This LS-Swapped Duster Is A Street-Legal NASCAR Dream

What’s better than a race car, cooler than a street car, and about as much fun as you can legally have on four wheels? A street-legal race car. And right now, there’s a seriously rowdy one sitting on Facebook Marketplace in Charlotte, North Carolina or, as we locals like to call it, ‘The Stock Car Racing Capital of the World’.

When Michael Crawford set out to build some sort of street-legal stock car, he originally tore into an AMC. But the deeper he dug, the less excited he became. The problem? He already owned a killer Duster restomod, and what he really wanted was a companion race car that wore Duster sheetmetal. That said, Michael didn’t just want a car that looked like a race car. He planned to use the second Duster to compete in time trials, hillclimbs, standing miles, and HPDE, which he already had extensive experience with.

Then Marketplace did what Marketplace does. Michael stumbled across a well-used stock car shell priced just right. After hearing Michael’s story, the seller knocked the price down even more and tossed in spare parts. With the AMC listed for sale and a legit stock car chassis headed his way, Michael said he felt like a kid on Christmas. After all, owning a legit NASCAR stock car was a dream he’d had since high school.

The foundation? A vintage Banjo’s Performance Center square-tube chassis from the 1980s that had been rebodied multiple times and, in its most recent life, was used as a pit crew training rig for NASCAR hopefuls. Within weeks, Michael had removed the old body–sold to another enthusiast for garage decor, and was well on his way to cutting, grinding, decoding the car’s original build, and sourcing correct parts.

My end game was to build a street-legal-ish race car that was incredibly safe, cheap to operate, easy to maintain, and easy enough to drive that I could hand it to friends and family to use.

The goal wasn’t to build a fragile showpiece. It was to build something incredibly safe, cheap to operate, easy to maintain, and capable of running full days at VIR in the hands of two drivers without wrenching between sessions. It had to be hillclimb-legal. It had to be forgiving enough to hand the keys to friends and family. And it had to be done on a tight budget.

Aside from its fiberglass hood and front bumper, the Duster’s body is legit Chrysler steel with a clean North Carolina title and VIN. No small feat, since the chassis’ wheelbase was two inches longer than a Duster’s wheelbase. Michael is even throwing in extra doors, extra fenders, an extra hood, and an extra decklid. Translation: you’re not chasing unicorn parts. 

That metal is stretched across a square-tube stock car chassis, truck arms, and a full-floater 9-inch rearend. Michael rebuilt the car’s superspeedway hubs, added a 14:1 steering box, added rebuilt Koni shocks, and installed a Wilwood multi-piston brake system that’s complete with a bias bar. No doubt, this is a purpose-built performance car that’ll run just as good as it looks.

Power comes from a 5.3 LS V8 that features an LS1 intake, an F-body pan, long-tube headers, and oval exhaust. That mill twists torque through a simple Saginaw 4-speed that’s built with a Lakewood bellhousing and a hydraulic clutch. A dual-pass radiator and a 22-gallon baffled fuel cell, fitted with a Walbro 255 pump, handle cooling and fuel. In other words, the car is built like it plans to go fast.

After learning about this build, we get the impression that, more than anything, it was about family, late nights, discovering old race car history, and chasing something a little ridiculous just because you can. Michael says he hasn’t touched the car in two years and knows he won’t finish it. So now it’s someone else’s chance to own a street-legal stock car with serious bones. Looking for something loud, mechanical, and unapologetically different? This LS-powered Duster might just be your key to greatness.