Story
The 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 is the second-year A-body Duster performance coupe: still light, still affordable, and still centered on the 340 four-barrel small-block. This page treats the public target as the factory Duster 340, not a base Duster, Duster Twister appearance car, Dodge Demon 340, or later Duster 360.
The reviewed boundary is 1971 model year, Plymouth Duster two-door coupe body, E55 340 cubic-inch four-barrel LA V8, and the Duster 340 equipment context: 275 gross horsepower, heavy-duty suspension, front disc brakes, sharktooth grille, performance stripes, and documented transmission paths. The Duster Twister matters because it borrowed much of the 340 look for lower-power cars, so individual-car claims need paperwork, not just stripes or grille trim.
Production is recorded conservatively at 12,886 Duster 340 coupes, with 173,592 standard 1971 Dusters listed separately as model-line context. Individual-car originality still needs decoded body identity, E55 340 evidence, fender tag, broadcast sheet or comparable paperwork, and drivetrain/axle records that agree with the car. The gallery uses exact 1971 Duster 340 Commons images where available, exact-year Duster context where clearly labeled, a Twister context image only to explain lookalike risk, and source-card visuals for component details that should not be faked with unrelated parts photos.