So I'm out dropping my daughter off at a friends house about 6 miles from my house yesterday, Ive driven the road HUNDREDS of times literally. Cruising home, when I glanced at an old abandoned house ive seen many times, when something caught my attention i never noticed before. Sitting in the driveway all grown over with weeds, is a set of taillights.... two long slits one above the other on both sides. Thats all I could see, but my mind went off, all the sirens and bells going off at once..... MOPAR IT SCREAMED!!!!!!!!!

I stopped and identified it as an old Duster from the road. I drove away with it eatting at me as I drove off, knowing full well the house has been abandoned for 10 + years. So I got thinking about how I could look into getting it. about 1/2 way home, I couldnt handle it anymore and turned around.

I stopped by the next house up the road , and inquired about the folks who owned the property. I was told that they had moved away 22 years ago, to GUAM of all places... I was let down to say the least. But she did have an address over there for them. She wrote it down, and I thanked her.

So I get home, and started thinking that a letter was going to take too long to talk to them, So being as resourceful as I could muster, I started looking up guam addresses, and then phone numbers, and BANG there they were. So I checked their local time, and made the call. I spoke with the son of the owner, and explained why I was calling. To my wonderfull suprise, he said the magic phrase... "ya, that would be ok , just take it"!!!!!

Turns out its a 71 duster slant 6 auto. His mom bought it at our local dealership in 1971, only owner, and it was parked because she got a newer smaller car. He said he had no doubt that if I tinkered with it a little I could drive it home. He said it was a good runner when parked. IM SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!

Theres a couple minor dents in it, but nothing too serious. and on my first quick look over it, i found no rust, not even in the rear quarters. As I said it was on a quick lookover, so I may find some on closer inspection, but its damn clean.


So, now I need to get him the paperwork for me to get the title, and Ive got my new project, ill post up some pics as soon as I can get them.

 

LOL dont hate the player man hate the game *)

So i went up earlier today to do a good once over, get a feel for what it is. Only REAL issue I found was the trunk deck lid skin has separated from the frame. Not really a big issue, my concern immediatly went to the trunk floor, but when I climbed underneath, it was totally solid from down there, and couldn't see any signs of rust in other areas of the trunk or quarters AT ALL!!!! All the tires are flat from sitting, so I couldnt get far enough under to see the rear end. Prolly not an 8 3/4 but I can change that out later.

P.S. Anyone got any descent ideas how to get stuck doors open? They dont look locked from outside, but wont open, buttons are stuck in. Maybe they are just locked, ill try a slimjim on them here in a day or so.

 

I spend ALOT of time cruising backroads, talking to folks, and on the hunt in general. Ive MANY times thought of going into buisness finding folks their dream cars for restores. found a 6? roadrunner the other day in a farm barn, but he laughed at me when I asked if he'd sell it...... you win some lose some. LOL. I have my sights on a 69 charger R/T shell / roller at the moment as well, but not sure how its gonna pan out. Its a huge restore though, missing doors front clip, windows, basically a frame and suspension with the rear shell still there.

 

Ill have a few picks of the duster up in a couple days, but as of this moment nothing impressive, just an old Mopar sitting at an abandoned house lol , ill fix that soon enough.
gimme a day or 2 for the pics.

 

Nova......Wildcat....... What language are you speaking??????

Sounds like BLASPHEMY to me!!!!!!!!!
Get a rope time fer a linchin..........HEUHEUHEUhh.............

 

just a small update. went out today, and with about 3 hours of effort, finally got the drivers door open. Im noticing more small issues as I go , but thats to be expected. alot of minor dents, drivers door lower has some significant rust, one front fender has rust (no biggy I was going to replace both front fenders anyway) but over all its going to be a relatively easy project. ill be posting a few pics in a couple days before I move the car home. For now im going to leave the 6 in it assuming I can get it running. Im hopefull seeing that the antifreeze is still perfect, and oil is as clean as my newer car.

 

OK , OK , ill get the pics within 2 days I promise..... SHEESH

Im the freakin man..... have I told you all that yet LOL

I went up to the car today, took all the goodies,battery, gas, jumper cables. Before I went I took in a lock to the local locksmith, and had a key made for the ignition.


hasnt run in 17 years. took me all of 45 minutes to get it to fire up!!!
I need to get some new gas in it, but the gas down the carb actually got it to fire up. I CANT BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!

so tomorrow im hoping to dump 10 or so gallons in, and get it to run on its own. when I pulled the plugs, looked like they tuned it up right before parking it, they were like brand new, I was shocked....cant believe the points arent rusted out.

Ok, ill quit bragging now, IM JUST SO FREAKIN HAPPY!!!!!! and im using freaking to be polite.

And another huge bonus for me, is that the single barrel on the duster is the one I need for the 64 330 that I havent been able to find one for months..... sun shines on every dogs *** once in a while I suppose

 

Man, aint the wife gonna be BENT when I sell the 74 Dart Sport for parts money..!.!.!....

 

not sure, but im going to see what the duster has under it, and if needed swap K members, rear ends, and disk setup before it goes. I know the dart has a 8 1/4 , and the spool K member, with front disk setup. havent got that far on the duster. im suspecting a 7 1/4, i know it has the biscuit mount K member, and who knows about brakes, ill know tomorrow, im pulling all 4 tires to change them out for moving the car. should my rims off the 74 fit the duster?