32k Mile Mopar: 1972 Plymouth Gold Duster
Let’s face it. The Plymouth Valiant of the 1960s wasn’t a terribly exciting car. At first, it was awkward in appearance, and later just plain boxy. But the Chrysler brain trust came up with a 2-door fastback version of the auto in 1970 and sales finally took off. While the Duster shared its front clip with the Valiant sedan, the rest of the body was all-new – and instantly, the Valiant was cool! This 1972 edition was ordered with the Gold Duster trim package, but that didn’t do anything to change the performance of the car. From Backus, Minnesota, this Plymouth has a Slant-Six engine and has spent most of its 51 years indoors (hence the 32,000 actual miles). The current bid here on eBay is $8,300, but the reserve is unmet.
The Duster was almost unchanged physically in its first three years and delivered combined sales of 630,000 copies. Although you could order the Duster 340 as a performance car, most buyers preferred style over muscle and went with either a six-cylinder or 318 small-block V8 (the former is in the seller’s car). The 225 cubic inch “Slant-Six” was one of Chrysler’s most durable designs and the rest of the car would usually fall down around it before the motor gave out.
There were several trim options available on the Duster, with the Gold Duster and its “snakeskin” half-vinyl top being its most distinctive feature. This Plymouth still wears its original paint and – except for one small dent and one bit of fender crust – it looks to have held up well. My mother had a 1974 Dart Sport which was almost identical to the Duster and equipped with the same engine, automatic transmission, and factory air conditioning (with the vents still under the dash). It was a reliable car, but it looked faster than it was.
This Mopar has no doubt survived the Minnesota winters by living in a temperature-controlled building during the off-season. We’re told it runs great and needs nothing except maybe some attention to that one rust spot. Positioned as a daily driver, the listing party’s son is the seller as he doesn’t have an eBay account (who doesn’t these days?). Hopefully, the buyer will keep this vehicle intact rather than convert it into a Duster 340 clone.
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Comments
I had a 73 exactly like this. Only difference was that mine had a factory hand crank sunroof.
I would take this with a 6 cylinder over a V8 version any day. The V8 cars usually had the 💩 beat out of it. And if you’re buying a numbers car with low mileage. Odds are you’re not hitting the dragstrip.
Is that a pencil sharpener on fender wall, passenger side?
Vacuum reservoir for the EGR or another emission control.
this one is too old for egr. in this case it’s for the hvac controls. somewhere around this generation mopar started using vacuum pods to control the blend and mode doors on a’c equipped cars. in later years the emission system tapped it too.
Looks a lot like the one my aunt and uncle had in Florida. They sold it a few years ago to someone in Kentucky. It was virtually perfect, but not an original A/C car. My uncle had sourced the correct 72 A/C parts and added the air conditioning. The chrome was original and perfect, as was the original snake skin top. It had much higher mileage on it, though. It’ll look nice at shows, and have A/C for cruises in summertime, but be boring to drive. I hope it finds a good home.
I have a 72 Plymouth Scamp. Original slant 6. I followed an older guy’s recommendation to leave the six. You just don’t see them anymore. Everyone has gone the v8 route. Now when I pull into a parking lot and pop the hood, true story, I get lots of stoppers and lookers.
Mind you the six isn’t stock anymore, it mirrors the hyperpak 6
“Hyper-Paking” a slant 6 is one, of the many, things I would really l8ke to do. Getting surprising power from an unusual source appeals to me more than going the V8 route.
A fellow in my class at tech school seriously souped up a 74 duster 225 back in 1977.
When finished, he had a weird
Intake manifold with 3 two barrel weber side draft carbs,
and a host of other modifications which left the car barely able to idle, but it sure did burn rubber and fly like no other inline six I have ever seen!!!
I agree with Shane….too many sticking big V-8’s in them jacking them up in the rear when the best looking Dusters are the stock ones like this one.
The slant six will outlast any v8 out there 3x over @ least
Those 225 slant sixes were pretty much bullet proof. A lot of tugs, and fork lifts had them back in the day.
The slants are junk. Extremely underpowered and don’t get great gas mileage and don’t respond that well to bolt ons. I’ve bought 2 dusters, both slant cars, and one now has a 340 and the other is getting a 6.4 gen 3 hemi with an 8 speed auto. I’ve got 2 slants that I can’t give away so I’m always surprised when people want to keep them in their cars.
you ruined it.
Don’t respond well to bolt on? I used to race with a guy who raced nothing BUT the leaning tower of power in AHRA Formula Stock. (Similar to NHRA Stock, but will less restrictions) His cars were quick, set World Records, won National Events and Championships. Also bulletproof.
You are probably a lot younger than most of us, so you may not know much about these engines.
You can’t give the engines away because they are not needed. They are virtually indestructible. The ones that get replaced always get replaced by an 8 cylinder, usually by a younger guy who doesn’t know any better.
The gas mileage isn’t the best, and while stock, neither is the performance. Bolt on parts don’t do much to help that either, but give her some squeeze & she will wake up!
That is when the bolt on parts become necessary.
I never had a souped up /6, I only had stock. They are adequate for driving in traffic, even at today’s speeds, but they aren’t real exciting when stock.
I would LOVE to own the featured car!
Hi Bryce. If you have 2 slant 6’s, I’d love to take them off your hands. Let me know if you still have them.
now now jason share! i could use one of them too. lol
You’ve obviously never tried adding the Super 6 option (2 barrel carburetor) from an Aspen/Volare to a Slant 6. All you change is the intake manifold and the carburetor. Even just a simple bolt on like that makes a really decent performance difference!
I don’t know how you drive, but I’ve always gotten phenomenal longevity and great mileage out of the slant 6. A 1962 granny gear farm truck @ 20mpg after a hunting trip; 1968 Coronet 3 on the tree @ 25mpg on a trip; and my favorite 1976 Feather Duster O/D 4spd. @ 30mpg average on a cross country trip. The latter accruing 280K before rusting to oblivion. You don’t need 400hp in every vehicle.
I wouldn’t call those number that good by today’s standards, but for the time, they were great!
My favorite was a 1977 Fury sedan with the /6 & 3 on the tree. It got in the low to mid 20’s on the highway.
I miss that car!
I had a 76 Dart with 3 on a tree, slant 6. 20-24 mpg’s. Strongest running slant 6 i ever had.
Bought a 73 gold duster for $500 back in ’85, wouldn’t start. That pesky white bar of soap resistor on the firewall, 12 bucks later I was in business had a sluggish 318 and torquflite A.T. that needed the carb adjusted and a manual choke installed after that could burn the tires at a red light. Sold it for $500 two years later.
Cheap rust-bombs with a big butt. No better or worse than that other ‘70s sardine can, the Ford Maverick.
My Brother had a 74 Maverick Grabber with a floor mounted 3 speed stick and a 250 6 cylinder…manual steering…it was indestructible…lol
Looks like some rust repair and mismatched paint. What’s under it?????
I owned a 68 Charger, with a slant 6.
Only 904 were made
What a gutless wonder. The suspension was all different, and smaller than even the more robust 318 car.
I’ll pass.
I love these original everyday cars…it’s a good looking car, functional and simple…
And like others have mentioned, the slant six is bullet proof…
I’m sure these would be noticeably quicker with an optional higher numerical rear axle ratio, no heavy a/c , turbo muffler, & opened up air cleaner.
Gotta be a bear changing/adjusting points & condenser on these, or even just filing corroded pts on the side of the road.
I would think an all-in-the-cap type HEI would not have room way down there to fit, but what about the early type HEI used on chevy strait 6’s that had a smaller distributor & SEPARATE coil?! Some1 should make an HEI like that for slant 6’s.
If the reserve isn’t much higher than the current bid then this would make an easy project.
the mopar electronic igntiion is a direct drop in. with the 5 wire module added onto the fire wall. and while its abit of a reach there is actually enough room to work on that points distributor in place on the side of the road. bean there done that.
this one is a nice one and well worth the price.
My dad had one of these that he bought new, but this one is much better equipped. He traded in a beautiful, but gremlin cursed, loaded Mercury Cougar XR7 that was constantly in the shop. He hadn’t budgeted a new car so soon, so he traded it on something cheap but reliable. His was bright yellow and had a very minimalist black interior without carpets. The car had a V8. I learned to drive on the car. If I floored it the backend would fishtail. The most basic of transportation but a fun car to drive when you were 16.
I have done tune ups, plugs, points and condenser on a friend’s slant six. Best to not do it with the engine hot! That being said, a Chrysler HEI to get rid of the infamous ignition resistor curse and some i take and exhaust from Cliffords (save the original parts) and you’d be passing some weak V8s.
My Brother had a 74 Maverick Grabber with a floor mounted 3 speed stick and a 250 6 cylinder…manual steering…it was indestructible…lol
I know these were good cars my uncle had a light brown metallic exterior with black interior I think it had a 318 V8 under hood. He lived in Detroit, a place that air conditioning was not really needed. He was a Chrysler Corporation employee for over 35 years, so he only drove Chrysler Corporation cars. I didn’t care for the Dusters. From behind the doors, in my opinion, there was no styling, including the boring taillights Chrysler’s styling was always a bit strange, but I always liked it. Except the Dusters. When we moved from Detroit to Tarzana California my dad bought a 1960 Valient V200. It was white with red and black cloth interior, it was also powered by Chrysler’s famous Slant 6, with a 3 speed manual transmission on the floor. It was the first Valient sold in Los Angeles County, but by 1963, the styling was completely different and suddenly they were everywhere
My 74 duster had factory electronic ignition on a 225 slant 6 with the torqueflite tranny. I accidentally shifted into reverse by bumping the floor shifter with my elbow while going about 40 down a slight hill.
BANG!!!! the car hopped a couple of feet in the air, something in the driveline whinnied like a horse and the engine stalled. I put it in neutral, restarted the engine, and put it back in drive and all was well like nothing had happened.INDESTRUCTABLE!!!
don’t try that roll back trick too many times with those 904 torqueflights lol after a while the go bang and you call the tow truck.
ask me how i know lol
You’ve struck Gold with the new Plymouth Gold Duster!
Ordered a new 74 Duster w/gold duster pkg. from George Byers & Sons in Columbus, OH early in ‘74. Black with white half vinyl top and parchment interior. 318ci., auto on column. My first new car, since I was just getting promoted to buck sergeant in the Air Force. Only had it a couple of before I found out I was going to Korea. Dad kept it at home for me for when I returned. Came back, bought a ‘71 Challenger R/T (Plum Crazy). Prior to the Duster, had a Dodge Lancer GT (slant six) then a ‘66 Dodge Monaco 500. The Duster gave me the most problems, especially that resistor block on the firewall. Can’t remember how many I had to replace. Big pain in the butt!
My mom brought a new 72 Duster in Florida at Fred Drake Chrysler Plymouth in Oakland Park.It was white with blue interior I remember trying to talk her into a used Super Bird that was on the lot and I was only eight years old at the time.I inherited the car from her and drove it to high school. I found a 72 Gold Duster for sale that was identical to the one shown her in the picture same color same interior and the green snake skin top.Jerry I wish I had the crank sunroof like you had. You should have kept it.