24th Dec 2005, 20:55

I bought a 1974 Plymouth duster with a 318 and 904 tans 4 years ago for my first car. I bought it from an old lady and the car only had 69,000 miles on it. I drove the car daily until I bought my barracuda last November. in the time I was driving the car daily I had no mechanical problems at all with the car. it drove great and was excellent on gas. the car had no modifications done to it, it was all as it came from the factory.

30th Dec 2005, 04:35

Thank you sir I do appreciate a good comment for the car I wish to purchase, these other guys just bought the crappiest rip off of the Duster they could find. Heres a lil advice guys:learn how to shop for cars!!!Thank you again sir.

23rd Feb 2006, 16:26

Cool, a 340 Duster, now we're talking! As much as some people like to dump on the Duster, it's not quite so easy to pick on a car that can blow your @$#$@ doors off! Although to be fair, the '72 340 is not up to the '71 340, unless it's been rebuilt to '71 specs with the higher compression ratio pistons and higher flowing heads and exhaust. Probably these days, most people never heard of the 340, and there are probably a lot of surprised people when they see that Duster take off.

7th Mar 2006, 08:45

It seems as though some people don't know what to do with a car... if taken care of this car will outlast any of these fiberglass junkers we are seeing nowadays... I have a 225 slant 6 and it still beats other 6 cyl "race" cars like camaros and mustangs... STOCK! so whatever...

10th Jul 2006, 13:29

I've owned 2 '72 Dusters (1 with the 6, one with the 318) and 1 '71 Duster. They were some of the best cars I ever owned. I kept the '72 V-8 up until 1988. All of them went over 100,000 miles with virtually zero problems. A co-worker of mine in 1987 was still driving a 1968 Valiant (sedan version of the Duster) that he bought new in '68. It had 387,000 miles on it at the time. If they were taken care of they'd go on forever. sadly, the quality did drop after '72, and the Volare/Aspen line was a total disaster.

10th Jul 2006, 16:47

Hideous is in the eye of the beholder. I ordered a brand new Plymouth Duster in 1975...all white. White, white interior and a factory wind up! sunroof (no vinyl top) and got many compliments on it. I liked the simplicity and did not have a/c. It had large ventilation doors on either side under the dash. That ported a lot of outside air in and with the sunroof wound open it was a pretty neat new car for a 22 year old and the insurance was low. My first car was a 1950 Plymouth that I drove in high school. It had an underdash handle that raised a cowl hood scoop for ventilation. I have owned many Chryslers since each having some unique features not seen by GM and Ford. Anyway not everyone wants the same car I guess I am one that loves Mopars.

18th Oct 2006, 13:47

My brother bought a 73 Dart Sport- (same as Duster) with a slant 6 and automatic. Excellent Auto-no problems at all-Bought it with 79k miles and drove it all over the country for 10 years. No stalling or warm up problems. No electrical problems. No engine or transmission problems. It needed an alternator (90k miles) and later a master cylinder (130k miles). Engine ran strong until at 179k miles the frame rusted through and broke. Here in Florida no body or welding shop knows how to fix this problem so sold car for $100. I bet the engine and trans are still running somewhere to this day. I am tired of people owning a car for 1 year and writing bad reviews about it. Fix what is wrong (usually poor maintenance or faulty mechanic related work) and drive it for 10 years then write your review.

16th Oct 2007, 16:19

I just found this site and find the comments very interesting. My wife still owns a 1972 Duster she bought new when she was in high school in 1972. Car has over 240,000 miles and has been very reliable. At around 200,000 miles the trans started slipping. When questioned my wife said the fluid and filter has never been changed. Changed fluid and filter and has ran great ever since. W/O AC it is not driven very often these days. Thinking about adding aftermarket AC and aftermarket power disc brakes and start driving again. BTW, we park this car next to my 1970 Nova SS that I bought new when I was in high school in 1970. Am I giving away our ages?

7th Aug 2008, 11:22

My 1974 Duster rules. It was a factory 6 but not for long.

I had a 70 Duster with a 340 and 727 trans. The frame was shot, so I dropped it into the 74. With the headers and the holly it rules the hood.

12th Jan 2009, 09:55

I am a Mopar man from back in the day, and still get a throb when I see one.

I now own a 74 Gold Duster that was my step-father's mother's car, it has 59,766 original miles on it. I been playing with the idea of either stuffin the slant six with a few tricks, or packing my 383 bored over 30, pop ups, steel crank, 588 lift cam. Any ideas from my brothers? Popeye.

3rd Mar 2009, 07:32

I own a 74 Plymouth Duster original 360 4 speed purchased near Ottawa. Purchased from the original owners; they put it away because of the gas crunch 1974.

I have replaced shift linkage with Hurst. It was like rowing a boat to find gears. Rebuilt the engine. Car has been a great driver; and good on fuel - depends how you drive it. And it's fun to drive.

4th Apr 2009, 19:53

I have a 1970 Plymouth Duster with a slant six engine. It runs great and looks great, and there's more room to move around in the back. Girls like it too.

7th Jun 2009, 02:41

Iver been as mopar guy from way back, thanks to my father, and I have owned 3 duster in the past and just bought a 1974 Duster "Twister" with a slant six and an automatic, only paid $725 for it because they believed it had a bearing knock, I found out that the torque converter bolts had back out which was causing the knocking. It's a great car, the body is rust free, and looks really good in the factory rally red, with the Black Twister stripes and the factory rally wheels. I'm thinking of swapping the Auto trans for a 3speed OD unit from my Volare, and maybe later on to a slightly modified 273 with the 3speed OD combo... which I think would make a great ride.