Jay Leno’s 1000 hp Plymouth Duster

My friend J showed me this story. It’s an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage that’s somewhat different from what you’re probably expecting. The car featured is a 1000 horsepower supercharged Plymouth Duster. The car is awesome, but the real story comes from how it came to be. The Duster was built by a man named Paul Annunziata. The project started when Paul won $10,000 from a scratch off lottery ticket. He bought a body in white from Plymouth and then shoehorned a massive 426 Hemi under the hood in order to make a street version of some pro drag cars he saw as kid. Several years later, Annunziata donated the car to Jay Leno when he was diagnosed with lung cancer after making Leno promise that he would never sell it. Instead of paying for the Duster, Jay donated money to the McPherson College in Kansas because it’s the only college left in America with a four year degree program in automotive restoration. Unfortunately Paul has since passed away, but he was able to build this award winning Duster and ensure that the next generation would also have the opportunity to build project cars like his. That’s a legacy that any of us could be proud of.


Source: Jay Leno’s Garage