BigHook
Well-Known Member
Hello. I officially registered Saturday but lurked here a few times over the past year or so. Long time Mopar addict. It began when the dad brought home a 66 Fury I in 68. From that point on it's been Mopars almost exclusively running the gamut from B & C bodies (dad and older brother) to the A's and Ram's (me). My daily driver is an 07 Ram 2500HD 4x4. I appreciate all Mopar body styles but the fastback Dusters and Darts have been my favorite over the years. It began in high school, late seventies, with a 71 Duster-slanty with a 3 on the tree (I miss that one!), followed by a 73 Dart Sport-318 3 spd, 74 Duster-318 auto loaded, 74 Dart sport-318 auto (in that beautiful dark chestnut metallic brown color). All of them long gone unfortunately.
I always wanted a first year Duster 340 4 speed and after looking for about a year I found one, no less than 2 miles from my house, back in October 1987. It became my daily driver for about 3 years. Even drove it thru one winter - with snow tires out back!! Back then they were still, more or less, used cars. There were Dusters everywhere-in the classifieds, in the boneyards. I even bought some NOS parts for it at the dealer. With a new job out of state and life's priorities calling along with several electrical gremlins that kept popping up and less time to devote to it, I parked it and bought an 87 W150 Ram for daily driving. Initially parked outside for a couple years, it has been kept in indoor storage for the past 15 years.
The time has come to resurrect my baby. I brought it home a couple of months ago and have begun disassembly, bagging and tagging, etc. for restoration. It's fun delving into the archaeology of these cars and it's going slow as time and money permit (doesn't it always) but I'm happy as a clam that I kept it all these years. It has the usual rust that needs attention-trunk floor, front floors, left quarter and several other typical A body locations along with correcting several things, among them the later model reinforced deck lid (added before it's one repaint by previous owner) and rear bumper - again previous owner towed a boat (!) was the explanation I got at the time. With all the Mopar tech info that has come out over the past 10 years along with FABO, there is a wealth of information for these peerless cars and I hope when I'm finished, it's ends up half as good as some of the rides I see on this site.
Tim
First pic was taken a few days after I bought it in October 87. The second pic is from summer this year after I brought it home.
I always wanted a first year Duster 340 4 speed and after looking for about a year I found one, no less than 2 miles from my house, back in October 1987. It became my daily driver for about 3 years. Even drove it thru one winter - with snow tires out back!! Back then they were still, more or less, used cars. There were Dusters everywhere-in the classifieds, in the boneyards. I even bought some NOS parts for it at the dealer. With a new job out of state and life's priorities calling along with several electrical gremlins that kept popping up and less time to devote to it, I parked it and bought an 87 W150 Ram for daily driving. Initially parked outside for a couple years, it has been kept in indoor storage for the past 15 years.
The time has come to resurrect my baby. I brought it home a couple of months ago and have begun disassembly, bagging and tagging, etc. for restoration. It's fun delving into the archaeology of these cars and it's going slow as time and money permit (doesn't it always) but I'm happy as a clam that I kept it all these years. It has the usual rust that needs attention-trunk floor, front floors, left quarter and several other typical A body locations along with correcting several things, among them the later model reinforced deck lid (added before it's one repaint by previous owner) and rear bumper - again previous owner towed a boat (!) was the explanation I got at the time. With all the Mopar tech info that has come out over the past 10 years along with FABO, there is a wealth of information for these peerless cars and I hope when I'm finished, it's ends up half as good as some of the rides I see on this site.
Tim
First pic was taken a few days after I bought it in October 87. The second pic is from summer this year after I brought it home.
