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1974 Plymouth Duster 360
The 1974 Duster 360 was Plymouth's compact performance coupe after the 340 left the engine catalog. It was a distinct factory model, not a base Duster with a later 360 swap and not the appearance-oriented Gold Duster or Twister. Its identifying boundary is the VS29L4 VIN pattern backed by the fender tag, broadcast sheet, drivetrain evidence, and the car's own history.
Plymouth made the E58 360 four-barrel standard and paired it with a floor-shifted heavy-duty three-speed manual. Buyers could choose the A833 four-speed or 727 TorqueFlite. The package also brought dual exhaust, heavy-duty torsion-bar and leaf-spring suspension, a front anti-sway bar, power front disc brakes, an 8 1/4-inch rear axle, E70-14 tires, 14 x 5.5-inch wheels, and model-specific side and rear tape stripes. The familiar Rallye wheels, white-letter tires, Sure-Grip, 3.55 gearing, Space Duster folding rear seat, sliding steel sunroof, bucket seats, console, and black hood treatment were choices rather than proof of identity.
Factory advertising rated the 360 at 245 SAE net horsepower and 320 lb-ft. The model-specific production figure most consistently reported is 3,969 cars, but transmission and option counts remain unresolved. Period-looking stripes, scoops, wheels, or a blue-painted 360 cannot authenticate a particular car: the VIN, tag, broadcast sheet, component numbers and dates, protected paint, and documented restoration history must agree.
The gallery leads with a licensed exact-year 5.9-liter Duster, labels other exact-year Duster and Gold Duster photographs as context, and uses source-backed reference visuals where a trustworthy component photograph is unavailable. The video is an exact-model walkaround, not a substitute for inspecting the records and hardware of the car being evaluated.