A Technical Drive in the Minnesota winter.

Dale Davies said
Ahhh, snow in the ditches. Do not use snooze control. I live in Alberta, Canada; 54° N latitude. Snow or black ice and the snooze pulls the throttle to maintain speed and you likely will end up in that ditch backwards or worse sideways. I turn snooze off about the end of September or first freezing rain, and do not turn it back on until sometime in April or the roads have been dry and ice free for 2 or 3 weeks.
Are you sure the starter draws 60A? Any starter I tested for draw was 150A or more. Highway rigs are much more. My money says your ammeter is a 60A and it gets pegged during start. No problem because it is for such a short time.
Nice looking ride by the way.

Dale, you're correct on the amp draw during startup. I meant to say 160 amps, not 60. The 160 figure comes from the guy who rebuilt the starter. When I bought my Duster in the spring of 2019, it was probably on its third or fourth starter. Definitely not the original from the factory. Anyhow, I was able to locate a correct part number (and date code) starter for Dusty, which I brought to my rebuilder. He did an amazing job on it and I now have the absolutely correct starter for my October of 1973 build car. He came up with the 160 amp figure. I've corrected it in my text. Thanks for the catch. And by the way, the alternator (also a correct part number and build date unit) is the stock 34 amp alternator. So during startup, the ammeter briefly shows around 35 amps and then quickly moves toward zero as the battery is replenished. Full scale open my ammeter is positive 40 amps, so its not quite pegged in the moments after engine start.