72 Duster twister with the 275 horse 340 engine?

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lgjhn said:
It was my understanding that the '71 and earlier high compression 340s came from the factory painted orange. The de-tuned '72 and up 340s came painted blue.
I'm 64 and grew up and lived on the Canadian border (Calais, Maine).
We drag raced all the time on late weekend evenings during the summer on a straight stretch about 20 miles out of town. I had a '73 340 Duster with the "blue" motor.
I matched up on many ocassions against a Canadian '72 Demon that belong to a friend of mine. He swore it was stock and I had no reason to doubt him. I could never beat him, but I can distinctly remember the 340 motor in his car being orange in color. Was it the high comopression 340 engine in a '72 Canadian car? Obviously, I have no way to prove it to be, but it was consistantly faster than my '73 car. We even swapped cars on one occassion and I beat my own car with his...LOL Maybe he just had a steeper rear end ratio. But I know for sure it was an orange motor in his car.
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My 71 Challenger convertible came with a blue 340. It was the 275 HP version...
 

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Nothing in that link says ANYTHING about that car having a twister package, WITH a 340. Read what the OP is about.
 
replicaracer43 said:
Nothing in that link says ANYTHING about that car having a twister package, WITH a 340. Read what the OP is about.
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I read this:

The Duster seen here is Gary's second, a near-exact replacement that remains in its original, unrestored state, right down to the original tires. It's just as the day he drove it off the lot of Auburn, New York's Howard Chrysler Plymouth in 1972.

and I see a Twister hood treatment and a Twister-icon on the quarters...
 
The color the engine was painted means nothing. For example, how many '69 "275 HP" 340s have you seen that were blue? A lot of them. Even though most people will tell you they were "all" orange.
 
- Marvin - said:
I read this:

The Duster seen here is Gary's second, a near-exact replacement that remains in its original, unrestored state, right down to the original tires. It's just as the day he drove it off the lot of Auburn, New York's Howard Chrysler Plymouth in 1972.

and I see a Twister hood treatment and a Twister-icon on the quarters...
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Do you see a fender tag showing the "340" engine code WITH the code for a twister package?
 
You do understand that you could get the strobe hood treatment on a 72 340 duster right? That doesn't make it a twister. This car is a 72 340 Duster, NOT a twister with a 340, and so far no one, including you has shown any proof otherwise.
 
The dust ball and swirl were a standard 340 stripe features not limited to the Twister package. A Twister has "Twister" written (tape anyway) on the quarter instead of the 340. The point, at least from what I've read, was to put 340 dress on a smaller engine. That's why they are slant six or 318 cars. I can't say the factory would never have put a twister package on a 340, but, at that point, why would you? The 340 already came with, or could get, all of the features that the Twister gave you and had the larger engine.
 
The Hemmings article calls it a Duster 340, the car has a Duster 340 decal on the back, and it doesn't claim to have the Twister Package. The whole premise of the Twister and Sizzler was to have a car with the pizzazz of the Duster 340 but with the 198 six or 318 eight for insurance reasons. The only optional engine (at least in 1971) was the 225 six. It is very doubtful that any Twisters came with a 340 from the factory.
 
Look what popped up on CL Amarillo... Sunroof and fold down back seat too.
00f0f_gXsOQX32plk_600x450.jpg
 
Look at the harmonic balancer. Is it a steel crank, or cast iron? The balancer will tell you. Cast iron will have a counter balance weight on the internal portion of the balancer. Forged steel crank will not. Forged steel...equals high compression. Cast...8:5:1 low compression. As far as the twister package....Just stickers. My '72 has the twister package. All it is, is the dust cloud going down the rear quarter stripes. (NOT UNCOMMON) With 340 numerals beneath it. The only rare option on my 340 duster would be the rocker panel stainless moldings.
 
1sttvbn said:
Look at the harmonic balancer. Is it a steel crank, or cast iron? The balancer will tell you. Cast iron will have a counter balance weight on the internal portion of the balancer. Forged steel crank will not. Forged steel...equals high compression. Cast...8:5:1 low compression. As far as the twister package....Just stickers. My '72 has the twister package. All it is, is the dust cloud going down the rear quarter stripes. (NOT UNCOMMON) With 340 numerals beneath it. The only rare option on my 340 duster would be the rocker panel stainless moldings.
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IF you have a "H" code duster WITH the twister package, SHOW US the fender tag with both codes. Pretty simple.
 
1sttvbn said:
Look at the harmonic balancer. Is it a steel crank, or cast iron? The balancer will tell you. Cast iron will have a counter balance weight on the internal portion of the balancer. Forged steel crank will not. Forged steel...equals high compression. Cast...8:5:1 low compression. As far as the twister package....Just stickers. My '72 has the twister package. All it is, is the dust cloud going down the rear quarter stripes. (NOT UNCOMMON) With 340 numerals beneath it. The only rare option on my 340 duster would be the rocker panel stainless moldings.
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That's not the "twister package" A51.

It's a 340 Duster with side stripes. The side stripes were not called "twister package"
 
They used to say the Twister was "A sheep in Wolf's clothing"....
 
The 72 Duster had TWO models; the VL29 Duster Sport Coupe and the VS29 Duster 340. VL stands for Valiant Low (level model). VS stands for Valiant Special model. 29 stands for fastback or formal roof.

The VL29 Duster Sport Coupe model was available with 198, 225 and 318 motors ONLY.

The Twister Package is option code A51 only for VL29 cars. See the third picture below; page V-6.

Now in Canada there was some special cars orders by those two dealers. But those were 71 and 72 Dodge Dart Swinger 340's.

A Twister on a 340 Duster does not make any sense. The Twister Package was a way to dress up a regular low performance Duster to look like a sporty Duster 340. Why would have a package to make something already look like itself?

The factory information spells all this out pretty clearly.

1972_page_49.jpg


1972_page_53.jpg


1972_page_54.jpg


1972_page_55.jpg


1972_page_56.jpg
 
It is obvious that if there were any of these cars made there were none available in the US. I think it is possible, from what I have seen on these posts from all the different members, that it is possible that there were 275 hp 340 cars available in 72 but for export to other countries with the exception being Canada as they might have been produced in the Canadian plant for the Canadian market only. I am also sure that if they were made they were made, it was in very limited numbers or perhaps even special orders that were never advertised but may have been available if requested but again not available in the US. There just seems to be something there and I am curious to know if there were any made and are there any still out there. As for myself I wish I still had my old Duster. We never knew what we had but back then why would we even give it a second though. If we knew then what we know now I am sure there would be more rare cars popping up all the time. Perhaps there are some members from outside the US that could chime in on this.
 
Hypothetically speaking..... What if a few low compression motors slated for install on early 72 cars to meet emissions were painted orange because the factory still had LOTS of orange paint to use? Maybe we all are thinking too much into this....????
 
The NHRA,

Has no listing for a 1972 Duster 340 'Twister'.

I know this, because we tried to slide in a 1972 'Duster 340' with Hood Scoops
into Stock Class in 1974.

We forged a Document Sheet to state that our 'Duster 340' was ordered with
the {Code; A51} 'Twister Package' with Hood Scoops.

It was at a NED 1 Points Meet at Maple Grove, Pennsylvania.

We got called on it, and were DQ'd after the 1st Round.

Well, we tried..............
 
My '72 Duster, that I bought new, had the dust cloud decals on it. My brother in law bought them for me at NAPA for my birthday. We put them on ourselves. They could have been put on anything. Wish they were still available. On the other hand, just because they were not available in the U.S. doesn't mean other countries could not have had them. Look at what all Mexico had.
 
ExtraGold340 said:
Hypothetically speaking..... What if a few low compression motors slated for install on early 72 cars to meet emissions were painted orange because the factory still had LOTS of orange paint to use? Maybe we all are thinking too much into this....????
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No.

The switch to blue paint 340's happened mid 1971 model year in spring 1971.

That would be like putting 71 side marker fenders on a 72 cause they had them left over. The companies make change overs and retool the plants for the new model year.

Many exterior colors available in 1971 where discontinued in 1972. So did they paint cars with leftover 71 colors? No.
 
Unfortunately unless someone is able to produce a fender tag or better yet a build sheet I doubt this question will ever be answered and will remain folklore, fun to discuss thou.
 
My Duster 340 has the factory dust cloud in the stripe over the 340 and V21 hood treatment but it is not a twister. I put the scoops on but it did not come with them. As far as I know all factory 72 340's Dusters came with the Dust cloud at the rear stripe.
 

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