Unlike a good number of our readers, I don’t have many personal memories linked to these Dusters of the ’70s. Except for a few appearing in beater condition around my high school in Puerto Rico. Instead, if I think of them is in terms of their TV show and movie appearances from the ’70s. And when modified like this one, they remind me of a car some baddie would drive in a CHiPs’ or Charlie’s Angels episode.
Not that I can exactly recall any CHiPs episode with a Duster as the antagonist’s vehicle of choice. But that doesn’t matter; in this slightly disheveled condition, with menacing red and black with tinted windows, I can easily see some hoodlum behind the wheel complicating the lives of Ponch and Jon.
How did this Duster end up in the streets of San Salvador, I’ve no idea. Considering the amount of grey imports we get over here, and the fact that American cars were quickly retreating from local showrooms back in the ’70s, I would suspect the former. But it may have been an original import as well. After all, Plymouth had a good presence in this nation through the ’50s and ’60s.
Whatever the case, this Duster has fallen into the hands of some local fan of American Iron. A small but devoted minority, that tends to customize their cars with V-8 horsepower gimmicks. As expected, this one has some mods selling the idea that this Duster is a speed monster. But it wouldn’t surprise me if all it has under the hood is a humble 6-cyl.
As for the year, I’m just making a guess. I’ve few cues to trust on this one, other than the tail lights from the ’73-76 period.
I wish I had gotten better shots of this Duster’s hips, the model’s most distinctive feature in my opinion. But gosh, the restaurant’s owner next to it was just really jumpy about me taking photos. I had to stop after grabbing a couple of shots, feigning to agree to go away. Then go around the block, and approach from a different angle to take a few more images after having a coffee in a competing restaurant (Lost my business, suckers!)
Getting back to CHiPs, I may not recall a souped-up Duster playing any big roles, but I do know they did appear. How could they not? They were everywhere back in the day. Luckily -for my sanity’s sake- I need not watch the show to confirm this, as IMCDb has screencaps to prove the case. I’ve no idea what’s happening in this scene, but that gentleman doesn’t seem too glad to be there. Jon looks slightly annoyed, and that Duster is certainly bound to the scrap heap once the credits roll.
Here’s one more Duster from another episode, this time missing its front bumper. Now, without that front bumper, this CHiPs’ Duster quite resembles my find in San Salvador… All mine is missing is an LTD riding on its back to complete the image!
Talking about CHiPs, how did those guys hear each other so clearly, while riding motorcycles on the freeway, with helmets on? My parents even had trouble hearing what I said from the back of our tiny Toyota Publica, and neither wore helmets. Then again, I was kind of a nuisance. Maybe they just pretended not to hear me.
Silly questions aside, I know there’s some great love for the Duster out there. Regrettably, the Duster seems to have been considered too humble to cast as lead character in ’70s cinema, for I remember none in such a role. As an extra, yes, but not as the main attraction. But cinema titles are vast, and I suppose I might have missed some Duster-starred vehicles (no pun intended). I’ll leave it to commenters to educate me on the matter, and we’ll bid adieu to this old Duster. Not quite a movie star this one, but it did get its five minutes here at CC.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1972 Plymouth Duster 340 – The Tweaker
Curbside Classic: 1974 Plymouth Gold Duster – There’s Gold In Them Thar Hips
That red Duster seems to be sporting a ’72 front clip. The rest is post ’73 (re; the taillights), so it’s odd that the grille is from an older model.
Those ‘CHiPs’ Dusters look like they might both be the same car (same year, color, hubcaps). I’ll have to look for that episode…pretty sure that’s the actor Marvin Kaplan in the first pic talking to Jon.
You’ll find that same Duster in a number of Chips episodes, I think the first one may be the only one where you see all of it since it seems that once the damage was done to the rear they decided to turn it into their ramp car. So if you see a shot of traffic with it lacking its front bumper you know that a car is going to use it as a ramp for a jump very soon. You’ll see that it is riding with the nose high in the traffic shot due to the heavy metal ramp it is carrying on its back.
The biggest problem I have with these is the fuel filler pipe that takes up half the trunk space.
I’d forgotten all about that. We had “three, four Darts” in the family.
Dusters were popular in their times. Good dependable cars. A lot of the 1970s TV shows used cheap full sized cars for the “bad guys.” Gas prices had gone high and the old Matadors, Furys, and others were cheap and could get wrecked. The Dusters were a nice car in their time and had a good power train. Dusters and Dodge Dart Sports were big sellers in the Dart and Valiant lines. Alos they were easy to “soup up”. Miss those old A-Body cars!
“Dusters were popular in their times.” Yes, even in the Great White North where many young men (and perhaps some young women) could afford them.
I didn’t are for them much back in the day as my automotive eyes focused on other muscle machinery on the streets. Today, I appreciate their nice lines and have had the pleasure of appraising a few. I also respect they had reliable powertrains.
Neighbor’s aunt had a “74 Duster” for about eleven, twelve years. I was surprised how well it held up in “wstrn PA”.
Even the cracking vinyl top wasn’t apparent unless you got “close up”.
As mentioned elsewhere, ex-cop Mopar and Ford sedans with the biggest engines were being sold off by police agencies all the time and unwanted by cab companies because they guzzled too much gas to run at a profit.
A-bodies mainly had slant 6s or 318s and were sought-after used cars for private owners. I remember seeing them as daily drivers in salt-encrusted VT well into the ’90s, even if I suspect in later years most had been brought in from other parts of the country, mainly by college students.
Sadly they’re all gone it seems, even in rust free Los Angeles the beaters have vanished .
-Nate
I saw an interview of Paul Knuckles, the famous stuntman/driver who was the stunt coordinator for CHiP’s. The spectacular car crashes were his doing, and he was basically given free reign to do whatever he wanted to on the show. Knuckles stated that he liked to use 4 door sedans for the stunts involving jumps and roll-overs as the roofs were strong and didn’t require roll cages.
I don’t know how much Chrysler spent to create this from the bones of the A-body, but it was worth every penny. Nobody wanted a Valiant 2-door sedan (except Paul’s father) but these Dusters and Demons were super popular.
FWIU it was unloved within the company despite, or because of, its’ success since it was perceived to be stealing sales from the E-body Challenger/Barracuda. That being said, that whole generation of extra-wide, big-block-optionable ponycars hit the market at exactly the wrong time as insurance companies were putting the screws to muscle cars years before emissions requirements.
This article talks about the development of the Duster. It had a $15 million budget.
https://www.valiant.org/duster.html
Ahh, the car of my youth. My best friend and college roommate had three of them, including a red 72 that this one reminds me of. This owner is a brave guy, trying to keep that brittle, vulnerable early Duster grille undamaged without a big bumper out front. Even in 1980 or so, trying to find one of those early grilles in a junkyard that did not have broken sections was getting hard.
I always think of the Duster as Al Bundy’s car from Married with Children. He had a gold one in the show.
My first car was a $400 76 Duster in 87.Was already jacked up with good paint and tint.I added chrome wheels and bf Goodrich radials to complete the look although it has the slant six it looked fast.I was no match for the V8 nova I tried racing down Speedway Blvd.It had AC with deluxe maroon interior and bumpers.Of course I changed radio to am/fm cassette.Never wrecked it and sold it in 1990 for $225.Same as engine which I should have had rebuilt.Burnt valve but still ran.Shame I didn’t hold on to that good looking Duster.