You know, before people becoming celebrities or successful international businessmen they live a regular life – eat ordinary food, work usual job and ride regular cars. The same thing is about Jay Leno before he became an international celebrity he was working at a local dealership spinning wrenches and, you know, doing all other regular stuff. There his fate crossed with Paul Annunziata who was just the fan of Mopar muscle. And while Jay was busy with stand-up comedy Paul was trying to build a street-legal pro-stock drag car out of a 1975 Duster. $10,000 lottery prize helped Paul to turn his dream in the reality and here he got body-in-white chassis and a 426 Hemi V8. Of course such powerful engine is a real challenge for the car’s body, that’s why it had to be strengthened with cage and tubes. But everything on the machine is fully functional as it would have been from the factory.
May be you ask yourself – how the car has got to Jay Leno? Well, it’s very sadly, but Annunziata was diagnosed with lung cancer, so he offered it to Leno for free under the stipulation that he never sell the machine. Leno agreed, but only if he could actually pay Annunziata for his creation. The two compromised by setting up a scholarship for those who are interested in pursuing a four-year degree in auto mechanics or restoration.
And here we can see the 1,000 hp Duster running on streets.
