All the attention is focused on the 426 and 440-6 cars, but the reality is that it was the 340 and 440-4 cars that MADE CHRYSLER’S REP ON THE STREET!!!!! You hardly ever even saw the Hemi and 440-6 cars, and they raced even less. Mostly, they sat around with their hoods opened, when they bothered to come out at all.

The 340/A-body was a great combination…..everything else Chrysler made was too heavy for a small-block, and needed a big block to motivate properly. The NHRA Pro Stock guys figured out the same thing by 1972 (back when Pro Stock was based on REAL CARS)

Since finishing the 73 DS, I’ve noticed:

-Yeah, it’s noisy…..wind noise, suspension noise on rough pavement, overassisted steering. But it’s a nice drive out on the Interstate, and the engine soundtrack makes up for many sins. And, depending on how willing you are to modify one, a lot of these issues can be addressed.

-It’s got massive amounts of room. I’m 6′5″, and it’s the most comfortable car I own.
Now if I can just figure out a way to modify the seat backs, so the rake is adjustable…..

-EVERYBODY loves Dusters/Dart Sports…..you meet all kinds of new friends every time you drive it. (unfortunately about 99% guys……..although 16-18 year old high school girls seem to like it too). From 5 year old kids, to high school kids who know what the “H” in the VIN means, to the 70 year old who told me about how he and his buddy got back from Vietnam, bought a 340 Duster in California, and drove it cross-country to their new duty station in Virginia.

-These old cars are dirt cheap to fix, and easy to work on in the driveway. And the stuff you have to farm out (like auto trans rebuilds) are dirt cheap as well, compared to fixing the new stuff.

Although the Roadrunner gets all the fame for originating the bargain-basement musclecar, in actuality, the Duster 340 was, by far, the most successful of the breed, easily eclipsing the Roadrunner’s best sales years. In fact, Chrysler’s overlapping musclecars cannibalized significant sales from their own marques. It’s an obvious conclusion that the success of the Duster 340 was a contributing factor to the demise of the rest of the Mopar musclecar line-up.

As a footnote, it’s worth mentioning that one of the original names kicked around for the Duster 340 was simply ‘CK’ as in ‘Clark Kent’. Plymouth’s art department even came up with a phone booth picture with a Superman-style cape for use as an underhood pad. Fortunately, they went with the much more palatable Duster emblem which, in and of itself, was a thinly disguised rip-off of the Warner Bros Tazmanian Devil. Apparently, as Chrysler had gotten the rights to the Roadrunner cartoon for a relatively small amount and the car was a huge success, Warner Bros. wasn’t about to let them use another of their cartoon characters for nearly as cheap.

My mechanic friend, Don told me that when he used to get Volares in the shop with the stalling complaint for a second time, they’d drill out something in the carb to prevent the stalling.

Best thing about these cars? The little doors hidden under the dash for “ram air” venting. A great place to hide the bong!!

My brother had a ‘68 Dart 273 auto., complete w/ 13″wheels, that was a dog.

His ‘64 dart 225 w/red bucket seats and push button auto was a much classier ride.

I forget the exact change in the parking lights within the grille but the tail lights are a dead giveaway.

1972 had the upper/lower tail lights on each side touching, assembled as one unit while 1970 and 1971 had some body sheet metal between the upper/lower portion of the tail lights on each side.

Memory is imperfect.

Wondering how many lids were sucked up the vent and into the blower motor.

Little seeds spewing through the car. Requiring years to find every last one to rid one’s self of evidence.

70-71 http://www.valiant.org/photos/duster.jpg

72 http://mapleleafmopars.homestead.com/72duster7a.jpg

No biggie, very minor differences between the cars, barring minor trim and the effects of smog devices upon engines, etc.

Didn’t the Duster use torsion bars vice coil springs up front?

Too lazy to research upon the Webaroni.

but it looks like something from a tarantino movie so therefore looks like quite the classic

does it have a ‘pussy wagon’ decal on the back?

still, looks like any of the muscle cars of that era… ie. worth quite a bit if restored?

Dad had 2 Dart GT, same body as the Duster. We didn’t got the Duster here. I guess they had the 318.

I still remember that he chirped the tyres for my pleasure from time to time, the V8 burble and the dual chrome exhaust tips.

I will confess to having the same reaction. But I came to terms with it when I saw that the new one was actually uglier than the old one. Is it too late to rename the Sebring as the Chrysler Volare?

My dad owned a ‘76 and I can vouch for that.

Not to mention it was the only car of ours that started on a -40 morning one frosty January day.

Years later they brought that colour back on the Neon. My Dad still cringes about it. Great colour, pink in the day, dark purple almost black at night. A dream for a guy that was an auto paint chemist for CIL/ICI/PPG.

http://www.valiant.org/duster.html

The Valiant had a simple, clean style that endured for years. Although the safety bumpers installed on both ends after the 1972 model year didn’t do it any favors. I do prefer the Darts of those years, with the forward-leaning front.

258exp: A quarter of a million sold in 1970 alone? I think you’re off by an order of magnitude.

The sales figures I found show that the Duster sold 193,375 units in 1970. The Valiant itself sold 50,810 units, so total Duster/Valiant sales were about a quarter of a million units.

By 1974, total Duster sales were a little over 280,000 units. Adding Valiant and Scamp sales to the mix brought total sales to around 450,000.

And that doesn’t include Dodge Dart/Swinger/Sport sales.

Chrysler dominated the domestic compact market in the early 1970s. While its total market share was usually about 15-16 percent, it claimed over 30 percent of the compact market. Unfortunately, profits were lower there than in the full-size and intermediate segments, which GM dominated.

When I was a kid, the Mopar compacts were everywhere…kind of like the Civic and the Corolla today.

No I’m not. All Duster sales, not just 340’s.

I’ll testify to this: the Aspen is the reason my parents and grandparents (who owned Chryslers since the Plymouth reviewed a few days ago) dropped Chrysler like a hot rock. Brief subsequent experiences with the Citation (rental, transmission cracked) and Tempo (bought, returned under lemon suit) only served to drive them right into Toyota’s waiting arms.

My dad’s jaw hit the floor when he heard Chrysler was dusting off the Aspen nameplate.

Very interesting. I’m glad they used the funds to create the duster, rather than restyle the Valiant, because that 1970 styling was, in my opinion, the best since the first Valiant. Boxy, yes, but very nicely done, and very crisp and clean. I give it an A. And much better looking than any of its competitors. It didn’t need to be restyled also because people bought Valiants for the quality.