Ok, so I've got to replace my tailpipe from the muffler back because it's starting to go.

However, everything else is nice and tight - no exhaust leaks. I've never had the muffler replaced though.

My car doesn't seem super overly-loud when I drive it but compared to other Swingers I've heard drive by me, the engine roar as I accelerate up to speed does seem louder.

It's a subtlety question, I know, but how can I make my car super quiet and smooth-sounding? It's got 38K original, and for the most part drives like a new car. Now, I just want it to sound like one. Even my 64 Dart that had 95K original miles on it sounded much smoother, enginewise, without as much of the tick-tick of the lifters.

Suggestions? Thanks!

You can install a Factory OEM quiet package

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Wanting to do the same as you I had to replace the orignal muffler and tail pipe (44 years young) and wanted quiet as stock. took a chance on Autozone's replacement muffler for a price of 18 bucks(listing is from 61 to 80 slant six cars) and got a winner.
nice and quiet. Had to have a muffler shop make a tail pipe,all welded joints and a chrome tip for 80 bucks total.

The way to have a stock-quietness exhaust system is to keep as closely as possible to the stock exhaust system configuration. Stock on a slant-6 '74 would've been a 1-7/8" headpipe, reverse-flow muffler with 1-7/8" inlet and outlet, and similarly-sized tailpipe. If there car were equipped with the quiet package, there would've been a resonator, a 4" diameter round muffler with about 18" shell length, in the straight section of the tailpipe inside the quarter panel.

It is possible to deviate from these specs to improve flow and still have a very quiet system, as for example by using a 2¼" headpipe and a reverse-flow muffler with 2¼" inlet and 1-7/8" outlet, with resonator in the tailpipe. This would be essentially half of a V8 A-body system.

Direct-replacement mufflers are NLA from the major makers (Walker, Goerlich's, Arvin), so you'll need either to go shopping through the catalogues for something that is still available and is reasonably close in specs and size, or pick up a copy of Hemmings and purchase from one of the old-car exhaust parts suppliers.

A really close match for a stock-size muffler would be a Walker #21934, which is a premium-quality Diplomat/Gran Fury muffler that has a 1-7/8" inlet and outlet. Goerlich's equivalent is a #2946. For the resonator, you can dig through the buyer's guides and find a suitable 4" round unit of proper length, to which a tailspout can be added. Or, you can use a "bullet" type glasspack for the resonator. The function is the same, only difference is rounded ends vs. "can" type ends.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks Dan, guys. I didn't realize a quiet package was an option for these cars. No wonder every other slant of the same vintage I don't hear while driving by me is so darn quiet!

my car seems like lil' miss furious typewriter roar in comparison.