Advice on ‘74 Duster

-
ledman said:
I’ve decided to buy this car pending inspection.

We haggled a bit, he sent me some more videos, and we agreed on $13.5 PENDING MY INSPECTION on a virtual handshake.

I feel what what has been done to the car I couldn’t build it myself for that price. Is it a perfect show car? No way!
It’s not “matching numbers” and the interior isn’t “correct”, And that’s not what I want Nor do I care about all that really.
I want a nice looking driver to take to cruise ins and cars and coffee and to tinker with in my free time and this one checks off all the boxes for me. Hood scoops, hood tach, nice 360 v8 and a 8 3/4 rear end, electric cutouts, dash not all hacked up, mopar rally wheels(my favorite wheel of all time).

So, now I am just waiting on the guy to get the California title in his name he said he submitted for it this past Monday so it's going to be a few weeks before I could buy the car because I won’t hand over cash until I can get a properly signed off title and he agrees to hold the car for me until the title comes in.
Click to expand...

If it's the right car for YOU that's the most important thing. Is the price maybe a little high? Probably. But you definitely couldn't build it for that. So unless you want to wait around forever to find the "perfect" car I don't think it's a bad deal. It's a nicer car than any of the other Duster examples for sale that were posted in this thread by a long shot.

ledman said:




Click to expand...


Sounds great!!! :thumbsup:
 
72bluNblu said:
If it's the right car for YOU that's the most important thing. Is the price maybe a little high? Probably. But you definitely couldn't build it for that. So unless you want to wait around forever to find the "perfect" car I don't think it's a bad deal. It's a nicer car than any of the other Duster examples for sale that were posted in this thread by a long shot.



Sounds great!!! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
It does sound intoxicating lol and I like that seeing it run there’s no oily residue on the exhaust pipes.
And I agree maybe the price is a little high but in the end if I ever sell it down the road I think I could at least get back what I paid for the car itself.
I’m not buying it to make money off of it.

I’ve seen a few nice ones in the for sale forum but they are all far away from me, and I’m ready now lol I see something I like I go for it
 
Did you buy this car? I see you posted a WANTED ad for another one.
 
Kern Dog said:
Did you buy this car? I see you posted a WANTED ad for another one.
Click to expand...
Not yet, I wanted to keep my options open in case it falls through. We made a deal 8 days ago, but he had to transfer the title to his name so now he is waiting for it to come via snail mail from the California DMV.
As soon as he gets the title then I can go pick up the car.
 
TF360 said:
I love it! And the price is not to high- beaitiful
Click to expand...
Thank you...just hoping the guy sticks to his word... I have a lead on a ‘72 B5 blue Satellite with a 360, 8/34 rear and 727 trans, in case this deal falls through
 
Sounds good. The Duster is better (my opinion) because it's much lighter
 
TF360 said:
Sounds good. The Duster is better (my opinion) because it's much lighter
Click to expand...

Eh, only matters if you’re drag racing for time. If it’s just for fun it doesn’t matter much.

I will say they that I’ve got a ‘71 Satellite, and they are big cars. It’s definitely a different feeling driving one of the 71+ B bodies compared to an A body. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different.
 
Waiting for a title in CA....WTF ?? Why didn't the guy GET the title before posting an ad to sell it? I have sold many cars on ebay and in every instance, I have had a clear title ready to go with the car. I currently have a finished 1965 Dart that I just am getting around to transferring the title to my name to sell.
 
Kern Dog said:
Waiting for a title in CA....WTF ?? Why didn't the guy GET the title before posting an ad to sell it? I have sold many cars on ebay and in every instance, I have had a clear title ready to go with the car. I currently have a finished 1965 Dart that I just am getting around to transferring the title to my name to sell.
Click to expand...
Ok good news everyone! He texted me today he got the title in the mail, so I’m flying down this Friday from Vegas to San Diego to pickup the car. Only $31.29 to fly one way, then drive the car home.

As far as him putting it up for sale...he had a signed title from the previous owner, his intent from the get-go was to sell the car so he left all the info blank. In steps the wife. She fills everything out...so now he’s stuck transferring and paying to have it put into his name. So he got the title now so we are good to go. I’ll post up some pics of my trip home from so cal to Vegas once I’m safely home. Thanks everyone!
Mike
 
99D45455-8BD4-41F2-8AE8-957BFE493557.jpeg
3514743C-0861-48AD-B43D-A301C896D1D1.jpeg
72bluNblu said:
Eh, only matters if you’re drag racing for time. If it’s just for fun it doesn’t matter much.

I will say they that I’ve got a ‘71 Satellite, and they are big cars. It’s definitely a different feeling driving one of the 71+ B bodies compared to an A body. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different.
Click to expand...
Oh yes, I had a ‘72 Satellite a few years ago, great car with a nice big butt lol...last a-body I had was a ‘68 Dart 318 2bbl back in 1989 or so. My first car ever in 1982 when I was almost 16, was a ‘74 dart custom sedan, 225 slant 6, great car as a teenager
 
ledman said:
As far as him putting it up for sale...he had a signed title from the previous owner, his intent from the get-go was to sell the car so he left all the info blank. In steps the wife. She fills everything out...so now he’s stuck transferring and paying to have it put into his name. So he got the title now so we are good to go. I’ll post up some pics of my trip home from so cal to Vegas once I’m safely home. Thanks everyone!
Mike
Click to expand...

its called title jumping and best i know its illegal in the US (of course commiefornia is a backward place anyway, so it could be perfectly legal there, of they could have a 5 year sentence on it, who knows)
my point is, be cautious, if he is willing to do illegal things to the title to sell this car, i would trust his word
 
diymirage said:
its called title jumping and best i know its illegal in the US (of course commiefornia is a backward place anyway, so it could be perfectly legal there, of they could have a 5 year sentence on it, who knows)
my point is, be cautious, if he is willing to do illegal things to the title to sell this car, i would trust his word
Click to expand...

I appreciate your concern thank you
As far as I know it’s not technically illegal in California. I’ve bought a car from another person who still had the title in the previous owners name from Arizona and he gave me a bill of sale and the California dmv was ok with it. They just did what they called a double transfer and only made me pay my portion of the fees as the car was registered in Arizona still.
Car flippers do this so they don’t have to pay the registration and transfer fees because once they pay it they don’t get any credit back in California if they sell the car right away. In Nevada, you get a credit for the balance of your registration towards your next vehicle when you sell a car or trade one in.
BUT, he now says he has the clean California title in his name so we should be good.

He didn’t know allot about this car, he learned everything he knows now about it from me, via help from FABO members and the internet. He really didn’t know what he had, he thought he had a real H code 340 the way he advertised the car but the 360 underhood badging was a dead give away something didn’t jive,along with the fender tag and vin number. He was shocked it was originally a 6 cyl car.
 
Last edited:
i guess the fact that he "eventually" did get it in his name should help

i thought it was illegal too in CA, but i wasnt sure, i understand why they want to do it the way they do, but to me, thats just the cost of doing business

hope it all works out for you, cant wait to hear how the drive how was
 
I wonder if they put a v-8 K-frame in or modified the slant frame. Schumacher sells the conversion slant to v-8 motor mounts with instructions. I would take a quick look at it.
 
diymirage said:
its called title jumping and best i know its illegal in the US (of course commiefornia is a backward place anyway, so it could be perfectly legal there, of they could have a 5 year sentence on it, who knows)
my point is, be cautious, if he is willing to do illegal things to the title to sell this car, i would trust his word
Click to expand...

ledman said:
I appreciate your concern thank you
As far as I know it’s not technically illegal in California. I’ve bought a car from another person who still had the title in the previous owners name from Arizona and he gave me a bill of sale and the California dmv was ok with it. They just did what they called a double transfer and only made me pay my portion of the fees as the car was registered in Arizona still.
Car flippers do this so they don’t have to pay the registration and transfer fees because once they pay it they don’t get any credit back in California if they sell the car right away. In Nevada, you get a credit for the balance of your registration towards your next vehicle when you sell a car or trade one in.
BUT, he now says he has the clean California title in his name so we should be good.

He didn’t know allot about this car, he learned everything he knows now about it from me, via help from FABO members and the internet. He really didn’t know what he had, he thought he had a real H code 340 the way he advertised the car but the 360 underhood badging was a dead give away something didn’t jive,along with the fender tag and vin number. He was shocked it was originally a 6 cyl car.
Click to expand...

It's illegal in California too.

Dealers have different rules they can work from, so if a person has a dealer's license they can avoid some of the title transfer stuff for a period of time. But for a private party it's illegal just like everywhere else. If someone is actually flipping cars as a business they legally need to have a dealer's license (at least in CA), and if they sell more than a couple cars a year they can be fined for not having one. Which is another reason to skip the title, if they never put their name on the title then they didn't own it and sell it, so it can't be tracked to them or count against the number of car sales they have in a year. So doing that keeps them under the DMV's radar for a dealer's license, and possible also allows them to skip the income taxes if they're really shady.

Of course, the problem is proving that it happened. If the current "owner" hands you a title with a previous owner's name and signature with an open buyer's info, date, and signature line there's no paperwork to show the current guy actually owned it. From the title it just looks like you bought it from the last owner that held the title. Now, if anything happened along the way to leave a paper trail you could have issues. But typically what "issues" means is back registration to the original sale date from the last owner of record, not criminal charges or anything. I suppose depending on how things happened fraud charges would be possible, but hard to prove in court. But even the back registration could be a big chunk of money if the last owner of record sold the car years ago. Although depending on the car, the person at the window, the sale price etc sometimes the DMV will waive back registration. I've had it happen before when I bought a car from a seller that represented the car as being "out of the system", only to find when I showed up with the bill of sale at the DMV that the car was NOT out of the system and had significant back registration. In my case the car was a a project, ie, not running and driving, and worth less than the back registration. The DMV clerk took pity on me, mostly because the car wasn't currently operable (that's a big part of it) and I was willing to sign a statement of facts saying the car hadn't been operated on the road. So they waved the fees. But that's definitely not always how it goes.
 
Last edited:
most of the time what happens is the new buyer finds out there's 3 years worth of reg fees due. glad it's working out so far.
don't know what the planned route for the drive home is, but if you start having issues in los angeles, you're welcome to bring it by my place for a quick fix
 
kursplat said:
most of the time what happens is the new buyer finds out there's 3 years worth of reg fees due. glad it's working out so far.
don't know what the planned route for the drive home is, but if you start having issues in los angeles, you're welcome to bring it by my place for a quick fix
Click to expand...

Cool thanks Kursplat, I appreciate that! My plan is from Ramona Ca to just shoot straight up the 15 N all the way to Vegas should be a fun drive in a car I don’t know lol...he has changed all the fluids he said except the rear axle, he said all hoses are good and the car leaks nothing, he said not a drop on his garage floor overnight and that’s hard to believe for a mopar lol all my old cars have developed a leak of some sort.
I’ll inspect the car well before I plunk down my cash...I can always walk away if I don’t like something I think may be an issue. I have family in Orange County and some friends in LA country as well. Or just fly back home it was only $31 on spirit airlines to fly one way from Vegas to San Diego. Plus the Uber cost.

As far as who this seller is or what he does I don’t know. All I can go by is what he told me. He has held the car for me so that says something, so many times I’ve made a deal online and then the seller ghost me or just doesn’t respond to my calls or texts.

This duster was sold as a auction lot he tells me, with another car(s) at an estate sale auction in Los Angeles.
So to get the true camaro SS (he’s a Chevy guy obviously) he had to buy the duster and he just figured he would flip the duster to drop that money into the camaro.
The camaro he says is in the shop to get the full rotisserie restoration.

The guy sent me his address so I know where to come pickup the car...all I can say is looking at this guys house from the birds eye view on google maps, this guy is not hurting for money at all...very large house on a large lot with a pool...a multi-million dollar home.
Now, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a flipper or title skipper but I honestly don’t get that feeling from him.
 
TF360 said:
I wonder if they put a v-8 K-frame in or modified the slant frame. Schumacher sells the conversion slant to v-8 motor mounts with instructions. I would take a quick look at it.
Click to expand...
TF360, What exactly should I look for and how can I tell? Im sure they had to do one or the other because I don’t think a 360 will just “drop in” in place of a slant 6 without some modifications.

I would think they did it right seeing they put a 8 3/4 rear end in, so many folks drop in a bigger engine and totally neglect the rear end and then when they blow out their 7 1/4 rear they wonder what happened.
 
Kursplat sent the link. Just look at the slant to 360 conversion and you can see how they modify the frame. As long as it was done correctly your good. I agree somebody spent some money on it. 8 3/4 ect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top