New Duster Owner in the Detroit Area...
I went on vacation right after buying it so I haven't given it a real thorough going over (other than the 2 times I went out to see it in person).
But the only exterior rust spot is a hole about as big as my pinkie finger right under the gas cap on the lower quarter panel at the bottom.
There is a panel behind the passenger quarter panel with a plug that has a rust hole of about a quarter in size.
Other than that the car appears to be rust-free from top to bottom.
There is a Denver, Colorado car dealer chrome emblem on the rear panel, and my understanding is it was out there for the first half of the car's life, and was used sparingly. I was told Ray's brother brought the car to Michigan from there, and it went into his name shortly after that. I did find a couple college hockey ticket stubs under the carpet dated 1989 and 1990 for a Colorado college.
The front driver's fender has a softball sized dent, that unfortunately pinches the front side sheet metal by the headlight...so I think the fender will have to be replaced.
There are a couple spots where deep scratches were spotted in with new paint, so I would say the car is 97-98% original paint.
There are a number of door dings (especially on the passenger side) and good sized scratches in the paint, but the car is shiny enough to hit the local Dairy Queen car cruises. It will need to be repainted, it's just not that nice but is liveable in my opinion.
I want to get a couple estimates on body and paint this Summer, to decide how much of the work I will be doing. I am thinking of doing the bodywork myself and renting a spray booth to paint it...but my time and interest in too much of a project is limited right now.
And in the Fall, I am thinking about cleaning up the hood and the hoodscoop and painting them black again along with the cowl, upper doors and around the side glass areas...for a proper 340 Duster look...and living with the paint for a year or more.
Over all I am pretty happy with the car, but have yet to drive it anywhere but to my house after the purchase, I hope to get some road time before deciding how many wheelbarrels of money I wish to dump into it.
Paul
Paul: Is the car as solid as described in the ad. It must be because
it still has it's original paint and sheet metal.
Thanks
