Sharktooth grille info you may not know 71 340 on its own

-

Oldmanmopar

Going left turning right
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
13,415
Reaction score
13,134
Location
Danielsville Pa. 18038
I have sold alot of Sharktooth grilles. I'm 54 and bought and stripped alot of dusters darts and demons in my time. I thought I would let you guys know that a 71 340 grille is on its own and is different than 71 twister and all 72 grilles. My car has a original untouched 71 340 grille notice the fins are silver I did not paint them and had this grille since 1977. The grille is molded in black and painted silver. 71 twisters are molded in gray and the fins are blacked out. 72 twisters and 340 cars have the same grille as a 71 twister. Did you ever notice that some of these grilles go for a high amount on ebay. They are usually 71 340's and the buyers know it. The gray grilles are usually cracked above the and or below the parking light lenses. The molded black 71 340 grilles are alot stronger material and are never cracked. My 71 340 grilles sold for double the amount of twister and all 72. I have five 72 grilles left hanging on the wall all are cracked where mentioned. 71 grilles are also stonger where the pigtails go in. I had alot of twister a 72 340's broke out. The repo grilles are junk. They are resin and like all resin models they droop or sag when in the sun. The repo wings are the same way. They will sag in the middle make a prop for yours at a show. From the factory they are arched. FYI Steve
 
To answer a question.No this is not EV2 orange. It is Vitamine c without the metalic. I have a EV2 duster and Demon with orange interior. I painted this the color I wanted. Its far from # matching anyway. This color with 71 paint scheme stands out like a pumkin in a pepper patch at a cruise or show. The wing and grille are original and untouched. Notice the arch in the wing and the fins in the grille are silver.
 
I'm afraid someone has sold you a bill of goods, maybe to increase the price of their item.

The grilles differ based on supplier, build location, time of year and model year. Cars rolling down the line have parts pulled from bins and those bins are filled with the same grilles for a twister or 340 car. Replacement part numbers for a 71 are the same for 340 and twister cars.

There are original 71 cars running around with black and gray base cast material sharktooths.

If someone is paying extra money for the base material color of an original grille, they may want to buy swamp land in florida or the brooklyn bridge.

I think this is the same type of deal as what's the "correct" shade for b5 in 1970 or 1971. Seen original paint cars from each year, two different factories, that were not the same shade. Both were original paint. Which one is 'right"?
 
I'm afraid someone has sold you a bill of goods, maybe to increase the price of their item.

The grilles differ based on supplier, build location, time of year and model year. Cars rolling down the line have parts pulled from bins and those bins are filled with the same grilles for a twister or 340 car. Replacement part numbers for a 71 are the same for 340 and twister cars.

There are original 71 cars running around with black and gray base cast material sharktooths.

If someone is paying extra money for the base material color of an original grille, they may want to buy swamp land in florida or the brooklyn bridge.

I think this is the same type of deal as what's the "correct" shade for b5 in 1970 or 1971. Seen original paint cars from each year, two different factories, that were not the same shade. Both were original paint. Which one is 'right"?
I don't care what info you have from the past. I had many of these cars. Every 71 340 car I had that was untouched had been molded in black. They have silver cross fins. All others were gray and the fins were blacked out. None the less the grey molded grilles are all cracked from nothing but age. The black molded grilles are not. I don't think the color has anything to do with the value. Maybe its the quality of the grille itself. What I can tell you is that all my black grilles brought more money than the gray ones. That is why my gray grilles are still hanging on the wall. I had 13 this past 2 years . I am down to 4 on the wall. None of them were damaged and they all have the same cracks. They also Have the headlight bezel mounting tabs cracked. The black grilles do not If what your saying is true which I really don't know. Why aren't other grilles for other models following your theory. or did different venders only make sharktooths. And they were told to change the paint scheme as they felt needed. They may have changed venders half way through 71 and all 50 or more 71 Duster 340's I bought over the years were early ones. What are the chances of that. And the tons of 72's just happened to be from the same vender. 71 cudas color keyed , 71 baracudas silver. Did they just grab them out of a box and just by chance the vender knew what color the next car was. 70 bees and R.R. didnt they have a different grille then cooronets and satelites. Or did they have different venders and mopar left them change them as they felt. Think about what I am saying. I have saw these grilles come out of cars. I have them in front of me they are different. As per year. Why would some grilles be painted silver and some black blacked out. And if you see a silver grille In an original car it is usually a 71. It could be all 71's had the same grille. and 72's were different. I only ever had two 71 twisters and one the grille was gone the other was molded gray and was blacked out. It looked to be never replaced. B5 for different years have different color mixes. No one sold me any bill of goods. I am 54 years old and this is what I have seen. Buddy I sold alot of duster and demon parts over the years. And I probably have more now then you'll have in your lifetime I just did a 5 min walk with my camera. This dosen't include the garage 2 floors I still have many scoops. spoilers , mirrors, dashes, Wheels, motors & trans and alot more not pictured. People like you and your comments are what give the mopar guys a bad rap. Nobody can state what they have seen over the years without getting some kind of wise *** remark. Well buy the bridge because you won't get anything from me . I am getting $250.00 for grilles and rims with cracks. This is just a fraction of what is here. The nice stuff is upstairs. You can * M @$$ Your kind are the reason I don't sell to anyone on here.
 
You're the one with the premise that 71 340 grilles were different, not me. Sorry you think poorly of someone that has different knowledge of the same items, twisters with the black molded grilles. Can you legitimately state that you inspected EVERY single 340 Duster and Twister that rolled off the line at time of assembly?

Who knows what the bean counters think when decisions get made.

I know B5 for 70 and 71 are different. Within each specific year, 70 or 71, there are variations in color throughout the year. No truly correct or definitive answer.

I'm so happy for you that you believe you've had so much more stuff than me. Can your dad beat up mine? :-D Kind of ridiculous since you have know idea of my background and how long I too have been in these cars.

Put those grilles up for sale here with bezels for $250... the members here would snap them up in a heartbeat! Why punish the many because you don't agree with a few. I agree the reproduction units are absolute junk.

I don't need any grilles as I already have a few spares.

Put me on ignore if I make you so upset.

Have a good one.
 
Oldmanmopar, you have given me some good info that now has me puzzled. I have a 1971 340 Duster that was built on August 10, 1970, so it is one of the cars produced in the early part of the model year. It has a very nice sharktooth grille that has black horizontal fins. Looking at the back of the grille, it is indeed all gray.

I am a Chemist by trade and work for Boeing (formerly Douglas Aircraft). If you could send me one fin from the gray casting and one from the black casting, I would like to analyze them to verify that they are of different polymer stocks. Of course, the fins should come from any grille that is only good for parts since I don't expect and I wouldn't ask you to ruin a perfectly good grille. This would only help the discussion.

I, too, am 54 years old and I have dealt with many different materials in my career. In the aircraft industry, I have often analyzed plastic materials that have failed because a vendor substituted a cheaper material without our permission. It may be possible that Ma Mopar changed material for its sharktooths after 1971.

If you are willing to send me a sample of each type of fin, send me a PM and I will then send you a reply with my address. I am sure the fins could be sent via snail mail in an envelope for the price of a stamp.

Art
 
You're the one with the premise that 71 340 grilles were different, not me. Sorry you think poorly of someone that has different knowledge of the same items, twisters with the black molded grilles. Can you legitimately state that you inspected EVERY single 340 Duster and Twister that rolled off the line at time of assembly?

Who knows what the bean counters think when decisions get made.

I know B5 for 70 and 71 are different. Within each specific year, 70 or 71, there are variations in color throughout the year. No truly correct or definitive answer.

I'm so happy for you that you believe you've had so much more stuff than me. Can your dad beat up mine? :-D Kind of ridiculous since you have know idea of my background and how long I too have been in these cars.

Put those grilles up for sale here with bezels for $250... the members here would snap them up in a heartbeat! Why punish the many because you don't agree with a few. I agree the reproduction units are absolute junk.

I don't need any grilles as I already have a few spares.

Put me on ignore if I make you so upset.

Have a good one.
I only stated what I have seen over the years. and I got alot more on ebay for the grilles molded in black. You came back at me with the sarcastic remarks. Like I never experienced this. The brooklin bridge ,Really? No matter what they were molded in how do you explain the different paint scheme . Oh yeah the venders screwed them up thats right. The same vender that screwed up all the other models that had the same mold but a different paint scheme.
 
Oldmanmopar, you have given me some good info that now has me puzzled. I have a 1971 340 Duster that was built on August 10, 1970, so it is one of the cars produced in the early part of the model year. It has a very nice sharktooth grille that has black horizontal fins. Looking at the back of the grille, it is indeed all gray.

I am a Chemist by trade and work for Boeing (formerly Douglas Aircraft). If you could send me one fin from the gray casting and one from the black casting, I would like to analyze them to verify that they are of different polymer stocks. Of course, the fins should come from any grille that is only good for parts since I don't expect and I wouldn't ask you to ruin a perfectly good grille. This would only help the discussion.

I, too, am 54 years old and I have dealt with many different materials in my career. In the aircraft industry, I have often analyzed plastic materials that have failed because a vendor substituted a cheaper material without our permission. It may be possible that Ma Mopar changed material for its sharktooths after 1971.

If you are willing to send me a sample of each type of fin, send me a PM and I will then send you a reply with my address. I am sure the fins could be sent via snail mail in an envelope for the price of a stamp.

Art
A chemist that can't spell. Nice? How about a picture of your grille in your Duster? By the look of the tailight section. Your grille must be a mint gray one with no cracks. I could tell your knowledge is far ahead of mine. You must be really really smart to work at an aircraft industry. Black plastic, Gray plastic. I could see we will need you to chemically test these. Black? Gray? hmm. yeah we will need you for sure. A real rocket scientist.
 
A chemist that can't spell. Nice? How about a picture of your grille in your Duster? By the look of the tailight section. Your grille must be a mint gray one with no cracks. I could tell your knowledge is far ahead of mine. You must be really really smart to work at an aircraft industry. Black plastic, Gray plastic. I could see we will need you to chemically test these. Black? Gray? hmm. yeah we will need you for sure. A real rocket scientist.

I cannot believe how rude this comment is. DFX was trying to help.........:angry7:. Mopar has done alot of wierd things over the years and this may be another one of them!!
 
i need a grille sharktooth
You have replied in other post. Your not sarcastic. Send me a private message with your phone number. I will sell you a sharkstooth. I also have what ever you would need for a Duster or Demon. If your close you can stop in and look whats here. I have fenders doors trunks scoops mirrors. Dashes , and all drive train parts. all ratio rears. autos and 4 spds. I am only finishing one more 340 Duster and one 340 Demon. The rest of the parts I will sell. come with a list of what you need.. You were right about the trans. its fixed. Steve
 
I cannot believe how rude this comment is. DFX was trying to help.........:angry7:. Mopar has done alot of wierd things over the years and this may be another one of them!!
Are you serious! His remarks were sarcastic. Black and gray you can see the difference with your eyes. I should cut sections out of my grilles for him to check chemically. Are you kidding me where do you people come from. We're chemically testing grilles now? I'm telling you. All the molded gray grilles I had and have are cracked I took pictures of them today and posted some. And the molded black grilles are not cracked which I also took pictures of today. All the molded black grilles were painted silver Thats fact. What I was just told was 71 340's with the V24 option. came with silver grilles. That could be possible. I never saw a silver grille in a twister or a 72. They were always blacked out.
 
Are you serious! His remarks were sarcastic. Black and gray you can see the difference with your eyes. I should cut sections out of my grilles for him to check chemically. Are you kidding me where do you people come from. We're chemically testing grilles now? I'm telling you. All the molded gray grilles I had and have are cracked I took pictures of them today and posted some. And the molded black grilles are not cracked which I also took pictures of today. All the molded black grilles were painted silver Thats fact. What I was just told was 71 340's with the V24 option. came with silver grilles. That could be possible. I never saw a silver grille in a twister or a 72. They were always blacked out.

I am totally serious. I see no sarcasm in DFX's post at all........:scratch:. I can't see any difference in the grills whatsoever. Guess I need to "clean" my glasses again ;).

And in regards to spelling, here's something you might find interesting. Have a great evening!

FABO Spelling IQ

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

eonvrye that can raed this rsaie your hnad.


To my 'selected' strange-minded friends:
If you can read the following paragraph, forward it on to your friends and
the person that sent it to you with 'yes' in the subject line.

Only great minds can read this
This is weird, but interesting!
If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too
Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the
olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a
pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forwrad it
 
COME ON Cracked! Your a total retard! Everone knows that you can use an externally balanced balancer on an internally balanced crank! Just put it on the balancer and spin it up.....and I dont want to hear how long it took you to find it afterwards either.8)
 
Okay... why the hell are we arguing about colours on a grill?

Does it really matter at what exact point in time that the grills may have changed colours? Factory or not? Or what colour grills came on which car..

That's like arguing that "That Dart is wrong because it's a 270 model with a Gt/Gts grill..."

Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks Turbodart... how dare you.... oh wait, that's funny.

Yes, unfortunately there isn't a sarcasm button on these things.

Everybody have a good one!
 
If two different grilles were used it was probably just the suppliers or mopar found a problem with one supplier and switched during the run.. If the UV ray protection in the plastic isn't right plastic will become briddle, thats was probably the problem with the '71 cuda grilles also....
 
OK, I'm lost. The point of this thread is what? 71 340 grilles are different and the rest are junk. But, the old guy is hording all of this stuff and ain't selling to us because we're members of an A body site that he won't sell to? Unless of course he thinks you are worthy of his benevolence....
So the moral of this story is,
The repop is crap.
The gray grilles are crap.
The black grilles are painted gray but you can't afford that crap.
Oh and,
Rocket Scientist can't spell
and finally
Crackedback is still looking for a Loch Ness Monster in Lake Hodges....

(Now see, that's how sarcasm is done.)
 
well, I say.....you guys keep your cracked grilles!, I put a METAL 69 valiant grille in my 72 duster.

HAHAHA.....so I guess that keeps me out of the fight lol.

but seriously, come on guys. Don't argue over something as silly as the color/strength of these grilles.

I am sure that he is right that the color does make a difference ,some change in the color may have changed the durability of the material.

I doubt that it would be year specific though and even if it was ....they probably would have introduced it mid year or so and it would have been used in more than one model year. BUT its hard saying without have worked the line or without inspecting every single model year car.

so it would probably be best to shrug your shoulders and be open to the possibility atleast and make sure to keep a look out for the black grilles if they are the better product!.

Nice collection you have there also by the way!,your sitting on a small gold mine.
 
I have had an external balancer on an internally balanced crank that has ran perfectly for over 97 years. Of course, I sent both to a Boeing materials specialist first and then after adjustments I had to paint the external balancer the correct era-factory color to make it work correctly.

-Meh, Sarcasm never translates via the interwebs correctly. But logic does. And GFX 340 Duster's approach to this mystery seemed like a more conclusive approach than looking at a few dozen grilles. My money would be on that the grilles were made in a few different places, all a bit differently, and then mixed in by pallets at the assembly plant.

Awesome Duster too Steve. My favorite year and color combo.
 
I always thought the rear wings were flat. Do the fiberglass repops sag, also?
 
OK, I'm lost. The point of this thread is what? 71 340 grilles are different and the rest are junk. But, the old guy is hording all of this stuff and ain't selling to us because we're members of an A body site that he won't sell to? Unless of course he thinks you are worthy of his benevolence....
So the moral of this story is,
The repop is crap.
The gray grilles are crap.
The black grilles are painted gray but you can't afford that crap.
Oh and,
Rocket Scientist can't spell
and finally
Crackedback is still looking for a Loch Ness Monster in Lake Hodges....

(Now see, that's how sarcasm is done.)


You sir, are a badass. (No, not sarcasm)
 
All "grilling" aside, he he, I think the dog in Rev's avatar should have a happier look on his face, because the girl giving him a smooch has quite possibly the most beautiful face I have seen on FABO! Darn those California girls are gorgeous! Rev if that is your wife or daughter I mean that comment with the utmost respect...
 
-
Back
Top