Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  Quick Look  The owner of this 72’ model took this Duster to the outer limits and beyond. The Duster is show and go with perfect panel gaps and a custom pearl white paint job with airbrushed graphics.  The engine compartment is bursting with horsepower and eye appeal with a stroker small-block now stretched to 408 cubes, it was built by Big Al's Toy Box in Connecticut. It sucks in the atmosphere through an 8/71 Blower Shop billet supercharger with dual QuickFuel 650 CFM carburetors topped off with a polished Enderle injector hat. The internals are filled with the best parts and pieces like an Eagle crank, H-beam rods, forged pistons and ARP fasteners keep it screwed together. The engine is making 14 pounds of boost making close to 900 Horsepower, so a heavy-duty 727 TorqueFlite transmission with a PTC 3,500 RPM stall converter sits downstream. The narrowed Chrysler 8 ¾ rear end was filled with Moser 35-spline axles and Richmond 4.56 gears that can take the abuse with ease.   The

  The Plymouth Scamp was the A-Body platform that Chrysler Corp. used for their economy class of cars . The A-Body was light weight at 3000 pounds , it was offered with the slant 6- cylinder engine for a base engine , the 318-V8 was an option.    The cars were built with rubber floor mats and very plain interiors , bench seats , AM radio & A/C was optional. Chrysler used the 68 A-Body Dart's & Barracuda's for Super- Stock programs and they were very successful . In 1970 they were used in the new Pro-Stock class , but they were now the new Plymouth Duster or Dodge Dart's . These cars ran the mighty 426 Hemi backed up by either a 4-speed manual transmission or the heavy-duty Torqueflite 3-speed automatic. The Hemi cars had the Dana 60 while the auto cars had the 8 3/4 rear end. The bodies were modified to fit big slicks , the quarter panels were cut open , suspension upgrades included 6cyl front torsion bars , Super-Stock rear leaf springs & pinion snubber lifted

  Rare Rides Quick Look !   This month's quick look is a 1 of 1 1971 HEMI Plymouth Barracuda convertible that was prepped by the legendary race shop of Ronnie Sox & Buddy Martin.  This a true Sox and Martin built Cuda'. The car was purchased new in Detroit and driven to Sox and Martin for preparation to run the NHRA Super Stock Class.    The Cud'a competed in 1973-1974 NHRA events, and was driven by "Mr. 4 -Speed" himself, Herb McCandless.  It's powered by a balanced and blueprinted 426 C.I. Hemi. Built by Sox and Martin, shifted by an A-833 4-speed the Hemi's torque is sent to a Dana-60 rear end filled with 4.56:1 gears and a spool. There is full documentation on the car and it was the only known convertible built by S&M. As it sits there is 33,307 miles on the clock and you will never find another example like this on the planet .

                              Street Machine Spotlight   Even though this 1962 Plymouth Savoy Max Wedge is a clone it holds true to the originals.    With an original 56,000 miles, It was built with no frills at all.  The interior features an excellent original cloth & vinyl interior, a Hurst shifted 4-speed & rubber floor mats - no carpets and no radio or heater.    Under the hood it's very clean and highly detailed.. The engine was built by Krammer & Krammer Ent. ,a 440 big- block with dual quad Holley carbs mounted on a reproduction cross-ram intake manifold. On the Dyno it made 517 H.P. The rotating assembly was balanced & blue printed with Forged pistons & Crankshaft.. Hardened valve seats were also installed in the 906 heads to run on today's unleaded fuels .   Here is a view of the spartan interior, no frills here . Just a bench seat and a 4-speed shifter. The rear end is an 8 3/4 unit filled with 4.10:1 gears & Sure-Grip differential . Front and

Orange Sunshine    is a 1973 Plymouth Duster owned and built by Doug Markel , from Gibsonburg, Ohio. Doug said he has owned the car for the last 9 years. He purchased the Duster from his good friend  from Hamilton Ohio who also races. When he found out he was looking for a car he contacted Doug and said he didn't need two race cars so he bought the Duster as a rolling chassis .  Doug added the power plant, transmission, gears and  electronics along with some neglected TLC. He said it's been a lot of fun, racing and making  many friends along the way, at the race track. Some of specifications include a Ladder Bar rear suspension with a 9" rear and 4:30 gears.  Big 14x32- r15 Goodyear Slicks handle all the power that big Mopar engine throws down. The front end consists of a Tubular K- Member fitted with stock-style torsion bars. For the power plant we have a Big-Block Wedge Stroked to 500 Cu In. For this combination Doug chose to stroke a  400-B block. He filled it w

  This is Manson's third Mopar that we featuring , for the full story check out Manson's page where his other cars are featured .

                                                                                      Chris Bower is from Cleveland, Ohio with his 1975 Plymouth Duster Chris said he has a car that most car enthusiasts would love to have, his 1975 Plymouth  Gold Duster , it  was his first car, he bought it back in 1988 when he was16 years old. Chris stated he grew up in family of  Mechanics and Drag Racers, so you can say it was in his DNA from the beginning. He bought it for $300 , money earned from being a dish washer at a local college, Chris drove it to high school for 2 years then in 1991 he painted to Lime Green. Chris ran ET Bracket Pro and Sportsman classes in and around Ohio, his local track is Pacemakers in Mt Vernon Ohio a little 1/8 th mile track.   In 2003 Chris decided to have it painted Burnt Orange and put it back on the street to enjoy both on the street and track, he said that he  recently got into the Hard Tire heads up racing , and likes the format much better than ET. Th

      This Duster bodied Nitro Funny Car is also a '27 Fuel Altered based out of West Palm Beach , Florida .  Michael Harrigan is the owner and Crew Chief  & Chris King is at the controls . Chris has been a full-time firefighter for 23 years, the last 10 in The Windy City.  He assigned to  Special Operations Heavy Rescue.  Some of his work includes going into fires in collapsed buildings, and pulling out people trapped under rubble, saving people in elevators,  & SCUBA diving into Lake Michigan.     King has dreamed of being a drag race driver since he was a kid "growing up at Great Lakes Dragway .  He went to all the Labor Day races & every nitro and jet-car show 'Broadway Bob' had," he said. "I've always wanted to get to the big leagues, and a few years ago he decided that it was   time to get a Top Fuel license .     Chris earned his Nitro Funny Car competition license in Paul Richards nitro funny car under the guidance of Paul Smith late i

   Manson has some great Mopar's he would like to share with us, so I said sure lets show them all . Instead of more then one post I'm going to post them on his own page , check it out under (More)                                    The first car we featuring is a 1973 Plymouth Barracuda .             The first thing that stands out is the Plum Crazy Purple paint.             Manson purchased the car in 1999 after looking for a Cuda' for 13 years.  This is a real BS23 car.  It was featured in 2001 issue of Mopar Muscle magazine .  Engine Room features : The 426 wedge that fills the frame rails , was not an option in 1973 but it gets the job done . It is equipped with a 11:1 Cr. short block , Lunati Bracket Master II cam shaft. With  Edelbrock stage 1 heads with 1.5 roller rockers. Air and fuel flow through an Offenhauser 360 dual quad intake with two 625   Carter Competition carbs.     A MSD Pro billet distributor & 6AL2 box lights the fire and Taylor 409 plug

                                                Al Wagner's 1970 Plymouth Duster          Al Wagner  started Drag Racing in a 13.0 second Plymouth Road Runner back in 1972.  He kept improving it and reached 11.0 second runs back in the early 80's with a steel block 383/4 speed trans.  He ran the car  for over 13 years,  and sold it in 1982 .  Al stated , It was time to step it up.      In 1983 he purchased the current Duster we see here .  With just a little chassis work Al ran bracket races with it and also super street (10.90 index).      He had an 8th place finish in the S/ST class back in 1986, and raced the car in that current state until he decided to totally re-chassis the car in 1989.  The car was taken to Vallow Body & Chassis in Pontiac, IL. The car is currently a round tube chassis , with a funny car cage, 4 link rear , and a  strut front end.   For power a 572 Wedge was installed with aluminum rods.  The block and heads are by Indy Cylinder Head,