Senior Chief
Active Member
[FONT="]Hello All,
Some of you may have seen a reference to my intention to write this narrative on 65dodgedarts Member Restorations thread. I gave a brief explanation there and stated that I would write a longer missive for those of you who might be interested.
I was in the USN from 1968 through 1973. I was married from the time I got out of boot camp, and stationed at G'Lakes, IL while attending three schools. Upon finishing my 'C" school, July 1969, I moved my wife back downstate in IL and I went on to Long Beach, CA to join my first ship which was deploying to Westpac in Sept.
Of course this was the same time of year that the "New" car models were released. My wife and I had made an aborted attempt to buy a 1969 Valiant 2dr sedan early in Feb., another story, but suddenly the Duster is on the scene.
I don't know how many of you remember the initial magazine ad campaign for the Duster but I do. It was a Tor Red / V2 Duster in a cloud of dust spread across two pages of most of the car rags. I believe that ad was responsible for the sale of half of the 260K Dusters sold during the 1970 model year. I had a copy of that ad attached to the canvas rack bottom of the rack that was only 18" above my own mattress. Obviously I could see it well as it was so close to my face. Fast forward to Jan. 1970, due to circumstances i.e. I was a non-career designated 3rd class Petty Officer I was going to have pay my own expenses to move my wife and our then meager possessions to the West Coast upon our return to our Home Port. I knew that my 1966 Volvo 122 would not be able pull a U-Haul so I 'had" to by a more powerful vehicle. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I corresponded with a Sales Mgr. that my older brother had dealt with when purchasing a 1965 Formula S Barracuda. I asked him to send me a 1970 Plymouth Salesmans Pocket Guide which was a small approx. 4 X 8 book probably 90 pages of which I was only interested in the 16 that pertained to the Valiant/Duster. This book listed all of the options by code giving a brief description of each and whether it NA Standard or Extra Cost on a particular model as well as the prices for each. I poured over this book and made the following choices:[/FONT]
[FONT="]Duster 340 VS29, A04 Basic Group, A88 Interior Décor group, A35 Trailer Towing Package (as I remember this got me the 3.23 Sure-Grip rear axle a larger radiator and AC condenser), G31 LH remote mirror, G33 RH man. Mirror, G41 Inside Mirror Day/Night, J25 WSW with electric wash, G11 All windows tinted, F11 50 AH alt., F23 59 AH Batt., H51 AC, J55 Hood insulation Pad & Undercoating, B41 DB, B51 PB, S77 PS, R11 AM Radio, C15 Deluxe Seat belts, D34 TqFlt, W21 Rallye Road Wheels w/full sized spare. All in all this car was well equipped and had a very full fender tag. This vehicle had the standard vinyl bench and rubber mats rather than carpet. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Due to the inconsistent mail delivery, it was semi-reliable if we were chasing carriers up on Yankee Station if we were on the gun line wed only get mail if we were replenishing, re-arming or re-fueling, I was concerned about getting this order in. The deal I made with my wife was that she could pick the exterior and interior colors and Id specify everything else. I did know what her choices were until sometime later. The mail went back and forth my wife went to the dealer in Champaign, IL and ordered the car. My ship returned to Long Beach late in March and I took 30 days leave on arrival. The order had been placed approximately 10 days before; I did not expect the car to come in until Id been home for at least a week. I flew from LAX to ORD then home to Danville. Got in at about 10 PM my wife was there to meet me and she had the new Duster it had come in two days earlier. Id left home on August 10th, (I remember because it was the day after Sharon Tates murder by the Manson Family) anyway my point is I hadnt seen my wife for > seven months and I wasnt paying any attention to the car even though I drove it to our apartment. Late the next morning I finally went downstairs to see the Duster. I was surprised and somewhat dismayed. My wife had chosen Y4/ Citron Mist Metallic and Green as the interior color. This combination especially in company with the tinted windows was not a stellar combination. Actually I do not believe Y4 was a popular color at all they only used it in 69 and 70. The color was actually Ok the combo was bad. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]A day later I went out to fill the gas tank the car at this point had approx. 150 miles on it, I also checked the oil and added a quart, I didnt think too much about this though, it was to be the first of many to follow. When I restarted the car the ignition switch fell a part in my hand. I called the dealership and they told me to bring it in, they were 35 miles away so I called my wife and told her what was going on. When I got to the service dept. they took the car and I went to meet the salesman from whom my wife had purchased the car. I had never met him so I introduced myself and we chatted awhile of course I told him why I was there and as an aside I happened to mention that Id had to put a quart of oil in at 150 miles. He was quite concerned and we immediately went back to the service dept. The upshot of this was that they decided that there was a problem, when we checked the oil level it was already down almost ½ a qt. and Id only driven 40 miles. At this point the engine had only approx. 200 mile on it and it had consumed 1½ qts. of oil. It was now the middle of the afternoon; they wanted to keep the car for further investigation so I called my wife and she borrowed her mothers car and came to get me. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] Four days later I got the car back, theyd had difficulty getting new head gaskets. They were reluctant to tell me what the nature of the problem. Finally the mechanic whod done work told me that there were no oil rings on the pistons in the RH cylinder bank. I was pretty dismayed and concerned about making the drive to CA. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]This is a good place to stop, Ive almost filled another page, and I dont want to bore you to death. Ill continue this saga sometime tomorrow. [/FONT]
Some of you may have seen a reference to my intention to write this narrative on 65dodgedarts Member Restorations thread. I gave a brief explanation there and stated that I would write a longer missive for those of you who might be interested.
I was in the USN from 1968 through 1973. I was married from the time I got out of boot camp, and stationed at G'Lakes, IL while attending three schools. Upon finishing my 'C" school, July 1969, I moved my wife back downstate in IL and I went on to Long Beach, CA to join my first ship which was deploying to Westpac in Sept.
Of course this was the same time of year that the "New" car models were released. My wife and I had made an aborted attempt to buy a 1969 Valiant 2dr sedan early in Feb., another story, but suddenly the Duster is on the scene.
I don't know how many of you remember the initial magazine ad campaign for the Duster but I do. It was a Tor Red / V2 Duster in a cloud of dust spread across two pages of most of the car rags. I believe that ad was responsible for the sale of half of the 260K Dusters sold during the 1970 model year. I had a copy of that ad attached to the canvas rack bottom of the rack that was only 18" above my own mattress. Obviously I could see it well as it was so close to my face. Fast forward to Jan. 1970, due to circumstances i.e. I was a non-career designated 3rd class Petty Officer I was going to have pay my own expenses to move my wife and our then meager possessions to the West Coast upon our return to our Home Port. I knew that my 1966 Volvo 122 would not be able pull a U-Haul so I 'had" to by a more powerful vehicle. [/FONT]
[FONT="]I corresponded with a Sales Mgr. that my older brother had dealt with when purchasing a 1965 Formula S Barracuda. I asked him to send me a 1970 Plymouth Salesmans Pocket Guide which was a small approx. 4 X 8 book probably 90 pages of which I was only interested in the 16 that pertained to the Valiant/Duster. This book listed all of the options by code giving a brief description of each and whether it NA Standard or Extra Cost on a particular model as well as the prices for each. I poured over this book and made the following choices:[/FONT]
[FONT="]Duster 340 VS29, A04 Basic Group, A88 Interior Décor group, A35 Trailer Towing Package (as I remember this got me the 3.23 Sure-Grip rear axle a larger radiator and AC condenser), G31 LH remote mirror, G33 RH man. Mirror, G41 Inside Mirror Day/Night, J25 WSW with electric wash, G11 All windows tinted, F11 50 AH alt., F23 59 AH Batt., H51 AC, J55 Hood insulation Pad & Undercoating, B41 DB, B51 PB, S77 PS, R11 AM Radio, C15 Deluxe Seat belts, D34 TqFlt, W21 Rallye Road Wheels w/full sized spare. All in all this car was well equipped and had a very full fender tag. This vehicle had the standard vinyl bench and rubber mats rather than carpet. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Due to the inconsistent mail delivery, it was semi-reliable if we were chasing carriers up on Yankee Station if we were on the gun line wed only get mail if we were replenishing, re-arming or re-fueling, I was concerned about getting this order in. The deal I made with my wife was that she could pick the exterior and interior colors and Id specify everything else. I did know what her choices were until sometime later. The mail went back and forth my wife went to the dealer in Champaign, IL and ordered the car. My ship returned to Long Beach late in March and I took 30 days leave on arrival. The order had been placed approximately 10 days before; I did not expect the car to come in until Id been home for at least a week. I flew from LAX to ORD then home to Danville. Got in at about 10 PM my wife was there to meet me and she had the new Duster it had come in two days earlier. Id left home on August 10th, (I remember because it was the day after Sharon Tates murder by the Manson Family) anyway my point is I hadnt seen my wife for > seven months and I wasnt paying any attention to the car even though I drove it to our apartment. Late the next morning I finally went downstairs to see the Duster. I was surprised and somewhat dismayed. My wife had chosen Y4/ Citron Mist Metallic and Green as the interior color. This combination especially in company with the tinted windows was not a stellar combination. Actually I do not believe Y4 was a popular color at all they only used it in 69 and 70. The color was actually Ok the combo was bad. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]A day later I went out to fill the gas tank the car at this point had approx. 150 miles on it, I also checked the oil and added a quart, I didnt think too much about this though, it was to be the first of many to follow. When I restarted the car the ignition switch fell a part in my hand. I called the dealership and they told me to bring it in, they were 35 miles away so I called my wife and told her what was going on. When I got to the service dept. they took the car and I went to meet the salesman from whom my wife had purchased the car. I had never met him so I introduced myself and we chatted awhile of course I told him why I was there and as an aside I happened to mention that Id had to put a quart of oil in at 150 miles. He was quite concerned and we immediately went back to the service dept. The upshot of this was that they decided that there was a problem, when we checked the oil level it was already down almost ½ a qt. and Id only driven 40 miles. At this point the engine had only approx. 200 mile on it and it had consumed 1½ qts. of oil. It was now the middle of the afternoon; they wanted to keep the car for further investigation so I called my wife and she borrowed her mothers car and came to get me. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] Four days later I got the car back, theyd had difficulty getting new head gaskets. They were reluctant to tell me what the nature of the problem. Finally the mechanic whod done work told me that there were no oil rings on the pistons in the RH cylinder bank. I was pretty dismayed and concerned about making the drive to CA. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]This is a good place to stop, Ive almost filled another page, and I dont want to bore you to death. Ill continue this saga sometime tomorrow. [/FONT]
