Looking for assitance

[transman]

A friend of mine and I are having a discussion (arguement) about the rims that Chrysler put on Dusters. My Duster, as the photo shows, came with body matched painted rims and poverty hub caps, and I bought it new in the Spring of 1971. He claims, no, they came with the rallye rims. To me this makes no sense, as the cost of the rallye rim set up would cost Chrysler more than painted wheels and the poverty caps.
I once had a 74 Challenger Rallye, and it came from the factory with black painted rims and full hubcaps. This was confirmed by the broadcast sheet and the original owner I bought the car from. The Challenger was #3 of the last Rallye Challengers shipped to Canada, and he bought the Rallye wheel set up from the dealerships parts department and had them install them. I have a restoration guide for the Challenger and Barracuda and in it, all styled wheels were an option.
Can anybody confirm for me what the standard wheel was for the Duster.
Many thanks

 

[mvh]

I believe rally wheels were ALWAYS an extra-cost option. If they were standard, as your friend claims, there would be no full wheel covers for those years.

 

[Professor Fate]

I believe ralleys were only considered standard when they were part of another (dress up) package, like the Twister; which was still an option.

 

[Daves69]

........

https://www.hamtramck-historical.com/images/dealerships/DealershipDataBook/1971/71_Valiant_Duster_22.jpg

 

[72bluNblu]

Whoops, looks like @Daves69 treed me…

You can go to Hamtramck-Historical and see the dealership data books, ordering info, accessory catalogs etc for a lot of the years is manufacture and look up the options.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1970 Plymouth Dealership Data Book - Station Wagons

Rallye wheels were standard on a 340 Duster with E70 tires, but on a base model were an extra cost option

 

[Professor Fate]

Whoops, looks like @Daves69 treed me…

You can go to Hamtramck-Historical and see the dealership data books, ordering info, accessory catalogs etc for a lot of the years is manufacture and look up the options.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1970 Plymouth Dealership Data Book - Station Wagons

Rallye wheels were standard on a 340 Duster with E70 tires, but on a base model were an extra cost option

View attachment 1716085971

View attachment 1716085972

Funny how things can change between "press time" and "production time"- the literature calls for the four speed to have a Pistol-Grip shifter, too.

 

[72bluNblu]

Funny how things can change between "press time" and "production time"- the literature calls for the four speed to have a Pistol-Grip shifter, too.

Yup! Looking at the promotional materials can be tricky, especially for a first year model like ‘70 was for the Duster. Less “surprises” in later stuff.

And ma Mopar being herself there’s a lot of things that weren’t in the literature that happened anyway. For this instance it’s pretty easy, Rallye wheel’s definitely weren’t standard on the base model Duster.

But people have different definitions too, some people have the misconception that if it came that way from a dealer that was standard, which of course is just false. And even with options that’s tricky, people think just because a car came off a lot a certain way it was “factory”, but back then dealers would do stuff to move cars that might not have followed the factory options- “this car had a wing from the factory” - well not necessarily, maybe the dealer added it. So it “came off the lot” like that, but it wasn’t factory. There were quite a few dealers offering special packages too, and that got even more confusing when the factory supported some of them. Western Sport Specials I think fit in that category.

 

[Professor Fate]

Yeah, and when you consider Dealer Installed options, it just keeps getting weirder. Like dealer installed AC versus factory AC, two different animals and the dealer stuff never shows up on build sheets or fender tags. When I worked at a dealer, things would regularly get swapped out or added to "make the sale"- add the trunk light, rear window defroster, swap the wheels and tires with another car...

 

[transman]

Yeah, and when you consider Dealer Installed options, it just keeps getting weirder. Like dealer installed AC versus factory AC, two different animals and the dealer stuff never shows up on build sheets or fender tags. When I worked at a dealer, things would regularly get swapped out or added to "make the sale"- add the trunk light, rear window defroster, swap the wheels and tires with another car...

Thanks one and all, I really appreciate your help. I know that I am correct and you have just proven it. Many thanks to all of you.
Professor Fate: I know what you mean. I worked in the parts department of a major GM dealer back in the 70's. If you came in and were looking for a Tee top Cutlass, or Camaro there was no 100% guarantee that GM installed those tee roofs. We had an outfit that could install them in a couple of days.

 

[340wedge]

Rally wheels were standard on 1970 Duster 340 and so was front discs
1971 Duster 340 came standard with steel wheels and poverty caps, late build 1971 such as mine (July 9th spd) came with black color wheels and not body color as earlier ones did. Drum front brakes were also standard. 1971 Duster Twister came standard with ralle wheels but without trim rings.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Back in late summer of 1970, I bought a gently used 1970 Swinger 340/A833/3.55/Rally Suspension, PDB and P/S bench seat car. It had 11,000 miles on it and the E70-14s were still in real nice condition.
I'm pretty sure it had painted steel wheels and poverty hats, But I wouldn't bet money on that at the moment. Cuz I mean that was over 50 years ago. I'll think on it a spell.

 

[transman]

Whoops, looks like @Daves69 treed me…

You can go to Hamtramck-Historical and see the dealership data books, ordering info, accessory catalogs etc for a lot of the years is manufacture and look up the options.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1970 Plymouth Dealership Data Book - Station Wagons

Rallye wheels were standard on a 340 Duster with E70 tires, but on a base model were an extra cost option

View attachment 1716085971

View attachment 1716085972

God there's great information here on this board. I wonder why the Rallye Road Wheels were standard on the 70 340 Duster, but not the 71. Ahh the mysteries of car manufacturers still boggles the mind.

Thanks again.