I remember watching this ad for the first time the night of the VMAs and it has stuck with me ever since. Sometimes I'll pop in to rewatch and reminisce. Yes, I am very old.
I KNEW THE DIRECTOR OF THIS COMMERCIAL. Notice at the end, as the car appears to be driving away, pieces of shattered glass rise up, and assemble into a sheet of glass with the Plymouth logo. This was accomplished with an interesting set of tricks. First of all, that part of the video is actually film played backwards. The production crew had a large pane (around 8'w X 6't) of glass made with the Plymouth logo etched into it by the glass maker. The pane was a "safety" glass made to shatter into small fragments instead of large jagged shards. The car was then backed into the glass so that the rear bumper would strike and cause the glass to break. But, notice how no glass is seen coming off the top of the roof or rear section of the car. To accomplish this (no glass falling onto the car, and thus appearing to fly off the car when the film was reversed), the car and glass were placed on a 52 degree ramp with the front end of the car pointing upwards, and the glass at the bottom. The (stunt) driver was told to just put the car in neutral, and release the emergency brake so the car would roll back into the glass, then to hit the foot brake. With the glass tilted at 52 degrees on the end of the ramp, the car would strike it, and all the pieces would fall to the ground behind it. To avoid the appearance of the vehicle and glass being on a tilt, the camera behind the car was tilted at the same 52 degree angle thus making the car appear it was on a flat surface.
This brings back such a history of my childhood. This commercial came on before Saturday morning cartoons in 1985 and it was my song when waking up and the girl was hot even in my 8 year old eyes
That's English Actress soap opera star Finola Hughs, you may remember her in Staying alive with John travolta. As I recall She didn;t actually do the singing but danced and lip sync'd for the video. She was a a competent dancer thus being in Staying alive as one of the Lead characters.
i think i can honestly say that if I ever found an 85-87 Duster in good shape i would buy it and find some way to play this song on full blast as I drove down the street.
Anyone who still has one of these cars needs to loop this track and just play it on the car's sound system whenever you drive it. I mean always MY DUSTER
Too young and broke to afford the K-car LeBaron of your dreams? Well we built this POS Plymouth especially for you! Includes free copy of the album "Like a Virgin" on cassette. Crowd of dancing friends is not included but available from your Chrysler-Plymouth dealer as an add on accessory.
+iluvcamaros This was typical Iacocca, boring as anything Horizon platform with a reasonably sporty looking body and call it a sports car. I kind of liked them in the day and the styling is still not bad. Just nothing special about it to match the "Duster" name, which itself was off a car doing the same thing 15 years earlier.
I'm a 28 yr old GM guy (yep born 1990!). I have a special fondness for many craptastic GM cars. This commercial is just amusing to me because I like 80s music; and the sheer novelty of seeing such ad dollars spent on a product that wasn't even the best Chrysler had to offer.
@@iluvcamaros1912 well it seems like it was advertised towards teens. People who weren't gonna really take care of their car with parents that didn't want to shell out a whole lot of money for their kids first car.
My first car was this one! Awesome! Never saw this before! It was (and still is because my late dad and my brother restored it) an awesome car! Thanks for sharing and bringing back the memories!
Oh man that was rad! Two things to make it better: 1: That a higher quality version of this video is found and uploaded. 2: That there was an extended version of this song!!!!!!
Thanks so much for posting this! I remember when this commercial came out, and it was also a radio commercial. Very catchy tune that brings back a LOT of memories for me.
The 1980's. I had an 86 Duster Turismo about 17 years after this commercial. 2.2L non- turbo auto. It had simular looks to the fox body mustang (first thing I noticed), but with FWD and moped like horsepower. I killed mine trying to get it to spin the tires. It did after a few neutral drops. Repeated abuse spelled the end for that car. Kinda miss it now.
It's a Plymouth Turismo Duster, which was Plymouth's version of the Dodge Charger 2.2. It was sold in America, and was the second time Plymouth used the "Duster" name. The Sundance Duster in the '90s was the third use of the name.
This was the commercial for the Omni/Horizon-based (L-body) Duster. It was powered by a 2.2-liter K-car engine and had a five-speed manual transmission. It lasted only two years as Chrysler was getting ready to introduce the P-body Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance. The Duster name would be reintroduced on a 1992 Sundance-based model powered by a 3.0-liter Mitsubishi Cyclone 6G72 V6, in BOTH coupe and sedan.
It is soooo MTV ized! Madonnabie Luaperette singing about her Duster. I had an '81 black Omni 024 Miser edition. $5299 base and $6081 w/sunroof and cargo carpet. $118 4 year car payment and it was mine! Put louvers on the back and side windows and with raised white letter 13 inch tires, it was HOT. Had the VW engine and a 4 on the floor. Vapor locked every week in the Detroit summer, and the door handle had to be replaced 3 times. Got rammed in '87, totaled it and got me a Shadow ES. The 80's!!
I have to thank you so much for this clip. I've been looking all over for this. I used to have the shorter version of this on an old tape but the tape broke. Once again, thank you very much!
@superamerica1981 I agree with ya not only were the 80s a great time for music, movies, TV, fashion, toys, etc. the 80s were a great time for cars. You see the 80s was the BEST DECADE EVER.
Does anyone remember the 1985 Plymouth Barracuda? Most likely not, as only two of those ever existed, which were essentially just the Turismo coupes using the front section of the Dodge Shelby Charger, plus the Shelby-exclusive 2.2L turbo-intercooled engine. The project died after these two were built, partly since Carroll Shelby objected to the idea of any Chrysler brand other than Dodge using those exclusive external GFX and the turbo engine.
Do you recognize the main character on this video????It's no other than FINOLA HUGHES (YES!!! She played Anna DeVane on GENERAL HOSPITAL!!!) Finola Hughes was a dancer before getting into acting. She also had roles on LA: Law, All My Children, Charmed, CSI: NY, and Pacific Palisades.
I made the mistake of purchasing this rolling piece of dog excrement in 1986. Gray Duster 2.2. It leaked water inside of the cabin so bad, the rear carpet stayed sopping wet. The dealership could not find the leak after multiple trips to their service dept. I finally drilled holes in the floor to get the water out. The car was not even a year old. A voltage regulator went out and the instrument cluster started smoking. The car had no power. I had a friend who had a CRX and he smoked me once off the line. I traded it after a year and took a bath on the trade-in, but it was a lesson learned. Buy Japanese.
heh... it's amazing that no matter how flashy the commercial is, the plain look of the duster doesn't get any better. It's like putting a spinner hubcap from pepboys on a farm tractor.
I don't think I even saw it that many times. However there was also a radio version that they played the bejeezus outta, at least in the Detroit Metro area anyways.
At the time of this commercial's airing - Chrysler's 10,000 day calendar for decoding how old their 1985 models were would have started at serial # 8374 (July 1, 1984) and would run through that of serial #8738 (June 30, 1985).
Correction Davismv this commercial got played ALOT usually the shortened version of it. Yes that is Finola Hughes who got her start in the film "Staying Alive" with John Travolta(sequel to Saturday Night Fever") then became asoap star on "General Hospital" That's not her singing though? Might have to look in to that.
I agree, it did age well. And it was one of the most practical coupes ever- but I did mean to mention that it was always more expensive than the 5 door (comparing cars with the same equipment). THAT'S what I meant by style being the whole point :)
Style was the whole point of this car, too; the 5 door Omni/Horizon was actually cheaper. '86 was the last year for the coupe, the 5 doors lasted through '90.
Cool commercial, wish I could say the same for the car. I had an '85 with the 2.2L. Suffered from chronic electrical problems, squeaks, rattles, water leaks, door latch problems, fussy electronic carb. Spent more time in the shop than being driven!
I LOVE THIS LITTLE CAR.. I HAVE THE EXACT SAME CAR SAME COLOR.. RAME RIMS.. 2.2 MOTOR AND LOVE IT..GREAT GAS AND ALLWAYS GET COMMENTS.. FIND ONE AND BUY ONE..THERE 500$ AND RUN FOREVER
I remember watching this ad for the first time the night of the VMAs and it has stuck with me ever since. Sometimes I'll pop in to rewatch and reminisce. Yes, I am very old.
aaaaaaw bless you!
My second car was a black 86 plymouth duster
This...this is it...
THE greatest commercial of all time.
who puts a guitar solo in a car commercial 🎸 special award for that 🥇
I KNEW THE DIRECTOR OF THIS COMMERCIAL.
Notice at the end, as the car appears to be driving away, pieces of shattered glass rise up, and assemble into a sheet of glass with the Plymouth logo.
This was accomplished with an interesting set of tricks.
First of all, that part of the video is actually film played backwards.
The production crew had a large pane (around 8'w X 6't) of glass made with the Plymouth logo etched into it by the glass maker.
The pane was a "safety" glass made to shatter into small fragments instead of large jagged shards.
The car was then backed into the glass so that the rear bumper would strike and cause the glass to break.
But, notice how no glass is seen coming off the top of the roof or rear section of the car.
To accomplish this (no glass falling onto the car, and thus appearing to fly off the car when the film was reversed), the car and glass were placed on a 52 degree ramp with the
front end of the car pointing upwards, and the glass at the bottom.
The (stunt) driver was told to just put the car in neutral, and release the emergency brake so the car would roll back into the glass, then to hit the foot brake.
With the glass tilted at 52 degrees on the end of the ramp, the car would strike it, and all the pieces would fall to the ground behind it.
To avoid the appearance of the vehicle and glass being on a tilt, the camera behind the car was tilted at the same 52 degree angle thus making the car appear it was on a flat surface.
Dang, that’s really cool!
This brings back such a history of my childhood. This commercial came on before Saturday morning cartoons in 1985 and it was my song when waking up and the girl was hot even in my 8 year old eyes
That's English Actress soap opera star Finola Hughs, you may remember her in Staying alive with John travolta. As I recall She didn;t actually do the singing but danced and lip sync'd for the video. She was a a competent dancer thus being in Staying alive as one of the Lead characters.
This is the finest ninety seconds of television in the history of the medium.
i think i can honestly say that if I ever found an 85-87 Duster in good shape i would buy it and find some way to play this song on full blast as I drove down the street.
You should do that.
If someone asked you to sum up the 80s,this commercial would do it.
Truly this is one of the greatest car commercials ever made.
Very nice this commercial of Plymouth Duster 1985, best commercial
This was my car! White with red interior. Had my senior pics made with it! Love this commercial! Pure 80’s gold!!
The 1980's encapsulated into a single 90 second video.
so true
omg! i've been looking for this for ages. one of the catchiest tunes of any commerical.
If you notice at the very beginning of this clip it was run during the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. I actually have this on VHS from that same night
I can't believe it! I had been looking for this for twenty years. I love the song!!
Thanks for putting this up.
Anyone who still has one of these cars needs to loop this track and just play it on the car's sound system whenever you drive it. I mean always
MY DUSTER
Got told nothing about the car but coregraphed dancing to a 80s power ballad has me sold
1985, when manual transmissions were still widely embraced.
You are right. The 80's were the coolest decade of the 20th century. The 70's are in a second position.
Indeed!
This commercial proves that the 80s were better than the 2000s.
textbook example of "youth marketing" 80's style
My dad is in this commercial. He still has the costume he was wearing in it.
Too young and broke to afford the K-car LeBaron of your dreams? Well we built this POS Plymouth especially for you! Includes free copy of the album "Like a Virgin" on cassette. Crowd of dancing friends is not included but available from your Chrysler-Plymouth dealer as an add on accessory.
+iluvcamaros This was typical Iacocca, boring as anything Horizon platform with a reasonably sporty looking body and call it a sports car. I kind of liked them in the day and the styling is still not bad. Just nothing special about it to match the "Duster" name, which itself was off a car doing the same thing 15 years earlier.
I'm a 28 yr old GM guy (yep born 1990!). I have a special fondness for many craptastic GM cars. This commercial is just amusing to me because I like 80s music; and the sheer novelty of seeing such ad dollars spent on a product that wasn't even the best Chrysler had to offer.
@@iluvcamaros1912 well it seems like it was advertised towards teens. People who weren't gonna really take care of their car with parents that didn't want to shell out a whole lot of money for their kids first car.
The melody of this is better than almost any pop song from the '80's. Should have been a hit with some different lyrics!
My first car was this one! Awesome! Never saw this before! It was (and still is because my late dad and my brother restored it) an awesome car! Thanks for sharing and bringing back the memories!
Oh man that was rad!
Two things to make it better:
1: That a higher quality version of this video is found and uploaded.
2: That there was an extended version of this song!!!!!!
I've only been singing this song in the back of my head for the past 23 years!
35 years now...
Thanks so much for posting this! I remember when this commercial came out, and it was also a radio commercial. Very catchy tune that brings back a LOT of memories for me.
This commercial alone would make me want to buy this car. It seems like retro commercials had more effort and care put into them.
jriley1992 Yeah it sure does. A lot of TV ads today are really bland compared to this 80s Awesomeness.
@@mrExcellent101 kid show intro were a lot cooler back then too.
Everything was rock n roll theme'd lol
What do you do in a Duster?
Dust. You do dust.
LMAOOOOO
Angel Dust? or Coke
The 1980's. I had an 86 Duster Turismo about 17 years after this commercial. 2.2L non- turbo auto. It had simular looks to the fox body mustang (first thing I noticed), but with FWD and moped like horsepower. I killed mine trying to get it to spin the tires. It did after a few neutral drops. Repeated abuse spelled the end for that car. Kinda miss it now.
It's a Plymouth Turismo Duster, which was Plymouth's version of the Dodge Charger 2.2. It was sold in America, and was the second time Plymouth used the "Duster" name. The Sundance Duster in the '90s was the third use of the name.
OMG, this is awesome. Is that Finola Hughes?
Yes!!
Well, the song is catchy as shit.
In my Duster...MY DUSTER!
Good video. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dance above an underlit grate in an abandoned warehouse.
Indeed. This has got to be my most favorite car commercial yet. I don't necessarily like the car... but I love the commercial.
That's a quintessence of all the 1980s things in the world.
This was a great time for Chrysler, their minvans had just been released and were a literal runaway hit.
This was the commercial for the Omni/Horizon-based (L-body) Duster. It was powered by a 2.2-liter K-car engine and had a five-speed manual transmission. It lasted only two years as Chrysler was getting ready to introduce the P-body Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance. The Duster name would be reintroduced on a 1992 Sundance-based model powered by a 3.0-liter Mitsubishi Cyclone 6G72 V6, in BOTH coupe and sedan.
It is soooo MTV ized! Madonnabie Luaperette singing about her Duster. I had an '81 black Omni 024 Miser edition. $5299 base and $6081 w/sunroof and cargo carpet. $118 4 year car payment and it was mine! Put louvers on the back and side windows and with raised white letter 13 inch tires, it was HOT. Had the VW engine and a 4 on the floor. Vapor locked every week in the Detroit summer, and the door handle had to be replaced 3 times. Got rammed in '87, totaled it and got me a Shadow ES. The 80's!!
Is this what happened at the cocaine plant before Robocop came busting in there?
The Duster was based off an entirely different platform. Contrary to popular belief, not EVERY 80s Chrysler was based off the K platform.
Some were Mitsubishis!
This is my choice for the VMAs
They seriously should put this song on iTunes.
I have to thank you so much for this clip. I've been looking all over for this. I used to have the shorter version of this on an old tape but the tape broke. Once again, thank you very much!
i love this 87 duster..i bought one.. its a great sunday classic
Remember seeing MTV run this spot on Sunday nights after The Young Ones
Now this is how you sell a car.
@superamerica1981 I agree with ya not only were the 80s a great time for music, movies, TV, fashion, toys, etc. the 80s were a great time for cars. You see the 80s was the BEST DECADE EVER.
They even played this commercial on the radio whilst they were broadcasting the MTV Music Awards…in the radio no less!
I love that this was taken off the 1984 vma recording
What is the singer in commercial of Plymouth Duster?
Does anyone remember the 1985 Plymouth Barracuda? Most likely not, as only two of those ever existed, which were essentially just the Turismo coupes using the front section of the Dodge Shelby Charger, plus the Shelby-exclusive 2.2L turbo-intercooled engine.
The project died after these two were built, partly since Carroll Shelby objected to the idea of any Chrysler brand other than Dodge using those exclusive external GFX and the turbo engine.
OH MY GAWD!!
What a super rad song!
Now that's stuck in my head all day.
This is how you REALLY sell a car, get people psyched and excited about it. Todays car commercials are so boring I don't even pay attention to them.
I've had an '89 Lebaron convertible, '90 Sundance 4-door, and a '92 Acclaim. Acclaim was the best. I wish I had another.
Do you recognize the main character on this video????It's no other than FINOLA HUGHES (YES!!! She played Anna DeVane on GENERAL HOSPITAL!!!) Finola Hughes was a dancer before getting into acting. She also had roles on LA: Law, All My Children, Charmed, CSI: NY, and Pacific Palisades.
She played a dancer in Staying Alive
Finola Hughes. The villainess from Staying Alive.
I made the mistake of purchasing this rolling piece of dog excrement in 1986. Gray Duster 2.2. It leaked water inside of the cabin so bad, the rear carpet stayed sopping wet. The dealership could not find the leak after multiple trips to their service dept. I finally drilled holes in the floor to get the water out. The car was not even a year old.
A voltage regulator went out and the instrument cluster started smoking.
The car had no power. I had a friend who had a CRX and he smoked me once off the line. I traded it after a year and took a bath on the trade-in, but it was a lesson learned. Buy Japanese.
THEY WERE JUST IN SHAPE.. SOMETHING THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OF.. THIN N TRIM..
Looks like the kind of commercial you'd see today on "American Idol".
heh... it's amazing that no matter how flashy the commercial is, the plain look of the duster doesn't get any better. It's like putting a spinner hubcap from pepboys on a farm tractor.
I would have this song playing on my cassette player as I snort some coke and floor my Duster down the strip.
hahahahahahahaha love it!
It was referred to as the "coke factory" commercial. Not the soft drink.
I loved this commercial!
They weren't smoking. They were snorting.
After watching this commercial, I know more about the singer and her friends than I do about the car.
the actual singer is Elaine Caswell
"It was the 80's, and everyone was doing so much cocaine." I think I agree with that.
best car commercial ever!!!
Best commercial of car from 1985
This video is seriously amazing.
Knowing what we know now is that : That the commercial was way better than the car.
This was filmed in a cocaine factory
i loveee that comercial catchy and the car went down in history and now are saught after.. i want one
This video is so 80s that I puked neon colors.
Everybody pukes Technicolor when they have an 80's nostalgia attack
Is this why my older sister wanted and bought one of these cars? Okay then.
I don't think I even saw it that many times. However there was also a radio version that they played the bejeezus outta, at least in the Detroit Metro area anyways.
At the time of this commercial's airing - Chrysler's 10,000 day calendar for decoding how old their 1985 models were would have started at serial # 8374 (July 1, 1984) and would run through that of serial #8738 (June 30, 1985).
That's the difference between car commercials back then, and now. People back then were excited about American cars. Now, not so much.
There's a nice clean low-mileage one on Craigslist in the Joliet, IL area right now. Automatic though. :(
Wish I had one with 18 inch billets, tinted windows and a stereo 😮
this is longer than I remember
Correction Davismv this commercial got played ALOT usually the shortened version of it. Yes that is Finola Hughes who got her start in the film "Staying Alive" with John Travolta(sequel to Saturday Night Fever") then became asoap star on "General Hospital" That's not her singing though? Might have to look in to that.
Try dropping a line to the Walter P Chrysler museum. If they can't help you, probably nobody can.
80s rulesssss good commercial
You don't know how many times I have cracked up to this!!!!! :)
if you lived back in the 80s then you would have appreciated it... i mean human lifestyle is dynamic not static...
I miss the days when they used to film car ads in cocaine factories.
That's the sole mission of marketing - to persuade consumers to purchase the product.
Nothing hotter than a girl driving a stick shift
@Heegoop MUCH better than the 2000s
I agree, it did age well. And it was one of the most practical coupes ever- but I did mean to mention that it was always more expensive than the 5 door (comparing cars with the same equipment). THAT'S what I meant by style being the whole point :)
i loved this comercial and found one n loved it and bought one.. i have my dusterrr!!!!
I agree with you. Not only are today's car commercial's are so boing, today's car's are so boring.
I bought an '85 Ford Tempo, what was I thinking?!
Wonderful car filmed in a real cocaine factory :D
I woke with this in my head this morning.
Style was the whole point of this car, too; the 5 door Omni/Horizon was actually cheaper. '86 was the last year for the coupe, the 5 doors lasted through '90.
Cool commercial, wish I could say the same for the car. I had an '85 with the 2.2L. Suffered from chronic electrical problems, squeaks, rattles, water leaks, door latch problems, fussy electronic carb. Spent more time in the shop than being driven!
I LOVE THIS LITTLE CAR.. I HAVE THE EXACT SAME CAR SAME COLOR.. RAME RIMS.. 2.2 MOTOR AND LOVE IT..GREAT GAS AND ALLWAYS GET COMMENTS.. FIND ONE AND BUY ONE..THERE 500$ AND RUN FOREVER
the last 10 sec. of that saong have been carved into my brian for years....
great vid..loved it..now i want a duster