.

At midyear, a "Gold Duster" trim package was added for the standard model. The Gold Duster package came with either the 225 in³ Slant Six or the 318 in³ V8. It also came with special Gold Duster badging, gold stripes on the sides and rear and other luxury trim options. Total sales in 1970 came to 217,192. 24,817 Duster 340s went out of the doors that year. At the end of 1973, Plymouth replaced the 340 cubic inch V8 with a lower performing 360 in³(5.9L) V8 due to government imposed emissions requirements.

[edit] 1971-1972

The Duster was an instant success for Plymouth, so much so that Dodge insisted to Chrysler management that they receive their own version, the (Dart) Demon, which debuted for 1971. In response, Plymouth was given a version of the Dodge Dart Swinger 2-door hardtop named the Plymouth Scamp.

Perhaps as a sign of the vibrant times, some of the colors Mopar had available for the Duster included Lime Green, Yellow Twist, Plum Crazy, and Competition Orange, as well as the more normal colors like Tan, Black and White.The stripes, the colors, the logos, the performance, these were all ways that Mopar got your attention and sold lots of cars. The Superbird, the Super Bee, Magnum, Six-Pack, Charger, Challenger, Barracuda, Duster, Demon, Twister, all these names were the result of a marketing strategy on the attack. This company, and the cars they produced, got noticed....on the showroom floor, at the track, and on the road!

For 1971, only small changes were made to the hot-selling Duster. The "Valiant" badges were removed, as well as the Plymouth logo on the grille. A new trim package was added to the A-body line for 1971. Plymouth had the Duster, and the Twister, while Dodge had the Demon. All where very similar. The "Twister" package gave its owner the appearance of the Duster 340 Wedge, but was available with only slant-six or 318 2bbl-V8 engines. The Twister came with special side stripes that mimicked the Duster 340 Wedge stripes and also had a similar matte-black hood. The Twister had the "looks" of the much-faster 340 "Wedge" but had the powertrain to get cheap insurance for the youth market, which both targeted. Both the Duster and the Twister could be ordered with an optional non-functional dual hood scoop and rear spoiler appearance package. Other options included high-back bucket seats and dual exhaust. For 1971 the performance option for the Duster was the special "340 Wedge". Outwardly, it was a "340 Wedge" decal that was mounted on a flat-black hood at a 45° angle. The "Wedge" small-block referred to the wedge-shaped combustion chambers, which was nothing new, but it was an obvious reference to its big-block brother, the Hemi. The "340 Wedge" version, as well as the Twister, as seen in the photo above in lime-green, also had a special grill and a competition dash upgrade over the base model 340. Power-wise,the 340 "Wedge" had substantial HP ratings over the standard 318 and base 340. It came factory-equipped with an 850cfm Carter "ThermoQuad" 4bbl. carb in place of the previous years Carter AFB. This new carb featured small primaries, huge secondaries,and a phenolic-resin body to keep the fuel cooler for maximum density. The 340 "six-pack" 3-2bbl intake was available as an option for the 340 Duster, as well the more expensive 340 AAR Plymouth Barracuda, and the 340 Dodge Challenger T/A (both E-body cars). In addition to the larger carb, the 340 Wedge also came with a dual-plane manifold, dual-point distributor, a hotter hydraulic cam, and dual exhaust system. Large-valve heads and a forged steel crankshaft were common to all 340 engines.The later 360's had a cast crank to save on production costs.The 340 Wedge also had a factory-installed cast-iron 4-speed manual transmission and heavy-duty clutch, with a Hurst pistol-grip shifter. For the rear diffential, a 3.23:1 ratio was standard,with a 3.91:1 "Posi-Trac" ratio available as an option. This engine was conservatively rated at 340HP@5800rpm. Very quick quarter-mile times were achieved with the Duster, due to this engine combination being mated to the 2850lb. A-body, which was lighter than all but the '67 Camaro. In 1971 there were 511 of these factory "340 Wedge" Dusters produced, making them much more rare than a standard 340 Duster. 1971 was the one and only year they were built.They cost approx.$2,657 retail, which was a huge bang-for-the-buck. The Duster competed well in sales against both the Camaro and the Mustang in the 70's-era performance-driven small-block wars,often out-selling both of them, and resulted in a huge sales success for Mopar. Ford had the Boss, Chevrolet had the SS, and Plymouth had the Wedge, as well as the Hemi. The '71 340 Wedge was the top level of performance for the Duster, and it could put many other more expensive sport models in its dust (pun intended!). There were many versions of the A-body built by both Dodge and Plymouth in various configurations of Sport/Economy. Dusters manged to elude the sales slump by not getting the "luxury treatment", and weight gain, as did the E-bodies of the same years. Due to their low price, they were very popular for both the dealers, and the young car-owner interested in performance.

(As an added note, the powerful Dodge Viper V10 engine finds its roots in the mighty 340 small block, which proves what a successful design it was. Siamesed cylinders, bore, stroke, valve configurations and a forged crankshaft are just a few of the design similarities that they share, just add on two more cylinders. However, that design also continues to change from its beginning form.)

~1972~

The Duster was selling extremely well, and no significant changes were made to the car in 1972. Small changes for '72 were downtuning of the engine for less HP and increased reliability, smaller carburetors, added smog equipment, and slight changes to the rear taillight look.

[edit] 1973-1976

Minor restylings involving new hood, grille, and taillamp treatments were made for 1973 and 1975. The previous Dusters had separate twin tailights on each side, the new version was one assembly on each side. In the midst of the first oil crisis, 1974 would be the Duster's best sales year, with over 277,000 units produced.

The 1976 Feather Duster was an engineering (if not marketing) success, featuring many lightweight parts including some aluminum body panels.It had a slant-six with gas-miser tuning and a special exhaust that could achieve over 30mpg. It was, by far, the most fuel-efficient car in its size class (along with a similar Dodge model, the Dart Lite). There was also a version called the Space Duster that had fold-down rear seats, and along with the huge trunk had over 50 cu. ft. of cargo space. Also for the bi-centennial there was a little-known model deemed the "Spirit of 76" Duster, complete with stars-and-stripes logos. That same year, the Duster 360 was one of a select few truly high-performance cars remaining on the market. The 1976 model would be the last. The successor to the Valiant, the Plymouth Volare won critical acclaim for integrating the Duster's roof line into a more formal design, but the new platform would not live up to the rock-solid reputation established by the Valiant, Duster and Dart. As MPG needs went up, and smog equipment choked off power, sadly yet predictably, 360 V8 performance dropped to lower and lower levels.

[edit] Muscle Car

Many versions of the Duster were available with the big engines and striping and paint packages that came with 70s muscle cars. Hot Wheels would even sponsor a drag racing team called the Mongoose and Snake which consisted of Funny cars with a Plymouth Barracuda and Duster bodies. Because so many were sold, the Duster is today one of the more affordable muscle cars, along with the Chevrolet's Nova.

[edit] Revivals of the Duster name

Although 1976 concluded the run of the original Duster, the name was revived three times as a trim level for other Plymouth cars; first on the 1979-80 Plymouth Volare coupe (usually fitted with quarter glass louvers - which were standard with the Aspen R/T, Volare Road Runner, and Kit Car), then on the front wheel drive 1985 Plymouth Turismo, and finally, from 1992 to 1994 (as the successor for the Plymouth Horizon) on V6-powered Plymouth Sundance coupes and hatchbacks, until being replaced by the Neon in 1995.

1980s Plymouth Duster

1993 Plymouth Duster (Modified) This car had the original 3.0L V6 removed and replaced by a 2.2L Turbo I4 from a 1988 Shelby CSX.

[edit] Cultural References

Chrysler would again use the old Plymouth Duster in the "Hemi" engine advertising campaign of the 2000s, with some tough car guy types (one of them played by Jon Reep) taunting a fellow in a Dodge Ram pickup. "Yeah, it's got a hemi". The character, if not the car, would again appear in the Dr. Z commercials in 2006.

Starred as "the Dodge" in the sitcom Married... With Children

The Plymouth Duster also appeared in the movie Happy Gilmore, driven by Adam Sandler. The one driven by Adam Sandler's character Happy Gilmore is either a 1973 or 1974 Duster.

Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck) drives a 1973 or 1974 Duster in the film Dazed and Confused.

Todd Ianuzzi drives a 1973 Duster on Beavis & Butthead.

[edit] See also

Additional information is available in the Valiant article on which the Duster was based.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Plymouth Duster

v • d • e Plymouth (Vehicles • DaimlerChrysler)
Historic:
Cars:	Acclaim \| Arrow \| Barracuda \| Belvedere \| Breeze \| Caravelle \| Champ \| Colt \| Conquest \| Cricket \| Duster \| Fury \| Gran Fury \| GTX \| Horizon \| Laser \| Neon \| Plaza \| Prowler \| Reliant \| Road Runner \| Sapporo \| Satellite \| Savoy \| Sundance \| TC3 \| Turismo \| Valiant \| VIP \| Volaré
Vans / SUVs:	Adventurer \| Voyager/Grand Voyager \| Trailduster
Trucks:	Arrow Truck
Concept:
Cars:	Backpack \| Belmont \| Cabana \| Duster I \| Explorer \| Expresso \| Howler \| Pronto \| Pronto Spyder \| Prowler \| Slingshot \| Speedster \| Tornado \| Voyager 3 \| XNR 500 \| XX 500