Nova 350 vs Duster 340

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The Duster because it is better looking, offers more bang for the buck and a Chevy is boringly everywhere. Oh-hum, look, yet another Chevy rolling in, oh joy, ho hum....
 
I love the 68-72 Nova though. Good lookin cars. See, the thing is, the Duster only had ONE small block available. The Nova had several. Had that Duster rolled up on a 71 LT1 4 speed Nova with 4.11 gears........the outcome would have been different and often was.

Not sayin the Duster was slow, just the contrary. I just wish Mopar had done like GM and offered more than one 340 engine package,but they didn't.
 
I’ll take the nova. Love those things. Duster is a knock off of the nova anyway . Hell tons of people mistake the duster for a nova.
 
abodyjoe said:
I’ll take the nova. Love those things. Duster is a knock off of the nova anyway . Hell tons of people mistake the duster for a nova.
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The Yenko Deuce Novas were pretty badass for 71. Though few were built, that 330 HP solid lifter LT1 would scream. I want to do another 68-72 big block car. Those are fun.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The Yenko Deuce Novas were pretty badass for 71. Though few were built, that 330 HP solid lifter LT1 would scream. I want to do another 68-72 big block car. Those are fun.
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Used to be a white nova that body style locally. Dog dishes, perfect stance with a big block and 4 speed. Oh man I loved everything about that thing. Evil sounding.

I’d love to do a 68-69 (best looking tail lights to me) with a LS and OD. Man it would be a fun car.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The Yenko Deuce Novas were pretty badass for 71. Though few were built, that 330 HP solid lifter LT1 would scream. I want to do another 68-72 big block car. Those are fun.
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pretty sure there's a Yenko Nova in the next town over.

One of the first times I remember seeing the badges on the fender and relating that to the motor underneath was a friend's mom's white Nova 350. Her name was Vicky....
 
oh yea...:)




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the tail lights i like..
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Let’s turn this into a nova local thread.

These two belong to a friend of mine and they are MINT!

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I love those old magazine tests. They spun the tires half way down the track. And the brake test was locking every tire up to a grinding halt. I never understood their panic brake distance tests. That’s a tire test at that point. Nevermind trying to threshold brake. Bud Lindemann reviews were pretty neat. Sure seems the 350 was a faster better engine that the 340. At least if you go by magazine reviews.
 
Nova's were one of my favorites.
There was a 396\375 hp in a neighbouring town, but he was never able beat a local 340 Swinger
...and he tried many times!
 
Now that you guys mention it...i don't think I've ever seen the tail lights of a nova
:poke:
 
They are a good looking car. I will agree with that. The Duster being a knock off is funny but true since it was designed to do direct (sales) battle with it.
 
rumblefish360 said:
They are a good looking car. I will agree with that. The Duster being a knock off is funny but true since it was designed to do direct (sales) battle with it.
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Yeah, it's pretty obvious that Mopar noticed the success of the GM A/X bodies and the redesign of the rounded quarters in 68. I usually praise Mopar's styling, but I think they took it too far. The duster/demons have to have the perfect tire to fill out that huge quarter panel, and the 71+ chargers/road runners/gtx's just look rediculous to me regardless of tire size. That's gotta be the biggest quarter panel ever stamped.
 
Big *** 1/4’s! LMAO! Oh hell yea!

I don’t blame any manufacturer for doing a “copy cat” move because there all guilty as charged. They flatter each other in that way.

The popularity of the Nova was well seen in the ‘70’s for sure. Along with the Duster. You basically couldn’t turn a street corner without seeing at least 1 or they other on most any street in the country.

Chrysler Corp simply road the band wagon and stole a slice of pie.

Again, you can’t blame them!

If you were the hungry skinny kid watching the greedy fat kid gobble up the apple pie you would get in on it as well.
 
in the muscle car era........ My favorite Chevy is the '67 chevelle. My favorite Ford is the '66 Fairlane.
my opinion, the Duster is better looking from any angle vs the Nova. Maybe a '68 Chevelle would be more comparison for small body cars.
 
Had a Nova way back when. Loved it and wish I still had it! But lining up next to a Duster 340 left an impact in my memory to this day. In fact, it's the reason I bought the Duster when I got back into project cars again years later. From an earlier post:

"Was cruising down the local main street, about 2 am, in my 72 Nova, warmed up 350, etc, had just dropped off my girlfriend and was heading home. Sitting at a light when a Duster 340 pulls up next to me. I look at the dude and he nods. We both rev up waiting for the green light. Light changes, I hammer it and get a length or two on him. Think I got him. Hit 2nd gear and I hear this banshee sounding wail as he pulled on me, he hits 2nd and walks away from me. 1st time I raced a 340. Stop at the next light, give him a thumbs up and proceed home with that 340 sound replaying in my head. Few months later talking to a new guy who was working nights at the same place I was. Get to talking and turns out its the the same guy! Was a good friend before we went our separate ways. Never forgot that sound and how impressed I was with that lowly Duster 340. Fast forward 35 + years and when my daughters said they wanted a muscle car project. Our Duster came up and here we are! Never forgot that fateful night many years ago....good times!"
 
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copy cat still goes on today.
for a while the big three all tried to build a "civic" and GM are
chasing the Tacoma with their Canyon...very similar looking!
 
That vintage Nova was/is a good looking body style and, equipped correctly, were a force to be reckoned with on the street back in the day.
I'm not sure just how good the magazine driver was for the Duster 340/4 speed test since they reportedly ran the quarter in 14.49 seconds with a 3.91 rear gear. The best my old '69 340 Swinger ran in G/Pure Stock trim with a 727 and 3.23 non-Sure Grip gear was 14.28 @ 98+ mph.

Hey Divenut, liked your story. It reminded me of the time I was heading home after being out on Whittier Blvd one weekend night in my '69 340 Swinger (same car as mentioned above) when a 396 Chevelle pulled up alongside while I was stopped at a red light. We both knew what was coming next since there wasn't any traffic around.
The light turned green and I never saw his front fender alongside me until he caught me at the next light. He rolled his passenger window down and asked, "What have you got in there?"
I just said, "A small block", and enjoyed the look on his face as the light turned green and I drove off.
The Chevelles were heavier and couldn't leave like the light Darts and high-winding 340. The big block could catch you on the top end but never in the "stop light to stop light grand prix".
Great times back then.
 
a stock 340 on the street was tough to beat, but sometimes a big block could run you down at the big end.If you are not racing at the strip it's hard to improve on a well tuned stock early 340 package with 14" tires.
 
Whittier Blvd was an incredible place to cruise. Plenty of streets around the area to square off.

My favorite Nova are the 66-67 models. The front suspension on the later cars was much better. Had a few money making chevy II/novas back then. ALong with Camaros and Chevelles. I beat the Chevies like work mule to pay for my mopars! :)

The 340 A just ran hard for what they were.
 
Novas, Darts, Scamps, Valiants, Comets, Mavericks, Dusters, and Demons were all the same.
They were cheap throw away cars that the big three produced to appease the bucks down car buyer of the day.
Really, they were all the same bang for the buck cars that if ordered with the performance options were all great performers back in the day...........
A lot of fun, choose your poison and styling and go from there.
None of them were anything other than cheap purpose built cars that people had no qualms about modifying and running them into the ground because they were not considered collectible back in the day.
Matching numbers?
Nobody cared about that in the mid '70s!
A lot of people lose sight of this in this day and age of million dollar Hemi Cudas that back when they were new, were the basis to make something great on the street or strip and run the crap out of.
That's why not many survive, they were built poorly and were only designed to last past the warranty.
And things haven't changed much.
Look at the new Challenger, Mustang, and Camaro for instance.
The manufacturer doesn't really care about the car lasting 40 years and being all matching numbers and original.
No, it's just like the '60s and '70s, they are giving you a basis to modify to your tastes and after the warranty is over, they could care less, it's all about selling them NOW and profits................
 
Dartnut said:
Novas, Darts, Scamps, Valiants, Comets, Mavericks, Dusters, and Demons were all the same.
They were cheap throw away cars that the big three produced to appease the bucks down car buyer of the day.
Really, they were all the same bang for the buck cars that if ordered with the performance options were all great performers back in the day...........
A lot of fun, choose your poison and styling and go from there.
None of them were anything other than cheap purpose built cars that people had no qualms about modifying and running them into the ground because they were not considered collectible back in the day.
Matching numbers?
Nobody cared about that in the mid '70s!
A lot of people lose sight of this in this day and age of million dollar Hemi Cudas that back when they were new, were the basis to make something great on the street or strip and run the crap out of.
That's why not many survive, they were built poorly and were only designed to last past the warranty.
And things haven't changed much.
Look at the new Challenger, Mustang, and Camaro for instance.
The manufacturer doesn't really care about the car lasting 40 years and being all matching numbers and original.
No, it's just like the '60s and '70s, they are giving you a basis to modify to your tastes and after the warranty is over, they could care less, it's all about selling them NOW and profits................
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Agreed, they were just cars. Nothing special.

I had the chance in 1974ish to buy a 70 hemi cuda 4 speed car when I was 12 or 13 for $1800... about 2 years of paper route money. Yeah that was the worst deal my parents ever killed. I probably would have been dead by 17, but oh well... :)
 
Dartnut said:
None of them were anything other than cheap purpose built cars that people had no qualms about modifying and running them into the ground because they were not considered collectible back in the day.
Matching numbers?
Nobody cared about that in the mid '70s!
Click to expand...

hell no one cared about b-bodies or e-bodies either. had priends picking up running driving 70 challenger rag tops for 1300 bucks in the early 90's...
 
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