Charles Beer’s 1971 Duster
I am rolling through the recent Orange Plaza Rotary Car Show and I see another friend Mark Soltan hanging out with some nice rides on north Glassell Street. The bright green Mopar caught my eye too and Mark tells me his friend Charles has had this car since High School, and that he dated his wife in this car. Sounds like there was a trip to the drive-in somewhere in the story.
I meet Charles Beers and we chuckle a bit about the stories from high-school. We have all been there. If not the drive-in then it was atop Panorama Heights overlooking east Orange. A great make-out spot, or down the hill is another dark spot at the entrance of Santiago Oaks Regional Park. But back then it was just known as the Breathing Rock. There was a well capped with a cement and a hole in the top. You can hear the water “breathe” through the hole.
Let’s get back to Charley’s cool ride.
Charles Beer’s 1971 Sassy Grass Green Duster was restored about 20 years ago after it had sat for 20 years prior. He bought it back in the Seventies for $1,100 bucks. The Budnik wheels and blackwall tires show the “Mod” of this RestoMod. The interior is nice after he described that someone threw a rock in the back window and the interior was thrashed with rat turds and just messed up. Open the hood and the crate 340 with proper Mopar green block is nice and fresh. He painted it the original color Sassy Grass Green. One of the funniest parts to this story is that his wife said when the restoration was finished, that he can’t sell it for at least 20 years. Well, it’s been over that and there are no plans to get rid of it.
