Seems strange to dedicate a webpage to a 1976 Plymouth Duster, but if that mass of metal could talk and tell stories... starting with a solo cross country trip from NJ to Guadalajara that took a few days longer than expected. Three breakdowns on the interstate in the same day, and all in the state of Arkansas !  ( I'd always wanted to spend the night in Malvern ) Next, getting sick at the border crossing at Laredo which necessitated a stop in Monterrey for a couple of days to recuperate before going on for the otherwise uneventful 10 or so hour trip to Guad.

Shortly after arriving, I brought the car to a muffler shop and had them cut out the catalytic converter so that I could use the cheaper leaded Pemex gasoline.  I also paid some local laborers a few pesos to use their arc welder and permanently fix the license plates to the bumpers. This discouraged thieves who made a hobby of collecting US plates, not to mention the city police who would confiscate your plates for alleged parking violations. Yankee ingenuity - the welders got a big kick out it!!

Over the course of the next three years the car required new tires, shock absorbers, a radiator leak repair... but the worst was a breakdown about one-hour outside the city in the middle of nowhere while on guardia assignment. Henry and Reid hitchhiked back to Guadalajara while Frank and I waited for them to dispatch a towtruck. ( Frankie insisted that the whole situation and landscape was right out of the Hollywood movie "The Bridges at Toko Ri" - and he was right!!) Unlike William Holden, we were rescued and towed back to the city hours later. A new rear differential was needed and it took the mechanic about two weeks to find a US model Plymouth wreck to salvage the rear axle gear box. It ran fine after all that.

Of course, the picture below tells another story - a choque (collision). Fortunately all parties walked away unhurt and the local body shop did a great job of repairing the damage.  and at the end of 6th semester, the old Duster made the final trip back to New Jersey where I sold it for $100.