By Jesse Kiser / Photos: Jesse Kiser
How Do You Build a Cheap Mopar?
Keep It Simple and Use Leftover Parts
I
s there such a thing as a cheap Mopar nowadays? With
rust claiming more victims every day, it’s increasingly
harder to find a vintage Pentastar muscle car the average
person can afford. Nevertheless, 57-year-old veteran Scott
Davis of Concord, North Carolina, got lucky—twice. With a
desire to race vintage American muscle on the autocross, he
looked past the fields of Camaros and Mustangs and onto a
Mopar, building this 1972 Plymouth Duster on the cheap.
“Every time I need to buy something Mopar-specific, it’sthree times the cost if it were a Chevy or Ford,” Scott said.
Notwithstanding, his pragmatic approach has evolved over
the course of the build, using as many universal performance
items as possible and picking up scrap parts. Like a dump
truck’s leaf-spring spacer that he found in a gas station
parking lot. Scott cut it in half and used it as the Duster’s
leaf-spring spacers. The lower front spoiler, believed to be
from an S-10, was found in a neighbor’s front yard on trash
day. His Duster is the homebuilt hero of the autocross,46 CAR CRAFT OCTOBER 2019