THE STORY OF MY DUSTER
This is the car that started it all. I was pre-driving age. Some good friends up the street had numerous A bodies. In NY they seemed to have a great reputation as being near indestructable. My buddies older brother bought a beat FC7 purple 318 3spd manual and would lay stripes up the street.
---- I decided that one of these might be a good choice for me. While cutting the front lawn one day I was staring across the street at my neighbor Gino's orange Duster thinking that would make a great first car. I was working off the books during the summer and on weekends making some good money. My Dads way of teaching me that there was nothing wrong with a hards days work but that maybe I would pursue a career less demanding than his. When my Dad would go to see his mechanic to check his points etc he would always ask me to go. I always did. One day he's in a bay and I'm checking out cars. I'm eyeballing a Vette that turned out to be my Neighber Gino's. Gino walks over and we talk. He tells me he's selling the Vette to buy a work Van. I said I wished he's sell me the Duster, and he said he was selling it right after he got the van....Hmmmmmm.
---- So I go home and I'm scheming. My folks don't know how much I have stashed. They were relaxing in their room when I walked in and asked if I were able to save up my own money would they let me buy a car so I could start to fix it so it would be ready when I got my license. They agreed and then I sprang it on them. "WHOAHHHH slow down" so after some time they adjusted to the idea, it took a few months but one Day a white panel work van showed up in Gino's driveway. I walked over immediately. I'm not sure if it was that day I'm sure he wanted a fews days but they day I got it I remember telling him everything I was going to do to it and he smiled " Ok kid"
----I had been driving stick since I was 13. Dad bragged to Mom that I didn't grind a gear or buck or stall the car once on my first outing. He saw me messing around in his car and asked if I thought I knew how to drive it. (dirt bikes have clutches too
) then he went and got the keys to teach me. I showed him I knew what I was doing, and he was very impressed. This was not one of todays hydraulic clucthes with nice smooth syncro's either.
----Gino's Duster was the first automatic I had ever driven, and I didn't know you had to pull the shifter tward you. I thought something was wrong and had to ask him. "I know you know how to drive I've seen you" I can only drive stick I said....
It was an EV2, slant six, bench seat, dog dish stripper car with an AM radio and rusty lower quarters. I had a neighborhood body man fix and repaint the lower quarters, I found cragars, here and there as they were not being produced any longer in the 4" bolt circle at that time. I ended up adding a Rallye grille, bucket seats etc etc. The scoop (l loved Bob's scoop and had to have one) and rallye wheels /mirrors came later.
----My good buddy Bobby had a primer 340 Duster and it took on all comers, only 2 losses that we ever knew of. I of course had a V8 swap planned. I left for the military never scoring the GTS (which I thought I could strip of it's driveline if it was too far gone) I returned on leave from overseas to find a friends older bro had totaled his Challenger. But they had 360 and 727.... with two weeks of leave back in a time when there was no internet and the after market was not as involved in Mopar parts I got the engine swapped and running.
----At my first base I met George, he'd rib me about my Duster. He was proud of his first new family car a Mazda 323. I always used to tell him that I'd look him up in 20 Years and show him the Duster nad he could sweep up what was left of the Mazda to try and compare...it was a running joke. George cross trained into the medical field. Well to both our suprise by coincidence we retired to the same area. He checked the global email system and found me.
WHAT DO YA THINK THE FIRST THING I BROUGHT UP WAS ? I sold the Duster after owning it nearly 17 years but it's about 15 minutes away....the Primer photos are of it when I found it.
