4-Speed Performer: 1972 Plymouth Duster 340
At the end of the 1960s, mid-size muscle cars were starting to take it on the chin from insurance companies. That created opportunities for compact performance cars like the Chevy Nova Super Sport which came with small displacement engines. A newcomer joined the field in 1970, the Plymouth Duster, a fastback version of the Valiant. And the Duster 340 provided some action by way of a 340 cubic inch small-block V8. The seller’s 1972 Duster 340 is described as being in “great driver condition”, but it could be nicer than that.
Plymouth sold nearly 16,000 copies of the Duster 340 in 1972, rated at 275 hp with a 4-barrel carburetor. The indicated mileage is 66,000 and while no claim is made as to it being actual, the condition of the vehicle suggests that it is. This 340 is paired with a 4-speed manual transmission, and the Mopar sports a new clutch and pressure plate (which the seller says is a bit touchy; perhaps it will break in with use). Besides that, the 3.91 gears are new along with the exhaust, wheels, and tires.
Duster 340s could be dressed up or could be rather spartan. This one has a regular Duster bench seat and there is no console. The two-tone paint (white over cream) presents well, and the interior shows no flaws that would prevent you from taking it to Cars & Coffee regularly.
While the seller doesn’t call this a Duster 340 (just Duster), the VIN decodes as having a 340 V8 which we assume is numbers-matching. Located in Knoxville, Tennessee, this survivor-quality muscle car is available here on eBay. The starting bid will be $25,000 once someone takes the first plunge. With no reserve, a single bird could take this automobile home.
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Comments
Looks like a nice car with an awful stance, which isn’t too difficult to fix. If I lived locally I’d take a look.
Steve R
yeah i agree, the mismatched wheels are also… eclectic.
i’d go with meaty white-letters and dog dishes, but to each their own! :)
I seem to recall when the mismatched big-n-littles was a real thing. Big tires and jacked up in the back. Then snow tires in the winter. Talk about a look.
Jacked up drag cars that looked like this were pretty much done by the early-70’s. You might have come across the occasional car with a stink bug stance, but less often, as modular wheels available with different offsets replaced cast. If you want to see some vintage pictures of an early-70’s Dart/Duster Google “Butch Leal California Flash” and search images, there is about 20 years worth of pictures.
Steve R
340, 4sp, bench seat, liteweight tin can Duster body. Add some 3.91s ⚙️ and these really move out. I agree w Steve worth a look. 😃🙌🏁
Agree with Steve R. The stance is the first thing that caught my attention, and not in a good way. As he stated, not hard to correct, and once that’s accomplished (that and a stock set of steel or Rallye wheels for me), this Duster will look proper. It appears to be a sharp car, probably not most people’s favorite exterior color, but those that appreciate the popular 1970s earth tones, this cream machine should make them quite happy rowing thru the gears.
Shouldn’t the “340” decals be slanted the other way?
4 speed with a Bench seat is fantastic.
Not many like it with chevy and ford, amc thrown in. A 340 with 3.91 gears. As stated above should move out pretty quickly. U could easily change stance and wheels. Price is not outrageous fir what ur getting. A tad high maybe. But looks like a turn key car. Buy it and enjoy the smiles!
love the flat black hood treatment but could do without the hood tach. Other than that clean cool car.
Duster 340 I bought new in ’70 had a tach in center of instrument cluster. Maybe it was part of the bucket/console package? I agree, even on the GTOs that tach might have looked cool to bystanders, but weren’t much good to the driver.
If I remember correctly, the Rallye dash was standard in 340 Dusters for ’70 and ’71 cars. But the tach was still optional. You can retrofit one to a 72 or beyond car, but it takes some trimmings and wiring work. I had the same dash as you in my 71 340 4-speed (bench seat car). But I mounted my trusty Sun Tach on my dashboard where I could see it (and it looked cool). I agree the hood mount tach is probably not the most practical solution, but at least some cool factor too.
I had a ’70 Duster 340 in H.S. (’75-’76) that was Plum Crazy (purple). Mine was totally stripped down. no p.s. or p.b. no carpet, bench seat and a 4speed. I really like this one, even the stance and the big meats out back. This is what every high school kid wanted in the 70’s and what a lot of old guys want now to relive our glory days. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the 2 tone paint, they look so much better in a solid color. I don’t remember ever seeing one 2 toned like this, I wonder if it had a vinyl top at one time? I never cared for those either. If somebody buys this for 1 click at 25,000 bucks, that would be a good buy at todays prices. Take a look at what people are trying to get for rusty hulks. You couldn’t even start to bring one back for the price of this right now. But wait and see after that first click it may go much higher.
It looks like it is owned by a teenager.
A teenager that is now 63 or older.
Like me.
So the car appears to be a nice 340 car for sure, with an actual fair starting bid……(hard to believe)…..all these cars require a close, upfront inspection though…BTW, the horsepower of the 72’ model year 340 hp engines was 240, not 275….the engine compression ratio had been lowered to 8:5:1, and the intake valve size was 1:88 reduced from 2:02…..the earlier hydraulic camshaft was the same as the 69’-71’ engines…..the carburetor was now a Carter Thermoquad, replacing the earlier AVS units……nice car as shown in the pics…..
25k for this duster? And a assumption this is numbers matching? Normally on here people would be slamming the car creating all the negativity possible? Do I think the market will support the 25k asking price for this duster..Mmmm possible but the wrong brand…in the end the economics of the market will have the final say!
I’m not a fan of the white top, kinda takes away from the look. The stance can be corrected in an afternoon. 72 still small 5×4 bolt pattern.
The 72 340 4sp still had a forged crank and 340 rods, Heads are 1.88 intake and 1.60 exhaust and they had a 8.5 compression ratio. 8 3/4 rear end.
Most likely the clutch and pressure plate change should have included a flywheel resurface.
The 72 saw the electronic ignition, thermoquad carb, emissions manifold. Keep a dual ballast resistor in the glove box you’ll need it.
Okay, not the most desirable color and apparently we all hate the stance. But judging by what looks like an early 60’s Superstock Dodge and a Plymouth Prowler in the garage, I’d say the owner is a Mopar guy. This is definitely one of the cleanest and most original ’72’s I’ve ever seen, right down to the heat riser duct coming off the stock manifold. I’d swap in 69 – 71 heads, and purple stripe cam, and re-jet the Thermoquad to keep the full stock look. Then lose the air shocks and cheater slicks, put it on a nice set of Rallye wheels with T/A radials and drive it like I stole it. Anyone whose ever driven a 340 4-speed A body with 3.91 gears know how much fun that is!
A good comment. However there is a lot more you can do these days. The heads a fine, just add a 2.02 valve job with thinner Chevy valves. Beehive springs. Lightweight pistons. There are a lot better cams these days than the Purple stripe, but it was a performer one back in the day.
Just those changes will put this in the low 13’s.
This is a nice bigs and littles presentation, but the stance is too jacked up. Mid to high $20’s is where these 340’s are starting at at now and it is a wonder that they have lagged the Mopar market for so long. In a few years you won’t touch one for that. If it were a ’70 or ’71 and a high impact color it would be double that.
So true! There has always been a cult following for 340 A body cars. But I’ve been thinking for years that some day the collector market is going to figure out how underappreciated they have been. In the meantime it’s nice to see there are still clean examples like this that are still obtainable!
My son has a ’73 Dart with a 360. Originally a slant 6 car, we installed a narrowed 8 3/4 with a 3.91 gear set and it would scoot out. Eventually we swapped the 3.91 gears for 3.55 gears due to the rpm’s. It would still scoot with the 3.55 gears. Tons of fun
Other than the white top and interior, the stance, wheel/ tire combo is right out of 1978 Car Craft reader’s rides. Typical look of that era. Love 3:91 gear, that is one clean car !
I guess nobody has noticed it, but the 340s on the rear quarters have been put on wrong – the numbers should be tilting toward the front of the car , so the left 340 should be on the right side of the car, etc. To somebody that’s owned one for 45 years , it really looks odd , and to me, it says this car was repainted at one point
Good catch @DON. I don’t know how I missed the fact that the stripes are the wrong color and they are installed opposite of the correct sides. It’s obvious now that you pointed it out that.
I got so curious that I decided decoded the fender tag. This car indeed came factory with white stripes and 340 callouts (V6W White Longitude Sports Stripe) and rear panel stripe (V8W Transverse Stripe – White). But this certainly makes me wonder if the car was resprayed at some point. According the original PPG ’72 Plymouth paint card, the code referenced (GY4) maps to Y4, a color called “Honeydew”. Looks like the gold interior and white vinyl top is factory also. Definitely a color combo you don’t see often in 340 Dusters.
Fender tag:
Code Description
E55 340-4 Barrel 69-73
D21 Heavy Duty 4-Speed Manual Transmission
VS29:
V = Plymouth Valiant / Duster
S = Special
29 = 2 Door Sports Hardtop
H2B:
H = 340 240HP(net) 1-4BBL 8 CYL
2 = 1972
B = Dodge Main, Hamtramck, MI, USA
477524 Sequence Number ‘477524’
GY4 Paint Code: Unknown At This Time
D2Y3:
Trim Grade/Style/Color
D = Deluxe
2 = Vinyl Bench
Y3 = Light Gold
GY4 Upper Door Frame: Unknown At This Time
619 Date Built: 6 / 19 / 1972
465599 Order Number: 465599
EW1 Roof Type OR Color: White / Alpine White
U Built to Specifications for USA Order
B51 Power Assisted Brakes
M21 Roof Drip Rail Moldings
N23 Electronic Ignition 72 only
N41 Dual Exhaust w/o Tips
N42 Chrome Dual Exhaust Tips
R11 Music Master Radio AM
V02 Two Tone Paint
V6W White Longitude Sports Stripe
V8W Transverse Stripe – White
EN2 End of Codes Assembly Line 2
I guess nobody has noticed it, but the 340s on the rear quarters have been put on wrong – the numbers should be tilting toward the front of the car , so the left 340 should be on the right side of the car, etc. To somebody that’s owned one for 45 years , it really looks odd
It looks really clean , but on a car with a white interior and top, the stripes would be white . the black stripe with a white top just doesn’t look right , and of course the stance is crazy
Ended with 0 bids.
Not re-listed, so seller may have decided to keep it.