Jim Cushman Plymouth Duster
Making It More Accurate to the 1/1

First tooled up in the 70s, AMT's Chrysler Kit Car series featured four short track racers cars, Jim Cushman Plymouth Duster, Richard Petty Dodge Dart Swinger, Warren Stewart Dodge Dart Sport, & a fictional Plymouth Scamp.

The 1/1 Kit Car program was developed & designed by Chrysler engineer Larry Rathgeb, to counter Chevy's dominance of the short tracks in the US. One could order the kit from bacisic to full, & build a short track racer out of the box, like a model, or have Petty Enterprise build one for you. Due to financial issues with Chrysler, only about 100 kits were sold & an additional 30 or so cars built, but it was a winning product from the beginning.

The AMT kits all share a common chassis, interior & drivetrain, which is largely correct, & the Swinger & Scamp share a body, as do the Duster & Sport. The latter two differ in the hood, front fascia & front bumper

This reissued Cushman Duster features improved decals, with full graphics, (the cool Air National Guard graphics weren't reproduced in scale in the original kit, just the shield), & a 12 page booklet of pics has been added to help you build it more accurately.

Additional parts will come from an AMT NASCAR Kodak Oldsmobile, a Polar Lights NASCAR Dodge Charger, & a street Dodge Dart Sport, (often mislabeled as a Plymouth Duster), to make this kit better & more true to the 1/1. I'll also be using several aftermarket parts I'll describe as we go along.

In this project I'm going to show & highlight the changes I make to build the kit as accurately to the 1/1 as I can. I'll be using the body from a Dodge Dart Kit Car I have in comparison pics to highlight & illustrate many of the changes & corrections I make.