I bought this 1970 ‘limelight’ Plymouth Duster 340 above shortly
before graduating from N.C. State University in 1970. I no longer have
the car, but an incident in the car led me to marry my wife, Sally.

I bought it the week before Easter 1970. Chrysler Corporation had a
purchase program for graduating college seniors. As long as a kid could
prove he was on track to graduate and had proof of employment upon
graduation, he could buy a new car 60 days prior to graduation with
first payment due 30 days after graduation. Hence, I bought my Duster
while still in school with only 60 days of college left. Now I understand
why college freshmen at N.C. State were not allowed to have a car. I
found places to go and people to see. Thank goodness it was almost
impossible for a GPA to nose-dive in its final 60 days of existence.

My Duster 340 was “limelight’’ in color with a black vinyl top. In
everyday language, it was simply pea-green yellow. Chrysler first
manufactured the Duster in 1970 as its answer to the Ford Mustang,
the Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. The 340 cubic-inch engine
with 275 horsepower was on every baby boomer hot rodder’s wish list.
I ordered mine without air-conditioning. After all, every James Dean
wannabe knew that A/C robbed your car of five horsepower. A major
league disappointment is ruining Saturday night fun and bragging
rights in the quarter-mile run only because your hot rod is sporting
A/C. Furthermore, who needed A/C? We baby boomers always cruised
with all four windows rolled down.

I can only remember spending money on one option. I am sure the car
had many more. The car came standard with a manual shift on the
steering column referred to as three-on-the-tree by my generation.
However, for only $15, the shifter could be mounted on the
transmission hump on the floor of car. Three-in-the-floor transformed
into a much cooler ride among us baby boomers.

After working 60 days in the real world, I soon decided A/C was much
cooler than riding with the windows down in the sweltering month of
July in the North Carolina Sandhills. My solution was simple. Before
August 1971, J.C. Penney installed an air conditioner under the dash
for only $10 a month on my Penney’s credit card. As of now, I only
have five more payments before my A/C is paid off. I know someone is
enjoying it.

My new 340 hypnotized my new girlfriend, Sally, and greatly expanded
the range of my dating world. Sally lived 150 miles from me, but with
the pedal to the metal, I could be at her front door in less than 2
hours. Every weekend, I arrived on Friday evening and left Sally’s front
steps at midnight on Sunday during the summer of 1971. My Duster
made me feel invincible. I even convinced myself I needed no sleep
while driving my limelight Duster 340. My conviction proved me
wrong when I fell asleep on a hot August Sunday night (actually early
Monday morning) in 1971. I ran off a Moore County country road
curve, pulled up some stumps, jumped a ditch, ran into a pine tree
head on and broke my foot. That Duster is now a figment of my
imagination.

I concluded that either I had to find a girlfriend closer to home or
marry the one I had. Less than four months later, I married Sally. We
have lived happily ever after — our 37th anniversary will be Dec. 4,
2008 — even though I still long to own a limelight Duster 340 one
more time till death do us part. Another one of my  precious childhood
memories of growing up in Rockingham, North Carolina - a small textile town in the South in the ' 50s & ' 60s.