So I was picking up my friend the other day and he lives off the side of a main road that is 55mph. As I was pulling out of the street I saw a 70's duster driving down the road. I knew I was going to lose, but my 2 friends and I wanted to see what he had. The duster started slowing down so we could catch up faster, and I pull up to the old guy that was driving it. I give him the thumbs up and he slows down and ends up at around my rear bumper, so I knew what he was going to do Sure enough he gets on it and a synchronized "OH ****!" comes out of all our mouths because we saw that he was spinning what were at least 275s on 15s probably until about 85-95. We pull up to a light afterwards and the guy said "sorry it was a little smokey back there." Luckily we were going the same way, so me and him were able to cruise for awhile, and he would even pick on ricers revving at them at lights lol. I didn't really hear what he had over his motor, but I know he said 4something. Overall, I loved the death.

 

sounds like a 340...and if it was that quick, it would have needed to have some work done,...

 

That's sweet. My dad had a Duster back in his day he worked on a little bit. Always loved that car.

 

I'd say if he said 4 something it was probably a 360 bored and stroked to a 408. That with the Edelbrock heads is a mean combo.

 

It could very easily have been a 440, big block A-body are pretty badass.

 

if it had been a 408 or 440...he wouldnt have had any time to listen to it..

although, even a mildly built 340 with good heads and cam would have been enough to tear him up...unless his fox is also built.

 

When I had my '85 I didn't have too much trouble with 340 Dusters. Most around town were 15 second cars.

Sounds like what you came up against was a bit north of average

My favorite thing about the '85 was the '85 vette. Those guys could read Road and Track too so they would roll up next to you on the freeway and rev. I'd just reach behind the passenger seat and turn on the NOS tank....

Then they would pretend they weren't really racing.

 

sounds like you were finding poorly maintained, stock dusters...

what is a bottled 85? like a high 13 second car?

and please people..its nitrous..even if you have the NOS brand system, its ricer-y...
"i reached in the back seat and opened my Zex bottle.."
"i reached in the back seat and opened my nitrous express bottle.."

nitrous...

 

Would not doubt it. I was a kid then and so was everyone driving creaky 340 Dusters. The '85 was the first new car I'd ever owned.

The '85 ran 14.9 and change pretty consistently which was respectable for Belleville, Illinois in the mid '80s. With the 125 jetting, I would run 13.6-13.8s. Those Goodyear Gatorbacks were disasters.

Man - how times have changed.....

 

i would guess that youre saying that this was in 85, if your stang was new? think of it this way...right now, mopar guys, and anyone who wants an affordable muscle-era car have to look to the cars like the dusters because the prices that cuda, challengers, and chargers are getting has gotten to be ridiculous. therefore, the duster, and other formerly "low buck" 70s cars are becoming sought after...you see more dusters at the track than you do challengers (usually) because the duster isnt as much of a collectors item as is the challenger...so its not uncommon to see a younger guy in a beat up duster, who may have something wicked under the hood.

however, i would venture to say that in 1985, this was not the case, and many people who were driving dusters were STILL driving dusters...like they were 10 years earlier...so they were more of beater cars then they are cheap "muscle" now...which is why you would have seen so many sluggish dusters. im guessing thats what you meant by "Creaky", because they were raggedly *** carsthat used to run well...andby that point, they were falling apart at the seems..hell, with lower than stock compression and cheap heads ina heavier car, my 340 was in the 14s...

also, i would bet that in 1985, a street driven car in the mid to high 13s was pretty damn fast...even as late as the mid 90s, driving a car to school that was in the lower 14s made me competitive with most of the people on the street, especially stockers.