Remember this number: $952.91. That's what it took for us to transform our grandma-fresh 302-equipped '70 Ford Fairlane 500 into a badass fire-breathing street beast (less wheels and tires). At least it looks like a fire-breathing street beast. Later on, we're gonna pour some serious oats into the Ford's feedbag with a stroked 351-based Windsor and a bulletproof C4. We'll be hunting for 11-second timeslips, but since we're working on our look-cool-without-going-broke issue, we decided to kick this project off with the visual enhancements first.
The idea here is to visually transform a relatively docile-looking car into a muscular street machine.The factory basically did the same thing back in the '60s and '70s: They took the family car, whipped up some decals, threw a spoiler on, sprayed some matte-black paint in a few choice areas, and voil: instant musclecar. It was cheap for the OEMs back in the day, and it's cheap now.
With so many variants built off the same car at each manufacturer, swapping hoods, grilles, spoilers, graphics, wheels, and badges is easy. You can even mix and match to come up with combos the factory never made. For this Fairlane, we robbed the Torino parts bin by using a Torino GT hood and front spoiler. We rattle-canned the rear valance and topped it off with a sinister black vinyl roof to replace grandma's white one. Got an idea for our new Ford project? Let us know by dropping us an e-mail at steven.rupp@sorc.com. We'll also be trolling www.torinocobra.com and www.fordmuscle.com to get your feedback.
| WHERE THE MONEY WENT |
| '70 Ford Fairlane 500 (eBay): | $8,100.00 |
| Vintage Wheel Works V60 wheels: | $1,179.00 |
| Nitto NT555 tires (Discount Tire Direct): | $594.00 |
| Mount and balance tires: | $100.00 |
| Used '70 Torino GT hood: | $250.00 |
| Paint and body: | $250.00 |
| Materials to paint rear valance: | $15.00 |
| New vinyl top: | $119.95 |
| Labor for top install: | $250.00 |
| Front spoiler: | $67.96 |
| Total: | $10,925.91 |
Sold parts from Fairlane
(old tires, wheels, and hood): | -$425.00 |
| Grand total: | $10,500.91 |