The Legacy of Paul's 75 Duster

Paul wanted to make sure that the following people who played a part in the building whose duster were thanked for their contributions. First, there was Bobby Bell from Holliston for special components. Then, there was the late Frank Wylie of Hopkinton, who contributed to the car's suspension parts. Lastly, there was Jeff Fervor of Hopkinton, who reported on H Cam News.

Sadly, Paul is no longer with us, but his car lives on as a testament to his passion and dedication. The car has been preserved as a memorial to him, with trophies and articles about its history displayed prominently. Despite not having a personal explanation from Paul himself, we can still get a sense of what the car is and how it was built.

The 75 Duster is an unusual car, as it never came with a Hemi engine. Instead, Paul bought a brand new body and white from Chrysler, which meant that the car was unpainted when he assembled it on this chassis. It's a 68 Hemi engine, of course, and it's been supercharged to give it an impressive amount of power.

When we open up the hood, we can see how Paul modified the car to make it more suitable for street driving. He replaced the radiator with a bigger one, which is necessary because Massachusetts has cooler temperatures than Los Angeles. The carburetor was also rebuilt to be more efficient, and the wheelie bars on the back were removed because they made too much noise.

The interior of the car remains largely unchanged from its original state. Paul's initials are still visible on the dashboard, and a few extra gauges have been added to provide more information about the car's performance. The rear seat has been removed, and the gas tank is now located in the trunk. We even took a look inside the fuel cell, where we found a new battery and a few other modifications.

One of the most impressive aspects of the car is its attention to detail. Paul was known for his meticulous workmanship, and it shows in every aspect of the vehicle. The interior is spotless, with not a single speck of dust or dirt to be seen. The exterior is equally well-maintained, with no signs of wear or tear.

The car has won numerous awards over the years, including a feature in Hot Rod Magazine in 1980. It's also been featured in other magazines, and it's clear that Paul put a lot of thought into building a car that would stand out from the crowd.

Despite its impressive performance, the car is surprisingly street-legal. The tires have been replaced with proper street tires, and the mufflers are less loud than you might expect. When we took the car for a test drive, it proved to be a joy to ride. It's not as fast as some of the other cars on the road, but it's certainly more refined.

One of the most impressive things about the car is its ability to handle heavy loads. Paul put over 500 miles on the car, mostly by running quarter-mile drag strips at various speeds. It's a testament to his skill as a builder and a tuner that he was able to get such incredible performance out of this engine.

The car also features a number of custom modifications, including a new head gasket and a rebuilt transmission. The engine is still producing over 1000 horsepower, which is an impressive amount for such a heavy car. Paul's attention to detail has paid off in spades, as the car is now running like a dream.

When we asked about the fuel efficiency of the car, it was clear that this wasn't a major concern for Paul. The car may not get great gas mileage, but it's certainly more than capable of moving at freeway speeds. And when you step on the gas, it launches forward with incredible force, thanks to its massive engine.

In conclusion, Paul's 75 Duster is a true masterpiece of automotive engineering. It's a testament to his skill and dedication as a builder and tuner, and it will live on as a reminder of his passion for cars. Whether you're a car enthusiast or just someone who appreciates great mechanics, this car is definitely worth checking out.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwell in that episode of Jay Leno's Garage this episode is gonna be a tribute to the man who built this car his name is Paul in NZ otta and he passed away of lung cancer a while ago and he was a master mechanic he worked at the same GART car dealership that I worked at when I was a kid and he opened his own shop he was a race car driver well you'll see we have a bit of footage on him interesting story behind this car he had lung cancer and he wanted the car to go to a good home and he contacted me and he said he would donate the car to me as long as I promise not to sell it and I agreed to that but I didn't want to take it from him and what we did was we I bought the car from him and we donated the money to McPherson College which is a college that gives a four-year degree in auto restoration and auto mechanics and the students that got the Paul Nunziata scholarship called him right before he passed away and he was very happy and very thrilled that that was the outcome that some young people could continue learning about automobiles and restoring them it all turned out pretty good now before we get into the car and the mechanics of it and driving it and believe me it's fascinating to drive back in Massachusetts he was came from Hopkinton Massachusetts he lived in Hollister but Michelle Murdock was a young woman who did a story on him for hkm TV that's the one of the local stations there and in Massachusetts and here's her report take a look Darvin go-carts as a kid - driving standard shift cars down abandoned railroad beds at the age of 13 cars have always been important to Paul Annunziata beginning at age 16 with a 650cc matchless motorcycle and drag racing his 55 Chevy Hot Rod Hall is owned and driven a variety of different cars but his 1975 Plymouth Duster special so special that it recently traveled cross-country to its new home in Jay Leno's Garage Edgecam News sat down with Paul to talk about how he built the car and about its new home in LA this car is a 1975 film at dusk oh it has a 1968 426 engine in it the gain from the guard super-goof after graduating from Jim Russell's international race drivers School in Norfolk England in the early 1970s and as the valedictorian of his class from National Technical Schools in Los Angeles California Paul had the idea to build a pro stock class drag car for the street and I was in California going to school I used to go to Orange County dragon late and the cars back then in the 70s they had a class called Pro Stock and these are the pro stock cars the Mopar missile in the motown missile they were two black pro stock cars that I came up with the idea and I wasn't the first one to do it to take this car this Pro Street drag car and put it on the street putting the duster on the street took a lot of work with many modifications what that incorporated was these large tires they cut the wheel wells out the factory wheel wells out of the car and modified the trunk and put in new wheel wells so that they could narrow a rear end housing and put wide tires all up underneath there was nothing protruding beyond the outer extremity of the quarter panels then the rake angle of the car Willie buys the wheelie bars are really to prevent the car from going way up in the air and then having it slam back down and do damage to the front suspension that's what they're all about in addition to the wide tires and everything else that goes with a race car the Duster is supercharged I wanted to supercharge it so I used the roots-type supercharger oh boy the man's name that invented these was roots Roo - yes they pumped here down into mining shafts to give the coal workers the - yeah that's where this all came and then it was adapted for cars right a winning scratch ticket at a local supermarket helped fund the building of Paul's car and I bought the first ticket I ever bought in my life a scratch dollar ticket and I it was a 7-eleven 21-game I had eleven three fives in the six and I won $10,000 the $10,000 started me on building this car the challenge was the engine since Annunziata wanted a Hemi they didn't produce any 426 Hemi engine in the duster you could get a 318 - 340 after market people put 383 cinnamon for 40s and some people put some Hemis in them like I did considerable modifications were required to fit the 426 Hemi engine into the a body duster I took it to Lindblad chassis in whitens ville Roli Lindblad he built a lot of ramadhir on card stock i stuff and he did some drag ties and he tucked the car put the roll cage in it and did the modifications to try to get the Hemi into the engine compartment now a lot of people cut everything out of there so they can get it in the easel because it's big it's huge you have to move the heater in the master cylinders got to be moved out the shock tower on this side has to be folded outboard so it doesn't hit the sole and adds it's a very complex pod tie to work on because I wanted to keep the body original and have everything work okay so this guy's got backup lights it's got agita it's got a defrost the radio everything works on this kind the way it's supposed to anon Giada had helped with some of the modifications with the special bracketry required for the engined and with the paint but assembled the car himself for a total cost of twenty-seven thousand dollars five years this custom-built 1975 from a duster when its class in the Boston world of wheels four times and the Worcester Centrum top honors one time it was awarded the Holley carburetor outstanding engine custom award and was featured in Hot Rod Magazine in November of 1980 through a connection made when he owned a none Seattle's dyno tuned up in Framingham Paul was able to contact Leno when he was searching for a new home for his car on Wednesday July 20th Annunziata 1975 Plymouth Duster was picked up by intercity lines the car transport company used by Leno to transport his cars after it was loaded on the truck and made secure Annunziata signed the papers that made the transfer official and his Plymouth Duster with the 426 CI Hemi engine began its journey westward to Jay Leno's Garage that's an extraordinary fantastic garage because I'm sipping ill with cancer they want to pass on and not worry about the preservation of the car so he gave me his word he wouldn't sell it I believe him and he's a terrific person and I'm very happy in content that he took a car I donated the car to him Paul wanted to make sure that the following people who played a part in the building whose duster were thanked for the body paint Bobby Bell from Holliston for special components the late Frank Wylie of Hopkinton and for suspension parts painting Jeff fervor of Hopkinton reporting for H cam news I'm Michele Murdock well sadly Paul is gone now but the car lives on here we've got the trophies and we've got all the articles about the car and the history of the car and we've heard from a lot of his friends so I'd like to think we're keeping this as a memorial to him now he heard a brief explanation about what the car is from Paul but we'll go over it again it's a 75 duster now the Duster obviously never came with a Hemi engine and what he did was when he built this car he bought a brand new body and white from Chrysler that means the car was unpainted a brand new body and he fitted it on this on this chassis it's a 68 Hemi engine obviously it's supercharged well let's take a look come on open up the hood here for you it fits in there we put a little bigger radiator in it because it's a lot cooler in Massachusetts than it is and Los Angeles so we put a bigger radiator in it we had to read through the mag the mag you know the car was built 30-something years ago and it just deteriorated so we rebuilt the mag we had to read jet the carburetor so these were pretty much just bear traps either full throttle or nothing so it made the car not very streetable we took the wheelie bars off the back because police tend to frown on wheel stands on the street and they just clang they made a lot of noise and we just did a general cleaning up but other than that it's exactly as as Paul wanted it we kept everything exactly as the car would have looked in the late 70s or early 80s as Paul says in his video everything works on the car radio heater don't ask about gas mileage it's kind of a sore spot but it moves out pretty good as as you will see in just a second let's take a look at the interior of the car there's Paul's initials right there we left that on there is your obviously tachometer a few extra gauges you'll see that when we go for a ride obviously the rear seat has been removed and the gas tank is here let's take a look in there and as you see we have our fuel cell here Wow new battery a few other little things but look how sanitary it is look what a nice job he did on this car he just did an amazing amazing job beautiful detail work everything nicely done this car won a number of awards well you saw Paul holding his trophies that's only a small number of trophies at at one and it's been featured in Hot Rod Magazine in 1980 and a few other magazines as well oh we also changed the tires and put proper street tires on the front those little drag tires Weatherly worth around there they would say they they really couldn't steer we had to do the front end alignment but I think he's about time to go for a ride I want to add this in high school we took the wheelie bars off the back they would just crash into much it's time to get some heat into her now well you know it's street-legal it's not that loud with these mufflers on it I got cards and a louder than this not as fast but loud just a bag do you can drive a motor like this on the street is a testament to Paul's skill as a builder in a tuner this thing's got about a thousand of horsepower there's nothing like these heavy engines she rides nice at freeway speed oh you did a great job my friend got your mag switch here the fuel here auxilary fan transmission temperature water temperature tachometer speedometer oil pressure and oil temperature as well well temperature runs pretty high you know this car only has five hundred and seventeen miles down and I probably put a couple of hundred on myself Paul put the other miles on all the quarter mile at a time stuff uh probably a lot more miles than that but inside the motors beautiful head paint quartz does an amazing job he was a real genius when it came to these Hemis all only wanted the best that's why he went to head went to a head peak and they're still in business today thirty forty years later nice thing engine up to torque loaded you just step on the gas if she go I want to thank once again Paulding Indiana Paul a true car guy and this car will live on in this garage and when people come when they want to know about the car will tell about you and they can watch this video so god bless you my friend you\n"