1971 Plymouth Duster-WIW

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J

jeeper

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Hello,

I generally know my Duster values. However I do not pay much attention to pre-73's.

I have come across a 71 that has supposedly been garaged for all or at least most of its life. It is gold and has a /6. It runs but has been sitting for awhile. Let's just say that I have lived here for 13 years and have never seen it on the road.

I will post up when I find out more.

What is a general idea on value? I know that there was a petty blue 72 with a V8 on Craigslist for ever at 4k and he kept dropping the price and eventually it was gone.

I am thinking /6, plus gold color equals $1500ish. The owner says no rust, but that is there opinion.

More posting later this evening.

ROB
 
It really all depends. A car like that in my area would most likely sell for around $4,000. I had to travel about an hour to pick my 74 duster up. It was 99% rust free but it had some body damage, with a 318 with only 60,000 original miles on the whole car. And I payed $4250 for it. So it all depends where you live really. I'd give $2,500 for it if I was in the market and it really is in good shape.
 
Rust free, $1500 would be a good number to buy it.

Like everything, it depends on condition.
 
OK. Here is the rundown.

Beware when dealing with non-car people regarding condition. Someone's idea of perfect etc. is quite a bit different than mine.

It has been sitting for about 10 years. He was putting the transmission back in it when he decided to not finish it. Driveshaft is out, wires etc. underhood unhooked. Interior is worn, but not trashed.

The garage was an old wooden shed.

I was picturing an old car that was only driven on Sunday's and detailed every 6 months......not what I saw.

It is just and old car that needs some TLC. A little bit of rust, grill is broken etc.

I would be real happy paying $500 but may pay a bit more if it comes to that.

Wonderful people. Both people are in their mid-80's........said if they don't get a grand it may sit, so sit it may.

Thanks for the advice.

ROB
 
I was the one that bought that other Petty Blue Duster that you were referring to. It was actually an original white car with a crappy paint job. But what it was hiding was a beautiful (and I mean stellar) body. There were 2-3 parking lot dings , but no previous bodywork, and absolutely ZERO rust. My point is; minimal rust to no rust, is money (yours.... to be precise) in the bank. Bodywork if friggin expensive, time consuming and very subjective ("beauty is in the eye of the beholder" etc.). I'd buy rust free Dusters all day long at twice that asking price if they were in fact rust free.
Don't let a few extra dollars on the front end let you forget about the goal at the end, which is presumably a nice car you can be proud of. It's so much nicer to just work on a car instead of waiting to do bodywork.
Take your $ blinders off, and look carefully, it really may be gold you're looking at.
Daryl
 
You must be local, at least in PNW sense. Me and another member here were talking about that car at Woodburn. Glad to see you got it.

The car has a full rubber mat on the floor so I couldn't check for sure. I could see the tire hole rust. Minor, but in my opinion, a bit is as good as alot, it has to come out. The extension had some. The door has been repainted.

To me, I would leave it alone and and put a nice grill in it and a bumper, buff it out and enjoy the "patina". But then I am kinda like that.

I'm not being a whiner, but my visions of a cement slab where it is polished weekly were not met! You can always dream I guess.

They are such neat people that I will likely visit them anyways.

He told me a story of being so mad at an old Mopar station wagon that he pushed it off a cliff somewhere outside of Portland. He drove it up there he and his son pushed it and watched it crash and roll! Yikes! Kinda sad and humerous together.

ROB
 
Found out it is still available. Currently, I do not own any Mopar cars at all. I am going to go look at it again. We are negotiating on the price and so forth.

They are still set on 1k, but may be willing to dicker some.

We shall see.

More to follow.

ROB
 
it's worth $1000 IF...
the body especially the floorpans trunk frame are not rusted to death.
you will probably not find a body shop that will touch it... most will not do resto work.

dont get a car that needs to be stripped to the bone and sandblasted unless you are willing and able to do all the welding grinding etc yourself.

having that kind of work done can run $10k and up

if it has a nice frame, floorpan, trunk, no holes in the body you should grab it because those are rare qualities ;)
 
I do live in the high desert area. I remember the trunk had some issues and one extension. Welding / body and mechanical I do all myself so it isn't a huge issue. Hopefully tomorrow I can get out there.

The weird thing is that I can't get the Mopars out of my system. My thoughts were that I was done with the hobby at the end of summer. Looked into several newer performance rigs but my heart was not into it. 5.0's and z28's are nice. Lots to offer but it was hard to make the switch. I actually got as far as buying a 5.0, but my heart was not into it and it left in September. I wouldn't mind an LS1 car, but those are still out of reach.

Let's see what I can do this week for more information.
 
With a rubber floormat I'd really be checking the floor pans. Look for rot on the bottoms of the rockers, the rear window corners, front windshield corners and the cowl drains. Post some pics if you pass on it.
 
Are you saying that the Duster is in Woodburn? If so, I'm surprised that I haven't seen it. NO- I don't intend to buy it!! Just saying that I haven't seen it (or any of my mopar buds) mention having seen this car. Good luck and look me up if you come into town!
Mike
 
No this is in a barn that no one, including me could find. It was advertised sounding like a one owner clean as a whistle car. I pictured it being something that was detailed monthly and babied. I actually found it a couple of years ago on the Portland Oregon CL. But it was located near me. Naturally I had visions of a $5k car for $1k. Sadly that was not the case or I would have bought it.

When I got there I found a car that had been in the family for years, but it had a lot of wear and tear here and there (hey it rhymes). It has tire well and lower quarter rust on one side as I recall. /6 auto with drums I am sure. Not trashed anywhere but a bit worn everywhere. The kind of stuff that includes a 95% straight bumper with a twist on a corner. It was also not running at the time and was not quite assembled. Small stuff. It has been put together now I am told.

I may get out there today, or worst case I will need to wait a week.
 
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