1971 Plymouth Duster

(1974 to 1976)

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The car that started it all for me. My High School car. A 340 Duster in B5 Blue. My father steered me in to this car, he felt that I would enjoy working on it and he is the one who found it.

It had been reworked as a typical “Day Two” Hot Rod of the time (carb, manifold, headers) by the previous owner whose family owned a garage, so plenty of friendly support if I got in to trouble mechanically. I added a few more things like a bigger cam and a 4.56 rear end (it was really quick from mailbox to mailbox!).

Sort of interesting in those days in that we all wanted aftermarket wheels to replace the factory ones, but most couldn’t afford them or at least to buy them all at once. You can see from the pictures that the Duster starts with Chrysler Rallye wheels and then is half and half and then finally chrome all around. I think the rear dish were bought new at JC Penny’s! The Cragars were used. But the Cragars in front were too big of a bolt pattern for the odd 4” pattern that came on a Duster, so I used adapters and you can see the wheels sort of sticking out a bit as a result. Oh well!

The last picture is a Chevelle owned by a good friend in High School. A retired show car that he bought, impressive performer, note the flares over the rear wheels. There is a lot here typical of the time…the tire/wheel combo, the stance, ladder bars, etc.