Plymouth Dusters- underrated and under appreciated muscle

When most people think of Plymouth Dusters, they automatically think about the little 'compact' car Chrysler made from 1970-1976. The Duster was created to compete with the Ford Maverick and Chevrolet Nova. Not many people consider the Duster a true muscle car, it all depends on the person's point of view. Believe it or not, I've even heard someone refer to the Duster as 'a black person car'. I'll admit myself, I didn't pay much attention to the Duster. Being the owner of a '69 Charger, I was mainly interested in B-body Mopars which include the Superbee, Roadrunner and GTX. Like I said, I didn't pay much attention to them. That is until I became the owner of one myself. Owning one changed my whole outlook on them. The thing with Dusters is they are very versatile. They make great street cars, awesome drag cars and if you are into Autocross, they are even great for that! Dusters have always been a fairly light car in the Mopar world. The last time I ran my Duster across the scales, it weighed in at 3000lbs with me and my dad in it and a trunk load of tools and luggage. My Charger dosen't even come close to that without people! From 1970-1972 the Dusters remained sporty but in 1973, they had a down fall. New safety regulations called for 5mph front bumper inpact protection. With those regulations being put in place, Plymouth ended up making the Duster's bumpers bigger and bulkier. They also put bigger bumper guards on it. It wasn't so bad in 1973-1974 but from 1975-1976 it got worse. Plymouth also decided to put a bumper filler panel between the bumper and the body which in turn make the bumpers stick out farther. That being said though, once you get rid of the bumper guards (I chose to keep the rears on my '73) and adjust the bumper filler panels, the 1973-1976 Dusters look much sportier. I also have to say, in my personal opinion, the Dusters came with the ugliest hubcaps I've ever seen. My Duster had them on when I bought it. Once I got the money, they were thrown in the garage and replaced with 15X7 Rallye wheels. It made such a difference.

For people wanting to get into the Mopar world, A-body Mopars (Dusters, Darts, Valiants etc) can still be reasonable purchased. That's where people don't think about it. See, when you think of a Mopar muscle car you probally think of a Charger or Roadrunner. Not many people automatically think of a Duster. Like I said, they are cheap to buy and with some upgrades, they make awesome cars. So next time you see a Duster at a show, don't simply walk by.....check it out, because they are cooler than you think!

That's what I get for trying to buy a Ford

Almost everyone has one of those 'cars that got away' stories. You hear them alot. You find a '70 Plymouth 2dr' in the local classifieds for $1000 and it turns out to be a Hemi Superbird and it just happens someone already came and got it that morning. I used to read a lot of those stories and I never really experienced what those people felt.....until it happened to me. See, my story isn't as special as those Hemi Superbird and Boss 429 Mustang stories, it actually involves a little '64 1/2 Mustang.....or the Mustang that got away so to speak. My stepmom is a hair stylist and one of her clients talked about this '64 1/2 Mustang she owned. She told me it was a running driving car until she gave it to her son. He took it apart at his father (her ex-husband)'s shop in Steveston BC (Richmond) and left it. This shop was sitting on a fisherman's wharf right where the Pacific Ocean met the mouth of the Fraser River so there was plenty of salt in the air. The salt wasn't too kind on the Mustang as it sat outside all torn apart for atleast 3 years. She told me she was thinking of selling it and if I would be interested in making a Craigslist ad for it. I said sure and to contact me when she wanted to post it up. A few months went by and she came back over to our house to get her hair done. Again she mentioned this Mustang and she said she was ready to sell it and she would sell it for cheap. I called her that night to get information on it and I mentioned to my dad about her selling it for 'cheap'. He said I should ask her how much is 'cheap'. I talked to her and I said 'how much would you sell it to me and my dad for?' and she replied '$500'. Now, this car was kind of rusty but it was all there and it was definitley worth $500. I told her right there on the phone, 'there is no need for a Craigslist ad, I'll take it'. She told us where it could be found so we could check it out. Me and my dad drove out there at about 9:30pm on a cold rainy January night and drove around the fisherman's wharf trying to find it. You have to understand, Steveston is the biggest fishing area in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area so this wharf was pretty big. We looked everywhere and nothing. Then we found her ex-husband's welding shop and down the side of the building nestled between 3 other buildings was the Mustang. I didn't have my camera on me and it was pitch black so we used a flashlight and I was able to get a few odd pictures with my camera phone. This was on January 17th. We didn't hear from her for about a week and then she called us asking when we'd like to do the deal and get the car out of there. We told her we couldn't right away because we didn't have room in the garage. My dad's 5.0L Mustang wasn't ready to be moved outside yet so we told her we had to get that together and ready to move outside and I would call her as soon as it would ready. Over the next few weeks we checked up with her. About mid Feburary I was doing my Craigslist cruising and I came across an ad that read '64 1/2 Mustang. Taken apart. Good for parts or project. $1,000'. I emailed the poster with the odd feeling this was the Mustang I was buying. It turned out her ex-husband posted the car on there because he wanted it out of his shop's storage yard. All the emails went directly to her because she was the legal owner. Anyways, I told her I would get her money to her asap to solidify that I was indeed buying it. I dropped off a $100 deposit the next day and the other $400 came on Feburary 25th. She told us her ex-husband wanted it out of there and it would be cool if we could pick it up when it was possible for us. At this point the 5.0L was just about to move outside, minus the one window being stuck open. We asked her when we could get it out of the yard and she said she would have to talk to her ex-husband and find out a good time that would work for him because he had a bunch of parts for the car in his shop. Well, she never phoned back and told us. March rolled around and I was getting ready to attend Mopars at the Strip in Las Vegas with my stepmom. On my list of things to do before I left was to acquire the Mustang's paperwork and get it transfered over into my name. I phoned her and left a message on her cell phone and her house phone asking about papers and she never phoned back. Around March 15th (about a week later), I got ahold of her husband (not the ex) on his cell phone while I was at the grocery store with my stepmom and he said she had picked up the papers a few days ago. Right after I got off the phone with him, we walked around the corner and there she was shopping herself. I asked her about the car and papers and she said she had them at home and she indeed picked them up a few days ago. She then told us her ex-husband had actually sold the car to his friend and phoned to tell her that and she got in a big fight with him saying she had already sold it to us and she told him to give his friend his money back. She also said she would be busy on the 16th and 17th but the 18th (Thursday) would work for her and I could come over and transfer the car into my name. However, that never happened. On Wednesday the 17th, she phoned and left my stepmom a message saying her ex-husband indeed sold the car and it was gone and she would drop off our money later. My stepmom phoned and told me this and I was worried but then I realized she still had the papers and I was supposed to pick them up the next day so the car would still legally be ours. I phoned her house and got no answer so I phoned her husband (again, not the ex) and he told me she had given her ex-husband the papers and the deal was final and the car was gone. He also said he was drop off our money when he was free. I was furious that she had actually given him the papers and pretty much said f**k us. I went out for a few hours and came back to find our money in an envelope sitting at our front door. I talked to my dad and he was pissed also. He phoned her and she got all pissy at him saying we should of gotten it out of there sooner and it was our fault. I do admit we should of gotten it out of there sooner however I told her in one of our conversations that if it came down to it, I would get a rollback tow truck out there and pick it up and I would put the car in my front yard if I had to. However, she insured us it wasn't that urgent. My dad reminded her of that and she pretty much blew it off and then my dad also confronted her about her never calling us back about when her ex-husband was free and she says 'I did' and my dad said 'Um, no you didn't'. Her reply was 'Oh. Well oh well, the car is gone to North Vancouver anyways. It's long gone' and then she hung up. Needless to say I haven't talked to her since. Me and my dad came to a conclusion though, her ex-husband had it on Craigslist for $1,000 and that obviously was the sale price. So we got screwed out of the deal simply because she got more money for it. She had the chance to double her money and took it. It just happens to be a small world though because on April 8th, I was driving and I spotted a Mustang sitting in a guy's driveway. It just happened to be the Mustang we got screwed out of. Not only was it about 5 minutes from our house but it was also 5 blocks from her house! It was nowhere near North Vancouver like she said it was. She had lied about that also. She knew exactly where it was going and exactly who bought it. That even solidified our conclusion about her getting the chance to double her money and taking it. The next time my dad talked to her husband, he mentioned it being 5 blocks from their house and his reply was simply 'Oh, they said they were going to put it in the garage already'. I guess that's what I get for trying to buying a Ford.

So it begins---my introduction

My name is Cody. I'm from BC, Canada and it's safe to say I'm a certified car nut. I grew up watching reruns of the Dukes of Hazzard and all I knew was that I wanted my own General Lee. I didn't know what kind of car it was, all I knew was it was called the General Lee and I wanted it. In 1998, when I was 6, I was given my very own '69 Charger for Christmas. It wasn't much but it was a real Charger and the beginning to my General Lee. My Charger led a rough life. It was originally from Edmonton Alberta. The original owner sold it in 1979 and it ended up in British Columbia where it was driven until around 1985 when it was parked in a driveway. In 1996, life got even rougher for it. It was bought and used as a parts car for a '69 Charger R/T. See, my '69 is a basic 318 automatic car. It dosen't seem like much value to some people but it holds so much sentimental value to me it's amazing. In 1998 that's when my dad's friend found it and my dad went out and bought it. The car was beat and it was missing everything. However, to our luck the owner had the original passenger door, fender and interior in his garage. Someone had spray painted all over it, keyed it and they even went as far as throwing the front bumper through the windshield. The thing I find funny now is when I was young and had my Charger, I only knew of a few cars. '68-'70 Chargers, '71 Camaros, '70 GSXs and '68-'70 GTOs (my dad had a '69 and '70 before I was born) and '76 Trans Am (my mom had one). Now-a-days I can spot almost any muscle car and I'm able to name it. I've even surpassed my dad with that and he's the one who taught me everything. Over the past 2 years I've added to my personal car collection in the form of a 1973 Plymouth Duster and 1970 Coronet 500. However my Charger is still my baby and it will never leave my hands. See, one thing you should know about me is I love all muscle cars however Mopars (Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler) are my passion. I live and breath muscle cars. If I'm not working on my own cars, I'm on the computer on forums talking about them or searching Craigslist for new deals. If I'm not found doing either of those two, I'm building model replicas or reading car magazines. I started this blog to share everything I find interesting in the world of cars. I hope you enjoy and continue reading and checking out new posts. Cheers, Cody