@dailydoseofmopar Rotten Banana project. 1971 Duster Twister

-
J-MacsMopars

J-MacsMopars

Shade Tree Vintage Auto on YouTube
Joined
Nov 27, 2007
Messages
2,415
Reaction score
86
Location
Utah
Hey everyone. Its been a while since I have been active on here, but decided it would be fun to share one of my projects. So here goes.

At the beginning of the year, I posted a 'for trade' ad here and on multiple other pages to trade my 71 Road Runner project for a daily driver quality V8 Duster. Well, I found what I thought was the perfect car. A 1970 Duster that was supposedly VERY solid with profesionally repared quarters and everything. The car looked pretty good in pictures, so I made the deal sight unseen. The car was delivered to my friends place in NY and my brother and I flew to NY to drive it home to CO.

IMG_0805.JPG
 
I knew the car was going to require work, so I paid the previous owner to install a front end kit and I bought wheels and tires and had them sent out. When I first got there, we found a few more issues than planned, but worked threw them. We got the car ready for the 2200 mile trip home and headed out.
IMG_0910.JPG
IMG_0928.JPG
IMG_0935.JPG

We made it a full seven miles before the car ended up on a tow truck due to major electrical issues. Once on the tow truck, I seen how bad I was lied to. Ever frame rail had lots of rust. The rear spring perch was about to bust off of the frame. The cars body was total junk. I had been ripped off. But there really wasn't anything I could do. I took it back to my friends, and flew home.
 
On my way home, I was searching facebook and found a 71 EL5 Twister shell in Wyoming. There wasn't much there, but the car was one of my top three favorite colors. I decided I needed it and would use the Ruster for parts. As pissed off as I was, I had way to much money into the car to try and recoup, and it did have some really nice parts. So a deal was struck on the twister and it was on its way to my place.
IMG_0976.JPG
IMG_0981.JPG
IMG_0982.JPG


IMG_1328.JPG
 
I found a shipper that would bring the ruster to my house and played the waiting game. Shipping cars is not a fun process. But I finely got them both together in June of this year to asses everything.
IMG_1575.JPG
IMG_3053.JPG
The Ruster didn't stay in one piece for very long. Now the process of rebuilding parts and putting the Rotten Banana together is beginning. The plan for the Rotten Banana is for the engine compartment to be restored and it will look like its from 1978. I have a bunch of vintage NOS performance parts that I have gathered up. The whole drive train will be brand new with a mild 360/727/8 3/4 3.55SG. The interior will be nice. But the body is going to stay mostly how it is. It should be a very fun ride. I will update this thread as I make progress.

IMG_3053.JPG
 
BTW, the 8 3/4 is already in and shes tucked away inside.
IMG_3058.JPG
 
Awesome. Been following this on instagram. Cool to see it on here now.

Good luck with the project. I thought one of your recent instagram posts mentioned that you weren't sure if you were moving forward with this project.
 
74Dart318 said:
Awesome. Been following this on instagram. Cool to see it on here now.

Good luck with the project. I thought one of your recent instagram posts mentioned that you weren't sure if you were moving forward with this project.
Click to expand...
I say stupid things sometimes. lol
 
Your first one looks like mine when I started on it.
Eastern cars are normally rusted bad, especially NY cars.
 
Cool project man! been following it on instagram too, you post some good stuff dude keep it up! Thats too bad about the black duster, but youre defintitly making the right choice by building the Twister!
 
I've seen this on Instagram as well. That sucks about getting burned on the trade, unfortunately not the first time I've seen it happen. The twister looks promising though, best of luck with it!
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone. It will get built. I picked up a 1974 Comet snowmobile/motorcycle trailer to pull behind it too. So if anyone has a duster trailer hitch, let me know please.
 
I remember reading one of your ads for the Roadrunner and thinking that aint a.bad deal. Sorry it turned out so shitty. People..

Good project. Subscirbed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top