My '71 Duster 340 pays a visit to Nick's Garage

[PlymCrazy]

We loaded up last Saturday morning, pointed to Nick's Garage in Laval, Quebec. Many thanks to my son Devon for letting me use his truck. This same truck towed the Duster home when we bought it a few years ago.

The whole way there I couldn't get this guy off my tail...

350 miles, and about 7 hours later we were greeted by @Nick Panaritis and his crew outside of his shop...

More of the story with some pics and video to follow. Stay tuned.

 

[Don Frelier]

 

[khryslerkid]

Looks like Nick is contemplating some good burnouts!

 

[Michael Kocan]

Sweet, Nicholas has a fantastic shop and you can be assured that his work is A++. My 426 is there for assembly and should start in a few weeks. It's the engine for my J code 1968 Charger. Customs,tariffs and shipping is the only hassle with getting parts to Canada.Kocan

 

[Rebellion]

Can't wait for the full story!

 

[Charger72]

Maybe we will see it on Friday Night Live with Nick this Friday.

 

[Budnicks]

What's being done to the Duster ?

enquiring minds need to know

 

[Michael Kocan]

Oh Yea.

 

[PlymCrazy]

I bought the Duster a few years ago.
It's the very first 4-speed car I've ever owned and it has been a very fun driver the whole time I've owned it.
When I test drove it before buying it I had nothing to compare the "play or sloppiness" in shifting it to, until...

I saw Nick's Hemi setup at Carlisle last year. I got to feel how a freshly rebuilt 833 felt and it was drastically different than mine in the Duster.

We got a chance to talk cars for a few minutes and share a bit of each of our stories. He even has the same birth date as my dad, 8/31/1956. What are the odds of that? There's a connection I couldn't overlook.

We then discussed the possibility of me bringing my transmission to him for a rebuild.

Initially, we planned for last Fall for me to remove my transmission and bring it to him. That never came to fruition. Too much back home needed my attention and I couldn't justify the time to make the trek to Canada.
We then started to entertain this Spring and Nick suggested I bring the whole car to him so he can test drive it before and after. He also mentioned the potential for the Duster to be on his Youtube channel.
I thought that sounded like a pretty fun idea. So we went for it.

 

[PlymCrazy]

When we finally arrived that Saturday afternoon, Nick and a few of his guys greeted us.
Here we are unloading the car off the trailer.
Man, I fell in love with this car all over again after hearing it run in the video

 

[PlymCrazy]

Looks like Nick is contemplating some good burnouts!

I suspect we'll see a burnout or two by the time he's done with it. That car is burnout machine

 

[PlymCrazy]

Can't wait for the full story!

Story in progress

Maybe we will see it on Friday Night Live with Nick this Friday.

I was thinking that was a possibility last Friday. I didn't see that he did a Friday Night Live Show this past week.

 

[Michael Kocan]

Nice,Nice, Nice. It's funny that you mentioned an 833 as I had delivered one to Nicholas two years ago at the Carlisle meet. Here's the short story. I drove my friends 1970 R code Challenger to the meet as my truck had some mechanical issues and I couldn't take a trailer of parts. So, after the Challenger sat for about 15 years we spent a week getting it ready for the two hour drive. Brake lines, master cylinder, charging system and of course the fuel system. The Challenger is B5 blue with a white stripe. I left it filthy dirty as we had no time for cleaning and I figured that all others would have show style cars. Some of you may have seen this Challenger as it sure stood out and garnered a lot of attention. Well, I had the transmission laying in the Challenger trunk and pulled up to Nicholas's pristine Kowalski Challenger and said to him, here it is, do you want me to throw it into your trunk? He said No, no, no, we will put it into the trailer. I have a photo of that somewhere.

 

[HawkRod]

Sorry if I missed it: What engine is in your Duster? 340?

 

[PlymCrazy]

Sorry if I missed it: What engine is in your Duster? 340?

Yes, it's a Duster 340 and believe it or not it still has a 340 in it
It's not the original.
The 340 that's in it now is dated February 1969.
It was freshened up and installed back in 2017 IIRC.

Edit: I just adjusted the title heading to include that little detail. Thanks Hawk

 

[PlymCrazy]

After we unloaded it, Nick took it for a test drive. Thanks to mama for manning the camera while I stood there with my hands in my pockets

 

[Richard Cranium]

Sounds good!

 

[Budnicks]

When we finally arrived that Saturday afternoon, Nick and a few of his guys greeted us.
Here we are unloading the car off the trailer.
Man, I fell in love with this car all over again after hearing it run in the video

sounds rowdy
bucket t - bucket t - bucket t - bucket t - bucket t

 

[PlymCrazy]

Here’s Nick pulling it into his shop.
Man I love the contrast of colors with the cars that are often in that place.
Like a bag of skittles.
The old In-Violet fits right in I say.

 

[chargervert]

When we finally arrived that Saturday afternoon, Nick and a few of his guys greeted us.
Here we are unloading the car off the trailer.
Man, I fell in love with this car all over again after hearing it run in the video

Nothing not to love about a high impact colored 4 speed Mopar muscle car! She checks a lot of boxes!