Comments: 1-15, 16-18
Got the car new OK? shifter bolts not in, just hand tightened two threads. Would jump and bolt like a wild house when starting from cold. Spare tire did not fit the hub, Rear axle was from Plymouth Scamp cause Duster production line ran out, was to narrower so the car would bounce all over the place when hitting a bump. A/c went bad with in 13 months. Dealer said financing was 8%, turned out to be 14%. Dealers did not want to fix anything.. worst service I've ever seen, swore I would never buy from Mopar again and was glad to see them go under.
They were hideous cars from the very beginning. I know the 70's were not known for reliability, but there were some cars, like the Cutlass Supreme, Grand Prix, Thunderbirds and Cougars, that were a joy to at least look at and ride. The Dusters, however, caused anguish and pain to even look at.
These cars were clunkers right out of the showroom.
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.
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.
I have a 72 duster 340 727 this car is ultra reliable and makes a lot of enimies (pontiac transams,camaros, mustang gts, etc not bad for a 34 year old car back in 72 they were putting firebirds, mach 1s, cougars, chevelles, olds 442s, all where they belong behind the duster 340 american muscle at its best mopar or no car.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Hi.
I have a 1974 duster. Its my first car and I got it off a woman who wasn't driving anymore for 100 bucks. All that needed replacing was a battery, and I replaced fluids since it'd been garaged for 5 months. I've been driving it since 2005, and nothings gone wrong yet.
I'd like to see more duster (plymouth) reviews on this site. Surely more people have dusters, furies etc etc.
I love my duster!
People are so surprised at how I can take off, and my Dad offered to help my put mods on it, but I declined--I like it the way it is, stock.
My Dads 53, I'm 16 but he loves my car more than his 2002 Camry!
I think I'll buy a fury to sit beside my duster... and maybe I'll find a beater to restore too.
Why do so many people say the duster is horrible? They must not maintaine them or they got lemmons.
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.
I have 74' duster. This is the greatest car along side with other mopars like dart, cuda, charger, challenger & roadrunner just to name a few. My dad bought the car for me last year for my 16th birthday for $1200. Has perfect interior, new leather seats, leather headliner, hand new carpet. Strong 318 with 4bbl holley on it, beats the hell out of anybody I race.
This car is so reliable I had only had 2 little problems, just the oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket. but what can you expect for a car that has 350k miles on it. People really under estimate the duster, but when they are looking at my tail light at the finish line they feel real dumb. All I have to say is that mopar has made some of he best cars and are built to last... forever. MOPAR OR NO CAR!!!
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?
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.
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.