When Tom Watkins heard the news that he was going to have a baby, he was faced with a tough decision. In an act of adult responsibility, he decided to give up on his motorcycle road racing career and get back into cars. Long before he turned to handling two wheels, he bled Mopar and owned a '71 'Cuda and Panther Pink '70 AAR 'Cuda. He was really into E-Bodies, but this time, with a child on the way, he decided to look for something a little more affordable. He figured a Plymouth Duster would be an excellent fit and hold his need for driving excitement.
Tom found this '70 Duster just across the Georgia/Florida border and made the trek to check it out. It was a good-looking car, but he could tell that the paint wasn't the best. That didn't bother him, so a price was negotiated and he took the car home on a trailer behind his truck. What was important to him was that the car had a straight body. "The body was solid, it was a numbers matching car, had a cool color, and it was a four-speed," Tom says.
He started to research the car to find out more information about its life and previous owners. His investigation led him to a guy who purchased the car used in 1973, and between him and a couple other owners, he found that the car spent its entire life in Florida. "At one point, the car was hammered on pretty hard-evident by the split in the floor from a clutch explosion-and spent many years sitting in a car port in Fort Lauderdale," he says.
Shortly after his son Tyler was born, another change in his life resulted in the Duster becoming his daily driver. This put a hold on his restoration, but he began taking Tyler to cruises and car shows in the Sarasota area. Eventually, the Florida heat and humidity took their toll on the car so the Duster once again became a "toy."
Shortly after relegating the Duster to "toy" status, Tom started a minor restoration on the car that ultimately ended up being a rotisserie restoration. His day-to-day work began taking him to new living locations like North Carolina, Illinois, and Ohio, and he brought the car along with him at each move. The frequent moves and lack of storage meant he had to leave it in pieces in a storage unit at one point. It took seven years, but he was slowly bringing the project to life.
Tom was able to complete most of the work on his own with the help of his son, but he did, however, know when he reached the limits of his skills and called upon experts to get the job done. "My good friend Mike Gemza from Creations by Gemza in Denver, North Carolina, helped me with what little bodywork that was needed and applied the basecoat and clearcoat PPG," he says. "I did the final wet sanding and buffing and applied the stripes." Tom also happens to be a machinist and was able to do most of the engine work himself, but turned to XRE Performance in Mooresville, North Carolina, to do the final fitting, assembly, and engine dyno. They started with the original 340 small-block, but now the final engine produces 416 cubic inches and twisted the dyno to 505 hp and a tire-melting 565 lb-ft of torque.
The air cleaner says it's...
The air cleaner says it's a 340, so it must be, right?
Tom and Tyler did all the interior, electrical, and assembly work with help from friends like Eric Walker. The electrical upgrades consisted of an MSD ignition module that he hid in order to retain the factory look under the hood. They converted the car from an ammeter to a voltmeter and modified the headlight relays to apply solid power to the Hella H5 beams and LED bulbs in the dash. These modifications made the electrical system reliable, and the modern headlight upgrade made the car more enjoyable to drive at night.