Time Capsule: 1976 Plymouth Silver Duster
We have seen a few variations of the Plymouth Duster here on Barn Finds over the years. Chrysler came up with crazy names and themes for different versions of Dusters and this 1976 Plymouth Silver Duster has to be one of the nicest that I have seen in a long time. It can be found here on craigslist in Fayetteville, Georgia. The seller is asking $8,100 for this beauty, down from $8,500 when I started writing this. Thanks to Ikey H. for sending in this tip!
Man, what a great looking car. This one is original down to the paint and the mind-blowing interior. It truly looks like a new car to me from the photos but the seller does mention that some of the chrome is “faded”. I can’t imagine an original car this old looking much nicer than this one does.
Plymouth offered the Silver Duster along with the Gold Duster and Space Duster until mid-1976 when the Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen replaced the long-running A-body Plymouth Duster and Dodge Dart. The seller says that this car sat in a garage for 5 years and before that it sat in an “open garage” for 25 years.
The interior is amazing in this car. It’s called Boca Raton and it’s better than just about anything that I have seen in a long time. Check out these seats! The headrests are pretty much worthless for helping to stop whiplash in these early attempts at adding headrests. I’m not sure how anyone thought they would really do any good at all, but that’s the way regulations work sometimes. The back seat is also gorgeous.
The engine could use some detailing but I’m so glad to see it original and not a rattle-can-restoration as some sellers do in order to make it look good in the photos. This is the famous 225 slant-six which would have had around 90 hp. It sounds like everything works other than the AC not being cold. This looks like a great car for anyone who is interested in 1970s vehicles. A special edition Silver Duster with that fantastic interior makes it an even sweeter car, in my opinion.
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Comments
This is wonderful, about all I want to say.
There was a ’76 Dodge Dart Spirit on this site not too long ago, a lightweight car possibly, is this the Plymouth version or was that the Feather Duster? I scantly remember my dad talking about these “lightweight” cars that claimed 36 mpg many years ago. Interesting.
I started working at a Chrysler / Plymouth Dealership in 75 as an apprentice body man. The Feather Duster indicated it had some aluminum body components. I think hood and fenders. Remember, this was back in the middle of the gas crunch
The Feather Duster was the model with the lightweight panels
Wow, that interior! A great-looking example. I owned a 1975 Duster and that 90-hp smog six (down from 145hp in 1970) is a miserable pig. But that can be fixed these days.
The 90hp in ’75 was net hp.
145hp in ’70 was gross hp & i would say 105 hp net.
Not much difference.
But the ’75 has heavy 5mph bumpers, a very restrictive(compared to current ones) cat converter, an emissions carb, & probably an economy rear axle ratio.
Was there an air pump on your ’75 as well?
It all adds up.
Just look at that mess under the hood, can’t tell at a glance if it’s a 6 or an 8 or a V12 in there. Mine had all that crap. Regardless of horsepower, the driveability of that engine was terrible. Hard starts, cold stumbling, vapor lock, the power of a four with the thirst of a V8, and switching on the A/C was like dropping anchor.
I would have that ‘pig-six’ out so fast… modern Hemi with 5 spd and keep the interior.
Odd the ’75 silver duster was indeed silver.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/plymouth-silver-duster.413867/
& a ’76 isn’t? lol
The Chrysler slant six was over rated and underpowered. Didn’t get the greatest MPG because you had to keep your foot in it to keep it going. Also the valve train was very noisy. This car would be a great sleeper with a crate 360 and fuel injection.
Keith I swear you have multiple personalities. Today you play nice regarding Mopars, tomorrow? Not so sure.
I had one like this with slant six mated to a manual 4spd, 4th was o/d. It got 25mpg. Loved that car. Yes, it was under powered, but I wasn’t looking for a gas guzzeler back in those days with the gas crunch.
The pre-smog sixes could be downright peppy if tuned right. I couldn’t believe the difference between my ‘75 and a 1971 Dart I test-drove.
? Wow….not long ago I recall seeing a real low-mile burgundy one of these! Now people sit up & take notice of Dusters! `76 was a good year for these, and they had some sharp pkgs. My dad drove a Fury Sport coupe with the same interior, only grey/black/white stripes. It sure beats the blah black, grey, and tan interior choices we have today!
Not really, it’s not particularly desirable. It survives in good original condition and it’s old, those are it’s two drawing points. It’s overpriced for what it is.
Steve R
They are actually very desirable. Not as much as a V8 car, but values have clearly been going up recently since they are still affordable.
Those striped seats look a great deal like the cloth seats in my 1979 Plymouth Trail Duster – very nice.
Good looking Duster that looks to be very original. Only thing I would question is why the driver’s side inner fender is black instead of body color.
[Otis]: Great eye! Looks like that inner fender was replaced.
Car has been repainted white. It used to be silver, as can be seen in the trunk and in many areas under the hood. That being said, it is a very clean car. The six would have to go in favor of a 318 or a 360.
Trunk on my 74 was some sort of silvery/platinum color. Seems odd that anyone would go to the trouble of changing everything to white on this example, David G. The bumper fillers are appropriately faded white, door jambs, etc. To me, when this car was new, if I saw this in a neighbor’s driveway I would have been totally bored with it’s look. It’s refreshing now (except for those federal bumpers and plastic grille).
Little Cars, Look at the under hood photo. Notice the white paint only goes down a few inches on the firewall. All silver from there on down. Passenger side inner fender well, silver, as is the radiator support. Inside the trunk is totally silver. These cars were all one color when new, not multi colored as this one is. it has been color changed.
I used to own this car, and it was never painted silver. The ’76’s came in four colors…red, white, black and silver, and were all still ‘Silver Dusters’. That inner fender was replaced before I got it years ago due to a tire blowout, according to the original owner. It had been sitting in a barn for 22 years, and when I detailed the paint, I got a little bit too aggressive with the buffer and got the paint kinda thin.
Nice bicentennial survivor but that side trim’s got to be the most ugliest I’ve ever seen. Car is Well worth the money there asking.