70-76 Demon,Dart sport,Duster Pictorial History

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You say there were no "360" callouts on the 74 dusters but I have pictures of my duster when it was new and it had the "360" callouts and I am now in the process of rebuilding this car and have got my stripe kit from Phoenix Graphics and they showed the 340 or 360 callout. Very good information on the duster history.That's why we come to this site.
 
All I can say is Wow.. Wow 7demon2.. youve done a really good job..


Now.. you should inform me about my 66 valiant/dart.. so i can learn about MY car. hehe =)



Cerwin
 
Cerwin said:
Now.. you should inform me about my 66 valiant/dart.. so i can learn about MY car. hehe =)
And a '66 Barracuda info thread would be nice, too...
 
Great job on the historical perspective of these cars. :thumbup:

A minor correction if it hasn't been noted.
70-71 Dusters share the same tail lights. 72 is different that then 70-71 tail lights, much longer.

Do you know what color that first 73 Dart sport is? The very dark car. Is it Black or the Dark silver poly color? Thanks
 
very true the tailights were stretched out some for the 72 dusters. this is more of an ommision on my part because of the fact other than length they are of the same design. the first dart sport is black.
 
Thought I'd add a clearer shot of the 75 Dart Sport rear tail light trim piece:

DaS2.sized.jpg


Obviously, the scoop is incorrect as are the 15" steel wheels (plus the bumperettes were removed) but since the car was mine, I added (and deleted) what I wanted! :D

PS: The 360 Dart Sports had a small "360" pot metal badge located on the front fender (same spot as the 340 badge on the 73 models)... if you squint, you'll see the one on mine.
 
just found this great dealer shot of the 1975 duster 360 w/ stripe. this is a great shot of this rarely seen stripe used only in 75-76 on 360's. still looking for a 1976 bicentennial edition duster shot......

1975 dust.jpg
 
Have you ever seen stripes like this? They were on my first car, a 318/904 73 Duster with fold down rear seat. I presume it was original, but may have been put on later. At the time (early 80's) I did not know how to determine if it had been wrecked.

73 duster.JPG


73 duster2.JPG
 
kinda looks factory??? what is the writing on the stripe? looks like in the rear there is some kind of writing in the middle stripe?
 
Yes - it said "Duster".

I "looked" factory, as far as I remember, but this is the only 2 pics of the car known to exist. (makes it sound rare, eh?)
 
was there anything on the back you can remember? what about the interior? anything special? special pattern or nameplate? unless it has anything further on it i am going to say it is a dealer added stripe of some sort or some aftermarket type stripe. very interesting none the less.
 
  • It is the factory stripe, mine has it as well, I bought my car new in Manitoba Canada
 
Wow!!!!! and my wife thinks computers are only for playing cards and ****.....
I've learned more here in 5 min. than I will all day at the job site. What a great collection of history. 5 STARS TO YOU !!!!!
 
  • It is the factory stripe, mine has it as well, I bought my car new in Manitoba Canada
hey that is great.....do you still have any pictures of it that you can post? maybe this is some sort of a canadian only stripe???? you know only put of canadian built cars that originally were ment to stay in canada???
 
Wow!!!!! and my wife thinks computers are only for playing cards and ****.....
I've learned more here in 5 min. than I will all day at the job site. What a great collection of history. 5 STARS TO YOU !!!!!
thanks!!!!:notworth:
 
7demon2,

I too, wanna say what a great job you've done on the history of these cars but, I would like to add a correction. In the 73 340 Dart Sport section, the second picture of the hood stripe on the Blue 73 Dart Sport is not done to factory specs. This is what it should look like.

73 340 Dart Sport hood stripe.jpg
 
i felt i need to add some additional info here. i had someone ask about the demon taillights for 1971-72. the taillights were the same for both years. they were vertical, and six individual lights per side. i also had someone point out the fact that 1975 darts and dusters had a 1 year optional rear trim piece. the peice ran across the back under the trunk. it was made from brushed aluminum.

the first pic is a 1971-72 demon.
the second pic is a 1975 dart.
the third pic is a 1975 duster.


Great stuff! Most people don't know that Dusters never had the dual snorkle scoop at all and it was only available of the '73 Dart Sports. I was never sure about '74's.

But I wanted to mention that the full-width panels between the taillights were made of the same material as the regular taillight bezels (potmetal?), not aluminum. They have the same tendency to blister and corrode as most other bezels, emblems, etc. I believe it was standard equipment in 1975 only and not an "option".

Some other info is that the dual snorkle scoops had a pair of 4" holes located in the side corners of the underside hood bracing. It's the middle area that is shaped like a diamond. They came with rubber grommets that helped keep water from getting into the engine bay and the set up never had any type of ram-air or sealed system. Just regular air cleaners.

Some people have claimed to have gotten the scoop option on their cars, but that it didn't have the fresh air holes underneath. But I haven't seen any official documentation on it. That, and/or the Dusters may have been dealer installations.

The '76-only Dart Lites and Plymouth Dusters had aluminum bracing under the hood and trunk lids as well as aluminum bumper reinforcements between the steel bumper and the shock absorber-style bumper brackets. There were many other special "tweaks" to the overall combo, including aluminum intake manifolds, special carb and aluminum cased 4-speed overdrive transmissions.

Lots of other tidbits here:

http://www.valiant.org/duster.html
 
Excellent writeup I really enjoyed reading it. I have done some duster hoodscoop research too and it supports what you are saying. Can you clarify the availability of the twin scoops on a 1971 duster. Were they only available on a twister? Or could you order a 71 340 duster with a blackout hood and scoops? To date, I have not seen a 340 duster with a factory installed scoop (lots of owner installed ones). Back in the 80's (before all the "restorations") the only dusters I saw with the twin scoops were twisters, never a 340. But I am still curious if it was possible to order a 340 duster with scoops?

Also could you comment on the rear wing availabilty on demons and dusters. Sometime in 71 the trunk lid got changed to the center rib type which doesn't allow the factory spoiler to be attached properly. My 2-70 340 dusters (which I still have) had the flat trunk and my 71 340 duster (which is gone) had the rib type trunk. So what is the deal with that.

Also on the discussions of hoodscoops, if you look in the parts manuals for the demons and dart sports with hoods scoops, the hood panel has a different part number than the standard hood. This makes sense as the hoods have the holes cut in them. Another interesting factis that the grommet that fits in the hole is called a rain guard (or something like that - I'd have to look it up again to get the exact wording) So I am thinking it is just to keep water from running through the hole, there was never any intention to seal it to an air cleaner assembly, just my thoughts anyway.
 
Excellent writeup I really enjoyed reading it. I have done some duster hoodscoop research too and it supports what you are saying. Can you clarify the availability of the twin scoops on a 1971 duster. Were they only available on a twister? Or could you order a 71 340 duster with a blackout hood and scoops? To date, I have not seen a 340 duster with a factory installed scoop (lots of owner installed ones). Back in the 80's (before all the "restorations") the only dusters I saw with the twin scoops were twisters, never a 340. But I am still curious if it was possible to order a 340 duster with scoops?.

correct...340 dusters never had the scoops no matter what year. the twisters were the only one to recieve them....whoever the dealer could install anything, if you wanted to pay for it!

Also could you comment on the rear wing availabilty on demons and dusters. Sometime in 71 the trunk lid got changed to the center rib type which doesn't allow the factory spoiler to be attached properly. My 2-70 340 dusters (which I still have) had the flat trunk and my 71 340 duster (which is gone) had the rib type trunk. So what is the deal with that..

i am going to assume by rib you are refering to the seam that runs down the center of the trunk lid. trunk rib thing is something i have never looked at. i thought the trunk lids were all interchangeable? at least 72-76 anyway. i know i have a 72 demon. it has the rib running down the center. i have a factory 71 wing on it that was installed by the selling dealer in 72. i have no fit issues with mine. i rallly don't see at to where there would be a problem to be honest. i have seen wings on many different a-bodies form 70-76. both the 70 style and the 71 style.

Also on the discussions of hoodscoops, if you look in the parts manuals for the demons and dart sports with hoods scoops, the hood panel has a different part number than the standard hood. This makes sense as the hoods have the holes cut in them. Another interesting factis that the grommet that fits in the hole is called a rain guard (or something like that - I'd have to look it up again to get the exact wording) So I am thinking it is just to keep water from running through the hole, there was never any intention to seal it to an air cleaner assembly, just my thoughts anyway.

this is also correct. however i have an article somewhere that i have not been able to find, that states the original idea was to have a fresh air setup for these cars. the insurance regualtions of the day along with the impending fuel crunch stopped the development of it fully. the holes were however left in so the end consumer could set it up themselves. this is why they had the rain guard gaskets.
 
The trunk lids are all interchangeable, but the flat lids (no center rib) had provisions or cut outs on the inner trunk structure to allow for the wing brackets. I have 3 1970 dusters and all use this trunk lid (2 340s and one /6 car) none have the wing installed though. Allthe other 71-76 and up cars I have owned have the rib on them.
 
Great info here! Couple of things:

The 1975 Duster stripe could be had on a non-360 car. I had a 21k mile original slant 6 Duster with this stripe.

The lightweight (Feather, Lite) cars could be had with 318s and automatics - not all were slant 6 w/ overdrive.

Easy way to id a 1976 a-body: foot pedal parking brake, rearview mirror glued to windshield.

My 1975 Duster (sold it in 1996):

75duster.jpg
 
Great info here! Couple of things:

The 1975 Duster stripe could be had on a non-360 car. I had a 21k mile original slant 6 Duster with this stripe.

The lightweight (Feather, Lite) cars could be had with 318s and automatics - not all were slant 6 w/ overdrive.

Easy way to id a 1976 a-body: foot pedal parking brake, rearview mirror glued to windshield.

My 1975 Duster (sold it in 1996):

very nice car! i do like this stripe as it is seldom seen. do you have any rear shots? it is too bad no one is reproducing these today. at least that i have seen anyway......do you remember if this was possibly a canadian car or not? just wondering as they seem to get special items not always available in the states.....
 
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