Photos: Travis Noack

When it comes to thinking about the muscle car glory days of Plymouth, there’s likely a long list of nameplates that you’ll come up with before hitting ‘Duster.’ Late to the muscle car market, the 1970 Duster was slated as competition for the Ford Maverick and the Chevy Nova.

Depending on your past, you may simply remember the Duster as a rebadged 2-door Valiant. Slant-six versions built without power steering came with a steering wheel that would have been big enough for driving a school bus. However, as for the Maverick and Nova, there was a performance version – the Duster 340, of which almost 25,000 were sold in 1970.

The 340 engine was a bored-out 318cui V8, with high-flow wedge heads and a forged crankshaft. A worked-over cam, 10.5:1 compression and 4-bbl carburetor brought the engine’s output to an officially recognized 275hp. Most people that know this engine, concede that output easily hit 320 hp or more. As a result, performance in the lightweight car was measured at 6.2 seconds for 0-to-60mph and 14.7 @ 94mph in the quarter mile.

Another, less glamorous part of this Plymouth’s heritage lies under the skin. A torsion bar front suspension and leaf springs in the rear left the Duster barely in the ‘adequate’ class when it came time to moving beyond the straight and narrow. If the Duster has a savior these days, it surely is John Hotchkis at Hotchkis Sport Suspension. Among their broad range of suspension products, Hotchkis lists a TVS (Total Vehicle System) for the Duster.

Consisting of front and rear sway bars, geometry-corrected upper control arms, adjustable strut rods, adjustable steering rod kit, sub-frame connectors and geometry-corrected leaf springs and RCD shocks, the kit delivers a complete remake of the Duster’s suspension. The folks over at Motoropia have just gone through an install of this kit on Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s ’70 Duster 340 and documented the process for you to see.

Given Hotchkis’ extensive background with racing and older cars, there’s little doubt that the change in the two-door Plymouth is little short of amazing. Frankly, Hotchkis’ dedication in bringing kits like this to market for some of the more obscure cars from our history is equally awesome.