This wild paint job was chosen...
This wild paint job was chosen to draw a stir at any event Emilio participates in. Maybe his competitors were left at the tree because they were too busy checking it out.
The A-Body has to be the absolute best Mopar platform to build a drag car off of. They can be had on the cheap, and their small size and chassis give them serious potential in the 1320. Emilio Glano set out to build a serious race car that could win shows, and the final product was this '70 Duster. In June of 1989, Emilio purchased the A-Body for a cool 5-grand. It took a six-year project build in order to get the car running in 1995, and it was finally painted in 1997. "I liked the car and it was a four-speed so I was sold," he recalls. The plans called for a serious buildup that could reward Emilio with 9-second time slips and success on the show circuit.
The factory chassis benefits from a slew of aftermarket goodies that help the blue Duster apply all the small-block power to the ground. Bruce Blair from Extreme Engineering performed all the modifications to the chassis. This included moving the shocks inboard to make room for the massive 29.5x15x50 Mickey Thompson slicks mounted to Weld Pro Stars. The rear suspension consists of 12-way adjustable Competition Engineering magnum shocks with 150lb springs and a Competiton Engineering 33-inch ladder bar. The Dana 60 rearend was shortened and uses disc brakes to bring everything to a halt. Inside the massive rear are a spool, 4.88 gears, and strange axles. Up front, the stock suspension was mostly retained. The most notable changes are '73 Duster control arms and spindles with disc brakes. Competition engineering three-way adjustable shocks work with 6 cylinder torsion bars to control weight transfer. A matching set of Weld wheels in 15x3.5 use 26-inch Mickey Thompson front runners. To keep things safe and NHRA-legal is a 10-point cage and rear mounted battery and 10 gallon fuel cell.
Powering the Plymouth is, surprisingly, a 389 small-block. This highly massaged Mopar was built by Precision Automotive in Simsbury, Connecticut. Ross flat-top pistons are connected to BME rods and a Mopar Performance steel 3.79-inch stroke crankshaft. A Moroso electric water pump and Flexlite electric fan keep things cool. The camshaft is a custom hydraulic roller with a "big" duration with a "bigger" lift. Emilio didn't want to disclose his great combination to the world, but, we assure you, it works. A pair of Joey Arrington Racing aluminum cylinder heads received a nice porting and polishing with a 3-angle valve job. They use 2.08-inch stainless steel intake and a 1.60-inch stainless steel exhaust valves from Manley. The massive cam is contained by a set of triple spring valvesprings with 1.60 intake/1.55 exhaust Jesel roller rockers. An Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum intake manifold is mated to a Holley Dominator 1050 adds the air and fuel. This is ignited with an electric Mallery Unilite ignition system with an MSD coil and Moroso wires. Custom 1 7/8-inch headers feed a 3-inch collector and Flowmaster. To drive the A-Body forward, a '95 Liberty 5-speed transmission with a Ram clutch is used. "I enjoy shifting my own gears," he says.
All the bodywork was performed by Emilio, who owns and operates Superior Autobody in North Haven, Connecticut, and he chose the bold paint scheme. The base color is Q-electric Blue. On top of that, he applied a custom graphic that uses blue, purple, red, orange, maroon, and green. The front and rear bumpers were replaced with fiberglass and painted over, as well. Inside the A-Body, Autometer gauges were added for their increased accuracy. The stock black interior was either refurbished or replaced with reproduction parts, and a Simpson 5-point safety harness keeps Emilio inside his Jazz Glass seats.
Emilio's original goals were certainly achieved, save for one exception: He still hasn't won any car shows. "I'm too busy racing!" he exclaims. He claims to put about 1,000 miles a year on the car a quarter mile at a time. That's 4,000 passes down the strip in this show quality car. Who would have thought? His best ET to date has been a 9.93 at 137 mph. That's impressive for any naturally aspirated car, especially one powered by a small-block. It just goes to show how great these A-Bodies really are.