Original Owner: Once an Extra Set of Wheels, ’71 Demon Is an Heirloom

Even though Stuart Lutz did not officially take possession of this 1971 Dodge Demon until he was 17, he and the car had been bound by destiny—and family—since his birth on August 31, 1970.

“I was a sickly baby, and I didn’t come home from the hospital until I was six weeks old,” Lutz recalled for Hagerty. “My parents, living in Baltimore, needed a second car to visit me in the hospital, so they bought a ’71 Demon with a 225 Slant Six. It is likely I came home from the hospital in this car.”

Dodge had just introduced the Demon in the fall of 1970. It was essentially the corporate twin to the Plymouth Duster, which had arrived for 1970, but the Demon wore the front sheetmetal of its Dodge sibling the Dart. Out back, the Demon featured vertically slatted taillights versus the Duster’s horizontally slatted style.

Lutz’s parents bought the Demon from Towson Dodge in Towson, Maryland, on Oct 5, 1970, paying just under $2900 with the sales tax. The car came painted Light Gunmetal gray. Beyond the optional 225 cubic-inch engine, it had power steering, deluxe wheel covers, AM radio, and not much else. The Demon would serve as Lutz’s mother’s daily driver until 1984, when an uncle borrowed it for three years. The car came back just before Lutz earned his driver’s license.

He drove the aging Dodge in high school and college. Afterward, the Demon served as his daily until a Toyota Tercel took over that role in 1995. Lutz has held onto the Dodge ever since. In 2020, showing ample signs of a half-century’s passing and 205,000 miles of wear, plus the oxidizing effects of New Jersey winters, the Demon went in for a restoration. Now garaged and babied, the Demon is now driven, sparingly, for fun and to the occasional car show. Lutz jokes with his wife, Sara, and son, Aidan, that they’ll need to decide who will drive the car to his funeral when that day comes. He’s never selling the car.

Factory Basics: 1971–72 Dodge Demon

To many enthusiasts, a Demon is the ultimate rendition of the now-retired second-generation Dodge Challenger. In Hagerty’s recent drag test against a Lucid Air Sapphire EV, a 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 ran the quarter-mile times with a best pass of 9.721 seconds at 143.72 mph. (Dodge claimed a sub-9-second time in its own testing.) With the demise of the Hemi, the Demon’s kind will surely not come again.

Others of a certain age, though, remember the original Demon introduced for 1971 as a low-priced but sporty-looking compact coupe with a mild demeanor.

The flip side of that 1971 coin was Plymouth’s Valiant Scamp, basically a two-door, hardtop Dart Swinger wearing the front end of a Valiant. All two-door Dodge and Plymouth A-body compacts outsold their four-door siblings by large margins. The same was true for their rivals at Chevy and Ford, the Nova and the Maverick. Affordable coupes were as hot in the ’60s and ’70s as crossovers are today.

Dodge priced the 1971 Demon at $2343 to make it the cheapest model in the Dart family by about $100. While the early Duster carried the Valiant badge, the Demon was never identified as a Dart. The 225 cubic-inch Slant Six was a $39 upcharge over the standard 198 cubic-inch version and promised an extra 20 horsepower (145) over that engine, which in retrospect seems dubious. (Net ratings replaced gross for 1972.)

Both the Demon and Duster offered screaming “340” budget muscle-car versions with the 275-horsepower, 340-cubic-inch small-block V-8. Cheaper, lighter, and quicker than some more expensive muscle machines, these accounted for a relatively small slice of Duster and Demon sales. Most buyers liked the Slant Sixes or optional 318 V-8 just fine.

What’s in a Name?

The Demon sold about 80,000 in its first year, and some 10,000 of those were Demon 340s. The Duster, though, was way out front with 186,000 total for 1971. Demon sales inexplicably dropped to under 50,000 for 1972, with the Duster’s 212,000 leaving its Dodge cousin in the dust. What happened?

According to a widely reported story, some religious folks took offense at the Demon name and the car’s cartoonish devil logo. Maybe so, but one wonders how the Dart Swinger name escaped their ire, or what they would have thought of the Beaver name Dodge initially considered using.

The 1972 sales drop likely made the company nervous, as competitive compact models were soaring up the sales charts. So, Dodge exorcised the Demon badge and replaced it with the innocuous “Dart Sport.” The front end was now nearly identical to the Duster’s. Sales climbed back closer to 80,000 but dropped to about 63,500 the following year, when the Duster peaked at 280,000 units sold. Maybe the Duster just had the better name and marketing. Both cars departed in mid-1976.

Heated Memories

Growing up, Lutz banked a lot of memories with the Demon. One was a family trip to Disney World in Florida when he was about six. Not uncommon in 1971, the car did not have the optional air conditioning. (Imagine traveling about 1100 miles in a Mopar A-Body with no A/C.)

Another memorable event happened a few years later.

“I remember my dad driving home in the snow. He parked in the driveway and later said he was unsure why he turned around to look at the car. But when he did, he saw a glow in the snow underneath it. The fuel line had burst and there was an engine fire. He didn’t open the hood, which would have only fanned the flames. He called the fire department, and they put it out. I remember it was about $30 for repairs and [the car was] good to go.”

The Dodge proved to be reliable transportation for the family, and Lutz said his father, an engineer, did much of the maintenance on it.

Not long after they purchased the car, Lutz’s parents had the Demon repainted Bright Blue. “Gunmetal Gray was a Mopar color notorious for peeling,” Lutz said. In 1984, the Demon left the Lutz household for a three-year hiatus, though it stayed within the family.

“When I was 14, my parents bought a new Camry, so they gave the Demon to my uncle,” Lutz related. “He is a frugal man. He drove the old car to work at Merrill Lynch in Princeton, where he was a VP and eventually became the head of corporate law. He parked in the executive lot, next to Mercedes, BMWs, and other luxury cars. His co-colleagues ribbed him for it. It really stood out there, so you could imagine the stories it might have started.”

Haunting the High School

The Demon’s return to the teenage Lutz in 1987 surprised him.

“I was outside playing basketball, and my mom drove up in the Demon. I was puzzled why she was driving her old car, and she said, ‘You’re getting your license next month. It’s yours.’”

With 150,000 miles, the Demon looked faded and frayed around the edges, but it was a fully functional car for a young new driver. “My sister Donna called it the Flintstone-mobile, because the driver’s side floorpan was rusting out. I had to put plywood in there,” Lutz said.

Lutz drove his Demon to Ocean Township High School in Monmouth County, where the auto shop teacher became a big fan of the old car.

“Auto mechanics in high school was one of the best classes I ever took,” Lutz said, adding that he appreciated learning the basics of maintenance. The teacher, he explained, loved having the old Dodge in the shop, because the school lacked some of the modern equipment required to service new cars.

Somewhere along the way, the Demon picked up the ironic nickname “Blue Thunder.” Lutz does not remember who gave it that name but says it came from the forgettable 1980s movie and TV show about a high-tech, crime-fighting helicopter in Los Angeles.

A memorable teenage road trip took Lutz and friends about 90 miles to the controversial and now defunct Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey. The amusement park was notorious for dangerous rides that left many visitors injured, leading to its nickname, “Class Action Park.” It recently became the subject of an HBO Max documentary.

“My friend and I were recently reminiscing about how we left half our skin on the Alpine slide,” Lutz said.

The Demon Goes to College

Lutz started freshman year at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1988, and the Demon stayed behind in his parents’ driveway for much of the time he was away. In his senior year, though, he brought the car to school because he’d gotten a job as a golf caddy. He graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in History degree, but not before he met his wife, Sara McHugh.

“We went on our first date in 1991 in the car. We saw the 50th anniversary re-release of Citizen Kane at Baltimore’s famous Senator Theater and then went to IHOP for dinner,” he recalled. “When we got married in 2002, we left the reception hall in it. I always kept the Dodge with the idea that someday it would be restored.”

Lutz lived in Connecticut for a while in the 1990s, and while there the Demon failed state inspection for all the body rust. Some restoration in the rear quarters squared it with the state.

“I Like Old Things”

Lutz remembered being excited about getting the Demon, but he understood why some of his peers gave the car funny looks. “Some of my classmates were getting BMWs and Mustangs, and I was getting a ’71 Dodge. It just seemed so much older because it looked so much different than 1980s cars.”

Lutz said he was always drawn to older things, including documents, books, historical sites, vintage movies, and classic cars. In 1999, he started his own business authenticating, buying, and selling historic documents and manuscripts. His first sale was the original 1844 invitation sent to U.S. President John Tyler to go aboard the ill-fated USS Princeton cruise on the Potomac River. A 13-ton cannon on the steam-powered ship exploded, killing the Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of State, and four others. President Tyler was below deck and unhurt. Lutz bought the document for $35 and sold it for $2000.

“I’ve sold just about every president, most of the Declaration of Independence signers, Union and Confederate generals, famous authors, and many others,” he said. Some might recognize Lutz from his appearances as a document expert on the TV show Pawn Stars.

Restoration and Revival

Shortly after he and Blue Thunder turned 50, Lutz committed to getting the car restored. His local mechanic recommended Joe Garaffa at ASG Body Art in Plainfield, New Jersey, about 20 miles away.

“There was a lot of body rust, but shockingly, the frame rails were in good shape,” Lutz recalled. “In October 2021, I drove it over to Joe’s to start the work, and I did not drive it again for seven months, the longest period I was without the Dodge. Joe would send me photos of the progress, and I occasionally visited.”

Later in the process, Garaffa stopped sending photos. “He wanted me to see it freshly completed. My wife took a video of me seeing it for the first time.”

The color Lutz chose, Petty Blue, was named for the custom color on Richard Petty’s Plymouth and Dodge NASCAR racecars and was close to Chrysler’s Corporate Blue. The side stripes were the ones used on the Demon 340 and the Demon’s optional Sizzler appearance package.

“I love the little devil on the car. It’s amazing that you can find all the stripes, decals, and logos for restoration,” he said.

Garaffa pulled the engine out and repainted it but said it did not need a rebuild. Not long after the restoration, though, the TorqueFlite automatic was rebuilt for the first time.

Demon Memories

Hagerty: When you were growing up, were you hoping that you would eventually get the Demon?

Lutz: When my parents gave it to my uncle, I never thought it was coming back for me. But apparently, he told them that was always the plan.

Hagerty: Do your friends remember the car?

Lutz: It is amazing how well-known I’ve been for the car. Last year, my dad went to the funeral of the mayor of Ocean Township, and he was chatting with the son who went to high school with me. The son asked if I still had the blue car.

Hagerty: What did your parents think of you keeping the Demon all that time and then restoring it?

Lutz: They were very happy about it. It’s got memories for everybody. When it was finally restored, I had them come up to see it and they were just like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing!’

Hagerty: How old is your son, and what does he think of the Demon?

Lutz: Aidan is 15. I tell him that one day he’s going to inherit the Demon, and being 15, he just rolls his eyes. I have a 2002 Acura RSX from my mom that will be his when he gets his license. That’s a fun car to drive.

Hagerty: Does driving the Demon today match the memories?

Lutz: It’s a bit of an effort to drive, especially compared to modern cars. It has power steering, but manual drum brakes. The QE2 can stop faster, especially in northern New Jersey’s hilly areas. The restorer said he can put disc brakes on the front, which I will probably do.

Hagerty: What kind of drives do you take with the Dodge?

Lutz: Usually on Sunday, I drive it around a few towns up here. I’ve taken my son to local car shows, and I had it in a show at his school. The car gets a lot of attention. I also drive it when I play basketball. It’s like a combination of my dreams: driving the old Dodge and still being able to play basketball in my mid-50s. That’s pretty good.

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Car: 1971 Dodge Demon

Owner: Stuart Lutz

Home: Orange, New Jersey

Delivery Date: October 5, 1970

Miles on Car: 205,000

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Are you the original owner of a classic car, or do you know someone who is? Send us a photo and a bit of background to tips@hagerty.com with ORIGINAL OWNER in the subject line—you might get featured in our next installment!