How many CURRENT owners of real '74 360 Duster 4 speed cars on here?
I found mine in a wrecking yard in Spokane, Washington, towards the end of 1992. I was actually looking for the car, althought I didn't know what it was until after I had found it. I had been looking for a tossed away dual exhaust to try and put on my '78 Volare Super Coupe, and had been told at a Mopars Unlimited club meeting that there was a car in this yard with a dual exhaust laying under it. So I went looking for a Mopar that had the pipes I thought I could swap onto my car, and found my Duster.
After I found it and started looking at it, I realized it was a 4 speed car and thought "how cool!". So, I asked the yard owner what he would want for the whole car. He wasn't real excited about it as it was back in a hole, and it didn't have any suspension that would make it easy to pull out if there, so I worked a deal that I would put a suspension on it so he just had to hook onto it and pull it out of it's hole. Paid $200 for it.
Here's how it looked when I found it:
The original motor was still in the car, but it wasn't much more than a block. Transmission was gone, as was the front suspension, rear gears and back window. I bought another 8.25" there in the yard and swapped it in, and found a complete disk brake front end in another yard (along with a 4 speed OD) that I installed so I could get it out of the yard.
I think someone else had been looking for the car too, as one of the times I showed up to work on putting the suspension on the car the owner asked me what was up with that old Duster. He said he had gotten a call asking about it and told the guy it had sold. I told him it was just a v8 Duster, and he didn't say anything else about it.
The car had obviously been raced. It had holes from hood pins in all four corners, with the ones in the cowl covered by plates that where hammered to fit, sealed and screwed down. Found a worn out electric fuel pump in the rear, too. Also, the right rear spring mount was ripping loose and pushing up through the floor from the clutch dumps. The front floor looked like it had been shot with a shotgun there were so many holes in the floor for different bucket seats, and someone had even cut holes in the hump so they could tighten the top two trani bolts.
When I got the motor out and sent it be rebuilt, I found a rod bearing that had spun so bad it had melted and flowed up between the rods. probably the reason it ended up in the wrecking yard. It looked bad. This car had lived a hard life for awhile.
Funny thing is, despite all of the stuff that was gone or swapped, the back seat was still in the car, along with the broadcast sheet. That was a real rush when I found it.
The car doesn't have many options, the typical stripes, dual sport mirrors, power disk brakes, 8 1/4, and the 360 and 4 speed. That's pretty much it. Bench seat, manual steering and all.
Here are some pictures of it a year or so ago:
Lot's of changes since then, including finally figuring out what the knock was in the motor, but I will save those stories until later.
I found mine in a wrecking yard in Spokane, Washington, towards the end of 1992. I was actually looking for the car, althought I didn't know what it was until after I had found it. I had been looking for a tossed away dual exhaust to try and put on my '78 Volare Super Coupe, and had been told at a Mopars Unlimited club meeting that there was a car in this yard with a dual exhaust laying under it. So I went looking for a Mopar that had the pipes I thought I could swap onto my car, and found my Duster.
After I found it and started looking at it, I realized it was a 4 speed car and thought "how cool!". So, I asked the yard owner what he would want for the whole car. He wasn't real excited about it as it was back in a hole, and it didn't have any suspension that would make it easy to pull out if there, so I worked a deal that I would put a suspension on it so he just had to hook onto it and pull it out of it's hole. Paid $200 for it.
Here's how it looked when I found it:
The original motor was still in the car, but it wasn't much more than a block. Transmission was gone, as was the front suspension, rear gears and back window. I bought another 8.25" there in the yard and swapped it in, and found a complete disk brake front end in another yard (along with a 4 speed OD) that I installed so I could get it out of the yard.
I think someone else had been looking for the car too, as one of the times I showed up to work on putting the suspension on the car the owner asked me what was up with that old Duster. He said he had gotten a call asking about it and told the guy it had sold. I told him it was just a v8 Duster, and he didn't say anything else about it.
The car had obviously been raced. It had holes from hood pins in all four corners, with the ones in the cowl covered by plates that where hammered to fit, sealed and screwed down. Found a worn out electric fuel pump in the rear, too. Also, the right rear spring mount was ripping loose and pushing up through the floor from the clutch dumps. The front floor looked like it had been shot with a shotgun there were so many holes in the floor for different bucket seats, and someone had even cut holes in the hump so they could tighten the top two trani bolts.
When I got the motor out and sent it be rebuilt, I found a rod bearing that had spun so bad it had melted and flowed up between the rods. probably the reason it ended up in the wrecking yard. It looked bad. This car had lived a hard life for awhile.
Funny thing is, despite all of the stuff that was gone or swapped, the back seat was still in the car, along with the broadcast sheet. That was a real rush when I found it.
The car doesn't have many options, the typical stripes, dual sport mirrors, power disk brakes, 8 1/4, and the 360 and 4 speed. That's pretty much it. Bench seat, manual steering and all.
Here are some pictures of it a year or so ago:
Lot's of changes since then, including finally figuring out what the knock was in the motor, but I will save those stories until later.