71 Duster
The 71 Duster was a popular muscle car, and is generally remembered as a good muscle car, but wasn’t nearly as popular as other models. This was a very cheap alternative of the Road Runner. But when it came to being part of the RTS it had to gear up to at least 13.9 seconds, and while that was fairly fast, it did manage to go that far with the optional 3.91 gear. This car had amazing handling and coupled together with the fastback styling it was a big hit back in the day, regardless of the displacement.
The first year the Duster came into production it featured few options. But when the 1971 model was released, this one was fairly different from the original featuring performance hood treatments like a non scooped black out treatment which feature the 340 Wedge inscribed in a corner and also the twin scoops, which, until that time were only available for the Dodge lineup.
It had also a vinyl top and also red deck wings and a nice body stripe which came as a standard when talking about all of the 340 models. The car’s front end was given a new life with the new grille that was designed for this model. Many buyers consider this to be one of the best ones ever in the A Body lineup.
When it came to the motor, this one received a few major changes. It was the first time the Thermoquad produced by Carter was used on the 340’s top and it also had a .02 compression drop which lead to a 10.3:1 when compared to the original 10.5:1. This was because of the future changes in the lead content of gasoline.
The 340 featured a three speed manual gearbox as a standard but now the buyer had the choice of choosing between the four speed a 833 or the 727 Torqueflite, and also between the standard 831/44 rear which had featured a 3.23 Sure grip gear which was set to 3.55 and 3.91 (well these were options). When it came to the seats, these were bucket seats and they become widely available within these models. They also added a performance dash and center console.
The price of this supercar was stated to be around 2700 dollars and made it more affordable for younger consumers, which was in fact their target market.
