Barn Find Revival: 1978 Plymouth Trail Duster Roars Back to Life After 16 Years

Plymouth joined the pickup market in the 1930s by offering haulers based on its cars. But unlike Dodge, Plymouth stopped making haulers in 1941 when the PT125 was discontinued. The company made a brief comeback from 1979 to 1983 with the Arrow Pickup, which was based on the first-generation Mitsubishi Lancer.

As for SUVs, Plymouth joined the segment in 1974 when it started making a rebadged version of the Dodge Ramcharger. It was called the Trail Duster, and unlike its Dodge sibling, which soldiered on for three generations until 2001, it went into the history books after only a few years.

Specifically, Plymouth ended its venture on the SUV market in 1981, primarily because the Trail Duster was far from popular. By the time it pulled the plug, Plymouth had sold around 36,000 units or an average of 5,140 examples per year. By comparison, Dodge produced nearly 110,000 Ramchargers from 1974 to 1981.

With Plymouth gone as an automaker for 22 years as of 2023, the Trail Duster is pretty much a forgotten SUV. And it's not exactly desirable either. As a result, most of them have fallen into disrepair and rot away in junkyards across the US. Some, however, have soldiered on in one piece and were lucky enough to be discovered by the right people. The green/white 1978 example you see here is one of those rigs.

Rescued from a barn it called home for 16 years, this Trail Blazer emerged back into the light in surprisingly solid condition. Sure, the paint has seen better days, and there's a bit of surface rust here and there, but it doesn't get any better than this. Unless we're talking about restored examples, that is.

And what makes this Trail Duster even cooler is that it hides a big-block V8 under the hood. I'm talking about a 400-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) unit, the second-largest V8 the Trail Duster was available with in 1978. The range-topping unit was the familiar 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) V8.

Available with both 2WD and 4WD models, the 400 delivered 165 horsepower and 290 pound-feet (393 Nm) of torque. Transmission options for this unit included a three-speed automatic and a four-speed manual. Output-wise, it slotted below the 170-horsepower 360-cubic-inch (5.9-liter) V8 and the 220-horsepower 440 RB.

But while it's not the most potent V8 you can find in a Trail Duster, this 400 V8 is definitely reliable. Although it hasn't sipped gasoline in 16 years, the lump agreed to fire up with just a bit of maintenance. And it still has enough grunt to move the 4,100-pound (1,860-kg) SUV around. Hit the play button below to see (and hear) this forgotten Mopar spring back to life.