Are dart sports mostly gone

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missing linc said:
Aspen and Volare also had them if I remember right.
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M bodies? Trucks or something common, that I can grab some off of? Ya know it's for a silly project I have; I always have some silly thing I plan on doing that's not normal. I want the mashed areas to look right, on one end and will be cut shorter on the other end anyway
 
DionR said:
Stiffen the front of the car. User @goldduster318 added them to his early car and notice a good bit of difference as I recall.

I plan to add them to my '73 G3 swapped car at some point.
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Yes, I added them, to me the car feels better with them than without them, though small, you can grab them and rock the whole car by them.
Kern Dog said:
Ford cars had this in the 60s.
There is a tendency for the front section of the car to shift diagonally under some driving conditions. The bracing is meant to reduce that.
1973 was a year of major change to the Mopars. Brakes got better, steering components improved, great efforts were made to reduce vibrations in the B body line but those were a big step backwards regarding handling due to deflection.
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That's right, they keep the box structure of the front of the car from parallelagramming. It could have some minor effect to keep the upper part of the inner fender from flexing in the bending direction across the spot welds that sometimes crack.

If you can't find them you could replicate them using barstock and some round tubing, just crush the ends flat with a press and then weld it to the bar stock for the tabs. Seems to be essentially what the early construction was. I had to make the firewall side tabs to mount on mine as there are no flange provisions on an earlier car.

Doing a tie across the middle might be a good thing also, but really I don't know that I could make one that looked okay and actually fit, lots under the hood with A/C and EFI.
 
goldduster318 said:
Doing a tie across the middle might be a good thing also, but really I don't know that I could make one that looked okay and actually fit, lots under the hood with A/C and EFI.
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Former FBBO member "Darius" had a sturdy looking triangulated brace for his 70 GTX that he couldn't get to fit due to the 5.7 Hemi engine cover that he preferred to leave in place.
 
Darter6 said:
They needed something to hold those big fat front bumpers on !!!! Just like bra straps ! :lol:
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Don't be hatting the nose cars, they take it personal.
You won't like it when they get mad.

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Yea the 74's don't look good with the shock mounts. Doesn't this one look terrible?

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So awful !! Hell it's so bad I would take it off you hands just so you would feel better.
 
I has a 76 dart sport with a slant which I daily drove for a couple of years in the 80s. Then I got a wrecked L code 360 4 gear. It had buckets and a factory dual snorkel. I still have it but it is rusted all to hell. Kim
 
I’ve never owned a beaker car, but I see plenty in the salvage yards here in MN, often times loaded with parts. I have brought nice grilles and many other parts for these cars to swap meets and listed on eBay and they don’t seem to sell. But I did sell 2 70 Dart front clips to guys who were turning their Dart Sport into a Demon. I don’t see many on the road in my area either, most I see is at the MoPar show. My friend had a pretty nice 74 Dart Swinger with a built 340, he had a hard time selling it and it was priced to sell. I sold I’d love to drive a nice 4-door one as a daily driver….be fun!
 
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66340SEDAN said:
I’ve never owned a beaker car, but I see plenty in the salvage yards here in MN, often times loaded with parts. I have brought nice grilles and many other parts for these cars to swap meets and listed on eBay and they don’t seem to sell. But I did sell 2 70 Dart front clips to guys who were turning their Dart Sport into a Demon. I don’t see many on the road in my area either, most I see is at the MoPar show. My friend had a pretty nice 74 Dart Swinger with a built 340, he had a hard time selling it and it was priced to sell. I sold I’d love to drive a nice 4-door one as a daily driver….be fun!
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Here in Tx. I doubt you will find a commercial boneyard with anything older than 2000. The guy with a pasture of old cars, as here in Tx. they all seem to think a half parted out Beaker Duster is worth North of $3000 and NO title. They are NOT hungry!
Then there is the flipper that buys a Beaker Project out of Ok , again no title for $1000 to maybe $1500, and hauls it back home to Dallas and demands $3500 for it. But NO takers, and he has room and does not care, he figures one day it will sell, again not hungry, a guy thats overpaid and under worked!!!

I agree, parts for beakers are cheap when you can find them.

I think inflation is beginning to affect the average guy, the wealthy man buys high end DONE cars.
The supply of 1970-2 Dusters dries up more everyday. Those get more expensive and what is the alternative?? Beakers!! The prices of B and E bodies drove the hobbiest to A bodies decades ago. All is good when buying, but IF a guy puts the $$$ in a car and wants to sell, the "average" guy does not or can not come up with the $$ for a decent done car.
I know, "the guys that say it is just "my hobby, and I expect to take a bath when selling." How many average guys can afford that????! IMHO
 
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DionR said:
I wish the '73's had gotten the retractable 3 point seat belts and fender braces of the '74. Going to have to add both (or something similar) to my Hemi car.
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You can get new 3 point retractable seat belts for the duster with the dropper so its not cutting your head off. Doubt the fender braces do bugger all the steel is pretty thin....... if you want bracing u need to do full chassis connectors unless u want to crack your a piller lead joints.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
This is what happened to most of them.

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yep they were cheap so young guys floged the *** out of them and smashed them or people "thought" they would restore them only to realise they dont have the coin or the skill. So they became a garden ornament and too fkd to then be anything
 
TF360 said:
Yea 72blunblu, the 73-74 Dusters and Dart Sports were actually the best ones ever built, but most people are not aware of all the improvements that happened. They just see the 5 mph bumpers and don't like them. It takes 5 minutes to remove them. They were not really detuned until later, just went to the net HP rating. The Slant and 318 were basically the same, and the 360 hp in 74 was the best Duster/Dart Sport ever built with all the better stuff you mentioned above plus electronic ignition, a bigger Thermoquad, and safety features.
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Love how people say they d tuned the 73 onward ........ grumbling sounds, chew some tobaco etc. Because the stock 318 72 model makes huge power........ if we talking power how can these guys seriously contemplate anything thats stock from 1970 anything lol The only thing from 1974 on my duster will be how it looks and with the 73 rear bumper and sucked in front bumper actually think its a bloody good looking car for a fairly entry level "muscle" car
 
Ozyduster said:
yep they were cheap so young guys floged the *** out of them and smashed them or people "thought" they would restore them only to realise they dont have the coin or the skill. So they became a garden ornament and too fkd to then be anything
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How many projects taken apart, or half parted out "projects" are for sale on FB Marketplace????? and priced like a brain dead doper has them for sale??? How many????? Bookmark them and come back months or year later and how many even sold? :BangHead:
 
barbee6043 said:
How many projects taken apart, or half parted out "projects" are for sale on FB Marketplace????? and priced like a brain dead doper has them for sale??? How many????? Bookmark them and come back months or year later and how many even sold? :BangHead:
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Yep, i got on the duster train in 2018, was about to import and covid hit. I then had to take what i could get here in 2020 when my importer contacted me he found one here that was still in the container, 12k australian for a california 318 74 with some dubious repairs and paint like powder. Now i see **** on fb with rust through the whole car for 7 grand etc not worth spitting on. People asking ridiculous coin for absolute turds, makes me feel a lot better haha
 
Ozyduster said:
You can get new 3 point retractable seat belts for the duster with the dropper so its not cutting your head off. Doubt the fender braces do bugger all the steel is pretty thin....... if you want bracing u need to do full chassis connectors unless u want to crack your a piller lead joints.
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Yep, just wish my '73 had come with the '74+ setup. They are cleaner than the aftermarket stuff just with the retractor hidden in the body.

The braces appear to actually ad some stiffening. I plan to add something as the project moves forward after it is driving. Should be able to look for a before and after.

Already done the subframe connectors and torque boxes. At some point it will get the lower radiator support bracing and hopefully something under the fender wells as well. I want it all. :D
 
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