A good example of buying a 70 Duster done rather than building one

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I live about 45 minutes from Knoxville, and i look on CL alot, i think this car was on there under Barter wanting to trade for a couple of months, so either someone traded for it and now wanting to sell or there is some reason no one would trade. If it's the same car, there was bubbles under the paint behind the rear tires close to back bumper
 
jimharvard said:
This 1970 340 4 speed Duster just showed up on Facebook Marketplace from Knoxville, Tennessee listed for $20,000. The car looks pretty nice in the pictures and appears to be fairly original and complete.

You couldn't buy a decent 340 4 speed 70 Duster or create one out of a decent slant 6 car and finish it to the level this car is done for $20,000. The seller is no doubt losing some money on this car at that price. And who knows, maybe this guy would take $19k or $18k.

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yea i'd have to see that in person.. a few obvious short cuts can be seen in those crappy pictures. god only knows what it looks like under the paint and when you really look closely at the car. smells liek a polished turd to me.... i don't consider that thing a good argument.



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I generally try not to condemn a car just because of little nit picky stuff like a black engine compartment or the "wrong" air cleaner. Or the Demon hood treatment on a Duster.

But that prop valve! And all of the brake lines routed around it, that whole thing is sketchy as all hell. And that's safety stuff. Anybody that would run brake lines like that is capable of anything.

Oh, and the paint- nothing against this one in particular, but no paint is good unless you've see it in person. It looks nice in the pictures, but it could easily be a bondo sculpture.

This one has lots of warning signs. No fender tag, and not even any holes for one. For that matter, a lot of factory holes appear to have been filled in the engine compartment. Washer nozzle stuff is missing. Rubber hood bumper stuff is missing. Splatter paint in the trunk is almost always bad, especially if it's right over the top of the rubber body plugs like this one. Shift boot is generic and super cheap. Wrong hardware in a reproduction rallye bezel. The entire interior is reproduction stuff and not fit super well on closer inspection. And none of the 340 or 4 speed stuff is obviously original. Also, doesn't appear to have rear torque boxes. 340 4 speed car should have had those. I realize not all of them did, but combined with the missing fender tag and everything else and I really wonder if it is an “H” code as claimed. And I don’t mind clones, but if it’s a clone you’d better say that it is.

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I dunno. I'm not the originality police or anything but there's a lot of little and not so little stuff that's off with this one that tells me it’s not a high dollar build. I don’t think $20k is a steal on this one, this one could be hiding thousands of dollars of work. Looks like a flip job.
 
Thanks for posting this, Jim.
Even if I were in the market for a car like this, I would pass on this one.
There are too many red flags on this car to even consider at 20 grand.
And from my experience, if you see a lot of things wrong in the pictures, there are twice as much as soon as you see the car in person.
JMHO, for what it's worth.........
 
Just because a car has things done differently but still 100% functional doesn't necessarily mean the car is junk. I see a few things that could be made better, but still looks like a good deal to me.
 
Good deal?? Maybe, if you consider the '71 that just sold for $68K....but not to me.
 
I see a bare shell sell for $3000.00 to $5000.00. A slant car for $6000.00 to $8000.00. What does it cost to do ur power train, paint and body and wheels and tires. Pretty soon ur working for nothing. Some guys even have to change frame rails or the trans frame. Also u see cars for $15,000.00 that just need to be assambled. Rarely are all the parts there. Kim
 
100% original? Hell no and that's fine. They dont all have to be like that but I just hate shortcuts and people doing half *** work. Prime example is that prop valve on the inner fender. And what's sad is so many that are for sale, are like this it seems. I think if you take the time and do the work, correctly. You will get more serious people and it will retain it's value better.
 
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rklein383 said:
Just because a car has things done differently but still 100% functional doesn't necessarily mean the car is junk. I see a few things that could be made better, but still looks like a good deal to me.
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problem is those things that "can be done differently" are currently done half assed.. if those simple thing are half assed then most likely many more things are done half assed... and those are just a few things people can see in pictures , god only knows how half assed it is in person.. that is a 8-12K car. no where near a 20k car in my opinion.
 
limegreen70 said:
100% original? Hell no and that's fine. They dont all have to be like that but I just hate shortcuts and people doing half *** work. Prime example is that prop valve on the inner fender. And what's sad is so many that are for sale, are like this it seems. I think if you take the time and do the work, correctly. You will get more serious people and it will retain its value better.
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and look at that wiring.. holy crap.. total dog ****.
 
Found a cached copy of the original e-Bay ad with more pictures.
VIN is listed as VS29HOB408567.
As mentioned earlier kinda a hack job but for the price could you build a similar car flaws notwithstanding?
Just go in with eyes open wide or pay Uncle Tony a consultants fee since the car and UT are both in TN.

1970 Plymouth Duster | eBay
 
abodyjoe said:
problem is those things that "can be done differently" are currently done half assed.. if those simple thing are half assed then most likely many more things are done half assed... and those are just a few things people can see in pictures , god only knows how half assed it is in person.. that is a 8-12K car. no where near a 20k car in my opinion.
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+2
 
I figure 20 grand and you can drive it work on little things that "bug ya" yea makes sense. I bought my swinger in the 90s when they weren't 20 grand, but mine was a basket case. Do I have 20 in it? probably till it is done yes. I picke d up a fox body mustang convertible back in 2010,again not 20 grand, not even 5 but I drive it and fix things as needed. Its all in what ya want to do ,if paint and body is your experience for fun, go for it. They are more rusty now than in the 90s though.
 
340sport said:
Good deal?? Maybe, if you consider the '71 that just sold for $68K....but not to me.
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The sale price of that Duster (68k) is a fine example of just because you can doesn't mean you should..... The members who think that is well deserved need to remember that's some drunk guy placing bids who is already lighting Cigars with 100 dollar bills. Because if you pay that much for that A-body you might as well light money with a match....

JW
 
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4spdragtop said:
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Exactly. At $20k this thing is a pile of hot garbage.

rklein383 said:
Just because a car has things done differently but still 100% functional doesn't necessarily mean the car is junk. I see a few things that could be made better, but still looks like a good deal to me.
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Ian McCrimmon said:
Found a cached copy of the original e-Bay ad with more pictures.
VIN is listed as VS29HOB408567.
As mentioned earlier kinda a hack job but for the price could you build a similar car flaws notwithstanding?
Just go in with eyes open wide or pay Uncle Tony a consultants fee since the car and UT are both in TN.

1970 Plymouth Duster | eBay
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This is beyond "done differently". And as far as building a similar car for the price- are you including the price of fixing all the stuff that is very clearly wrong and needs to be fixed? The paint on this car won't last a couple years, and underneath that paint is metal work that was skipped and covered over. From the larger eBay images...

Remember everything under this splatter paint looks like this. Zero prep and rust. Wonder what's under the topcoat?
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Same deal with the topcoat. It's peeling off the edges, the prep is atrocious. And the grille is cooked.
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Rust bubbles, and terrible gaps
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Look how sunken in the marker light is. Big dent, bondo above it.
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C'mon man! This stuff is easy to fix, but dang
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Starter relay on the firewall next to the wiper motor. I count three different brake line unions in one square foot. This isn't just "doing it differently". This is shadetree nonsense.
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I'd rather buy a shell for $3k and put $17K into it. The stuff that you see that makes this car appealing is all hack job- the paint is terrible, there was no prep and there is rust underneath it. The body gaps are all over the place. And that's obvious from low resolution internet pictures. The paint is gonna be peeling off this thing in short order, with metal work to do underneath it. Just with paint, even if you do it all yourself you've got $5k in materials for a repaint. The brake lines need to be completely replaced. The wiring is marginal.

Everything that was done to this car has to be redone. At least with a shell with original paint you'd be able to see what you're getting into. This thing is gonna wipe out someone's savings, end up torn half apart again, and get sold again as an incomplete project when whoever buys it realizes it'll be another $20k to get it right.

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SLOPAR72 said:
The sale price of that Duster is a fine example of just because you can doesn't mean you should..... The members who think that is well deserved need to remember that's some drunk guy placing bids who is already lighting Cigars with 100 dollar bills. Because if you pay that much for that A-body you might as well light money with a match....

JW
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True if you want to flip it. i would think at 20 there isn't much left to make on it. If you want to drive it a year or 10 even then no telling how much you'll unload it for later. Some people don't care they just want a no fuss old car to drive.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
What is the deal with that pistol grip shifter being canted almost 90 degrees parallel with the floor?
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This is what makes a car like this for sale interesting. If you are the unsuspecting buyer who just has to have an A-body but never got intimate with one will never notice things that true followers of these cars will. I suspect if you were to see it in person the problems will quickly come to the top. Those brake lines alone is enough for me personally. Big red flag....

JW
 
SLOPAR72 said:
This is what makes a car like this for sale interesting. If you are the unsuspecting buyer who just has to have an A-body but never got intimate with one will never notice things that true followers of these cars will. I suspect if you were to see it in person the problems will quickly come to the top. Those brake lines alone is enough for me personally. Big red flag....

JW
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Its funny I remember the days when no one wanted Mopars any of them. Now they are all the rage, have been for a while. I mean in high school the Dusters were cool and a buddies brother had a 73 with a 318,it was clean,. It was only 12 years old at the time though. But yeah rusted out B bodies could be had cheap or free in the late 80s
 
Dartswinger70 said:
Its funny I remember the days when no one wanted Mopars any of them. Now they are all the rage, have been for a while. I mean in high school the Dusters were cool and a buddies brother had a 73 with a 318,it was clean,. It was only 12 years old at the time though. But yeah rusted out B bodies could be had cheap or free in the late 80s
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In 1985 they were still easily found and cheap with minimal to no work needed. 35 years later most are rusty and have been modded out. As I have said many times I got lucky in my time as a young driver and got to enjoy a couple of original 340 and 360 cars.... And on the cheap....

JW
 
Dartswinger70 said:
What is the deal with that pistol grip shifter being canted almost 90 degrees parallel with the floor?
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It's a B-body shift handle. My guess is that it was too tall, and they cut the part that curves off the bottom and drilled new holes to mount it. Angle on it would mean it was mounted about where I added the line

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You couldn't build one for $20 large unless you can do most of the work yourself. Ya, if you look close there's some screwy details but if it was perfectly restored or perfect original it would sell for $40,000 or more.
 
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