Plum Crazy 1971 Dodge Demon Ditches Factory 340 ci V8 for Something a Little More Pliable

Fast-forward a year and in came a new version of the Plymouth Valiant-based Duster, which fortunately avoided being called the ‘Beaver’ - Dodge’s marketing team deciding instead to go with ‘Demon’. This was immediately advertised as a performance car, hence the optional hood scoops, and blackout hood.

This new Demon 340 spec would push the Swinger 340 aside as the Dart’s main performance model, featuring a 275-horsepower engine with an optional 4-speed manual gearbox. With us so far? Good, because we’re looking at one such car right now.

It’s a 1971 Dodge Demon 340, refurbished, refinished, but not numbers-matching. It failed to sell at auction recently, with the top bid maxing out at $35,000.

Visually, what stands out is the Plum Crazy colorway, Demon badging, bright grille, hood scoops, side stripes, the grille-mounted turn signals, front spoiler, chrome bumpers, and the staggered-width 15” wheels with Cooper Cobra Radial G/T tires. According to the ad, the front disc brakes were borrowed from a 1973 Dart Sport, while the rear drums were sourced from a 1970 Chrysler New Yorker.

Moving on to the interior, highlights include the black vinyl front bucket seats and rear bench, the padded dashboard, center console, AM radio, heater, a three-spoke steering wheel, plus auxiliary gauges for coolant temperature, fuel level, oil pressure, and amperage. While the odometer shows 82,000 miles, the total chassis mileage is unknown.

As for what’s going on underneath the hood, like I said, this isn’t a numbers-matching Demon 340. It’s not a 340 at all, actually. Its original engine was ditched in favor of a 360 ci V8 unit, rebuilt and installed last year. It features three two-barrel carburetors, an aluminum radiator and Mopar-branded valve covers.

We’re not sure about power and torque figures, but everything gets sent to the rear wheels via a TorqueFlite 727 three-speed automatic gearbox.

What’s the right price?

That’s hard to say. Maybe the owner of the vehicle was right to refuse $35,000, but there’s no way this is fetching more than that to a considerable extent. We’ve seen pristine Demon 340 models go for upwards of $60,000, but this isn’t that. Of course, a numbers-matching car might go for even more.

We’ve also seen plenty of other non-numbers-matching Demons, such as this one, featuring a replacement 340 ci V8 – overbored and stroked to 404 ci. That thing had 500 horsepower on demand, and it eventually sold for $38,000.

Anyway, what do you guys reckon? Would $40-45k make more sense, or should the seller have taken that $35k when they had the chance?