1972 Duster, 340/4, black on black (the endgame)
The time has come to get on with it. Lets start with the backstory, for anyone who didn't catch it in another thread.
I grew up in a small town of maybe 150 people in Southcentral Wisconsin-about 45 minutes north of Madison. The town had their local gearhead named Bob-a few years older than I and he was the kind of guy who had a different car every three months or so. He would either wreck them or get bored with and sell it. I was 16 during the spring and summer of 1980 and going steady (remember that?) with Kathy from Portage. We were hanging out one Friday night with her friends watching the cruisers when this car pulled up in front of us. Bob got another new car-a black on black 1972 Duster 340/4 speed complete with the white stripes and a backseat full of girls. And I fell in love with the car. I thought it was the sexiest set of wheels I had ever seen. Over the summer, Bob married, Kathy ran away from home, I started and finished my senior year and joined the Marine Corps. One of the first things I did after I got out was bought a 70 Duster from an acquaintance for $100. It was orange on black, bucket seats, 318/4 speed. But his little brother drove it into a ditch learning to drive a clutch, hit a rock and trashed the lower right control arm. So since I worked for a junkyard at the time, I started to accumulate parts cars. Mostly 72s, but a few 70-71s too. It was September 1984 when a friend told me what happened to Bob's Duster. His wife pulled out in front of someone and got nailed in the right front-not bad enough to total the car but enough to get it fixed before it made the road again. He took it to a shop where they pulled the front clip and sat on the car for a couple years. Bob got sick of it, got the car sans fenders, sold the motor for $100 and the shell to a friend of his. And it was still there behind his friend's house, sitting on blocks. My sister bought it for me for my 21st birthday for $25. I took it home and stripped it for parts for the 70 and even filled it up with the junk I was getting rid of. One day I took it out to the junkyard, and as I was pulling away I got a glimpse of the taillight panel in the rearview of the flatbed truck. And in that moment, I remembered why I liked that car so much. It was back home with all the junk parts cleaned out of it that night.
Eventually, the orange 70 would fall victim to cancer and the best of that car went into the 72, along with the best of the rest of the parts I had accumulated. I was painting cars by then and I worked in a succession of shops where I was encouraged to bring it in and paint it. But circumstances would always step in and it never got done. It got worked on but nothing significant until I got out of the auto body business. I was making countertops when time and money and circumstances were all in alignment. It was around 2000 when I got the quarters, trunk floor and trunk extensions. I took 2 weeks off from work, borrowed a wire feed welder and did it all up in my yard. I got the shell painted and started painting the rest-trunk lid, then doors. Before I could get the front clip done I had to move and the planets fell out of alignment. I started buying the bits & pieces I needed to finish it with my tax returns (seats, wheels, etc.). In 2005, I put it in a storage unit along with my R/C airplanes and moved out here to NoCal.
Summer 10 was the breakpoint with the storage unit. If I had continued to pay every month to store that stuff in Wisconsin, I would exceed the value of the stuff in it. So in June I took Greyhound back to Wisconsin, rented a small U-Haul & car trailer and brought it all back. I currently work for a government contractor restoring ground support equipment for Lockheed aircraft and I have access to complete facilities to do this thing up right. Recently, the company's fortunes have changed and now the pressure is on-time to get it done, and quickly while I still can. I've been restoring a 77 Sportster as well and divided my time between both since the Duster showed up. I just need to paint the tank & fenders for the bike so thats just about done. This next week will be about the Duster.
Enough of the story. Here are the pics.
Here is the car recently back from the grave and being fitted out with the best of the parts I had saved over a few years-taken maybe in fall 1986:
I let a friend borrow the rear wheels & tires for his pickup and he sold the truck with my wheels still on it. In the end it was OK as they were the larger 73 and up bolt pattern.
Here it sits behind my Grandmothers house, with all the parts on it and some bodywork done around 1990:
The time has come to get on with it. Lets start with the backstory, for anyone who didn't catch it in another thread.
I grew up in a small town of maybe 150 people in Southcentral Wisconsin-about 45 minutes north of Madison. The town had their local gearhead named Bob-a few years older than I and he was the kind of guy who had a different car every three months or so. He would either wreck them or get bored with and sell it. I was 16 during the spring and summer of 1980 and going steady (remember that?) with Kathy from Portage. We were hanging out one Friday night with her friends watching the cruisers when this car pulled up in front of us. Bob got another new car-a black on black 1972 Duster 340/4 speed complete with the white stripes and a backseat full of girls. And I fell in love with the car. I thought it was the sexiest set of wheels I had ever seen. Over the summer, Bob married, Kathy ran away from home, I started and finished my senior year and joined the Marine Corps. One of the first things I did after I got out was bought a 70 Duster from an acquaintance for $100. It was orange on black, bucket seats, 318/4 speed. But his little brother drove it into a ditch learning to drive a clutch, hit a rock and trashed the lower right control arm. So since I worked for a junkyard at the time, I started to accumulate parts cars. Mostly 72s, but a few 70-71s too. It was September 1984 when a friend told me what happened to Bob's Duster. His wife pulled out in front of someone and got nailed in the right front-not bad enough to total the car but enough to get it fixed before it made the road again. He took it to a shop where they pulled the front clip and sat on the car for a couple years. Bob got sick of it, got the car sans fenders, sold the motor for $100 and the shell to a friend of his. And it was still there behind his friend's house, sitting on blocks. My sister bought it for me for my 21st birthday for $25. I took it home and stripped it for parts for the 70 and even filled it up with the junk I was getting rid of. One day I took it out to the junkyard, and as I was pulling away I got a glimpse of the taillight panel in the rearview of the flatbed truck. And in that moment, I remembered why I liked that car so much. It was back home with all the junk parts cleaned out of it that night.
Eventually, the orange 70 would fall victim to cancer and the best of that car went into the 72, along with the best of the rest of the parts I had accumulated. I was painting cars by then and I worked in a succession of shops where I was encouraged to bring it in and paint it. But circumstances would always step in and it never got done. It got worked on but nothing significant until I got out of the auto body business. I was making countertops when time and money and circumstances were all in alignment. It was around 2000 when I got the quarters, trunk floor and trunk extensions. I took 2 weeks off from work, borrowed a wire feed welder and did it all up in my yard. I got the shell painted and started painting the rest-trunk lid, then doors. Before I could get the front clip done I had to move and the planets fell out of alignment. I started buying the bits & pieces I needed to finish it with my tax returns (seats, wheels, etc.). In 2005, I put it in a storage unit along with my R/C airplanes and moved out here to NoCal.
Summer 10 was the breakpoint with the storage unit. If I had continued to pay every month to store that stuff in Wisconsin, I would exceed the value of the stuff in it. So in June I took Greyhound back to Wisconsin, rented a small U-Haul & car trailer and brought it all back. I currently work for a government contractor restoring ground support equipment for Lockheed aircraft and I have access to complete facilities to do this thing up right. Recently, the company's fortunes have changed and now the pressure is on-time to get it done, and quickly while I still can. I've been restoring a 77 Sportster as well and divided my time between both since the Duster showed up. I just need to paint the tank & fenders for the bike so thats just about done. This next week will be about the Duster.
Enough of the story. Here are the pics.
Here is the car recently back from the grave and being fitted out with the best of the parts I had saved over a few years-taken maybe in fall 1986:
I let a friend borrow the rear wheels & tires for his pickup and he sold the truck with my wheels still on it. In the end it was OK as they were the larger 73 and up bolt pattern.
Here it sits behind my Grandmothers house, with all the parts on it and some bodywork done around 1990:
