Vehicle Description
The Plymouth Duster has always been about affordable, lightweight
fun. Well, things just got serious with this 1974 Duster Restomod
coupe, which gets all the traditional Duster stuff right (light
weight, conservative styling, cool look) and adds a 21st century
twist in the form of a fuel-injected 5.7 liter Hemi and a modern
automatic transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, and an A/C interior,
creating one heck of a cool Mopar resto-mod.
There's just no way you could build this car yourself for the
asking price, and if this car is still in the showroom two weeks
from now, I'll be shocked. The blue metallic paint is a close
approximation of B5 Lucerne Blue, which was a very popular color
for Mopars in the '70s, and it looks awesome stretched over this
semi-fastback A-Body. Finished to a strong driver-grade, the paint
is properly shiny and very handsome with only minor imperfections
to speak of, about what you'd expect on a vintage muscle car built
to drive. It's the perfect blend of pretty and blue-collar, a
combination that's worked on the Valiant/Duster cars for years.
White Duster 'billboard' decals slash down the profiles to break up
the blue paint and add a performance look, matching the new white
vinyl top perfectly. Add in the color-matched bumpers and the
aggressive rake with the big slicks out back, and you get a compact
package that looks like fun and wants to run. Again, it's not
perfect, but rather pure, great-looking driver-grade, and there's
no shame in that, especially since it will be even more adept at
luring in unsuspecting drivers on the street who figure it's just
another garden-variety small block Duster. The decals are recent,
so they're crisp and nicely rendered and the sheetmetal and panel
gaps are quite good throughout, so it's obviously been a clean car
all its life. Add in a few discreet HEMI emblems on the front
fenders, however, and this car is going to generate a few
double-takes.
The interior got a nice makeover, too, but doesn't lose any of its
honesty and working-class roots. White bucket seats straddle a
factory center console and set the sporty theme, and the white
vinyl upholstery is in good order with no splits or tears. Matching
white door panels are in good order as well, recent black carpets
look good and offer protective carpeted mats, and the fat Grant
steering wheel feels great during white-knuckled driving. The
original black dashboard is intact but the gauges are now modern
black-faced units that look awesome inside a bright bezel, and a
big Pioneer multi-media head unit was installed in the center of
the dash to handle the entertainment, and it's matched with a
Kicker stereo system with upgraded speakers in the cab and a big
amp in the trunk. Inside the woodgrain adorned center console, a
tall Lokar shifter allows do-it-yourself shifting of the
modern-tech automatic gearbox, and the under-dash A/C system is all
there but needs a little service to blow cold once again. There's
also a reasonably spacious back seat and a giant trunk that was
neatly finished with gray carpeting throughout.
Big bucks were spent under the hood, where room was made for a
thumping 5.7 liter HEMI V8 that's neatly fitted inside the painted
and detailed engine bay. The fuel-injected unit provides the
instant starting, easy idling, and good fuel economy that we've
come to expect from our modern daily drivers, and it pulls the
rather lightweight Duster with relative ease. It's a big
performance boost over the original wheezing 318 and service access
remains very good, with modern accessories and components that can
be worked on at just about any Chrysler/Dodge dealer. A giant
aluminum radiator and open-element air cleaner keep things cool,
all the wiring and plumbing is very clean and organized, and a
modern alternator and belt system cranks this powerful beast right
up every time. Underneath you get a 4-speed automatic transmission
(although the builder reports that the 4th gear was purposely not
hooked up), so this is a very easy cruiser and that injected HEMI
sounds awesome exhaling through a custom Magnaflow X-pipe dual
exhaust system with turndowns just underneath the rear bumper.
4-wheel disc brakes improve stopping power tremendously, tubular
A-arms, coilovers, a big sway bar, and a power rack-and-pinion
steering system were all added up front and steady the handles, and
that killer stance is set with 165/80/15 front Nexens and 275/60/15
rear Mickey Thompsons wrapped around a slick set of Jegs
alloys.
A very slick resto-mod that's read for the road today, this Duster
already has all the hard work finished. All it needs now is a
willing dance partner. Call today!