Photo: Jim Gordon (edited by autoevolution)
We've seen and even driven a fair few no-expense-spared restomods built at the hands of industry-leading shops with five or sometimes six figures in square footage of their production facilities at hand. Oh, and even a few million dollars of custom 3D printing and metal fabrication equipment at the really high end of things. But what about builds made at home in people's sheds? Can they still keep up with industry professionals? Well, it takes a very particular kind of person to build one of those, and Jim Gordon might just be one of those folks.
Based out of Buffalo, New York, Jim Gordon managed to take a 1941 Willys Americar Coupe and turn it into a restomod drag car so menacing that it looks ready to gap Ferraris and humble Hellcats over the quarter mile. For a pre-war design that left the factory with four cylinders and 60 horsepower, it might very well be the top dog among its breed as far as performance goes. Over the course of many thousands of hours, Jim Gordon painstakingly stripped his Willys down to the bare body and frame before meticulously de-rusting everything as best as possible.
From there, Gordon paired the chassis to the front and rear end of a Ford Mustang. Though some of its underpinnings are classic Ford, the engine is a genuine General Motors small-block LSX V8 affair. However, this time, it's been stroked up to 468 cubic inches (7.66 L) and fitted with a B&M 671 supercharger that rivals a Hellcat's blower in terms of its menacing presence atop the engine. Power is fed to a TH400 automatic transmission, which is so archaic and durable that GM didn't stop making it until the early 2010s. Mind you, that's a transmission first built in 1964.
Not that you'll need much more capability out of a transmission meant to handle load a quarter mile at a time. With massive rear drag slicks on chromed alloy rims, coilover shocks, and Wilwood drilled and slotted disk brakes at all four corners, nothing here isn't standard issue on a genuinely competitive drag car. But what the average drag car doesn't have is an interior that's a genuinely nice place to strap yourself into. Liberal amounts of plush, stitched red leather, polished aluminum, and chrome, plus a full racing gauge cluster, there's as much function as there is form in this drag car interior.
It makes you wonder if an interior this nice is wasted on a drag car. There's an argument to be made there, but that's the wonderful thing about building a race car yourself. You don't have to follow a single rule or regulation that a professionally-tooled restomod shop has. In short, they don't have to get told no. Is it worth $100,000? The Craigslist ad seems to comport that.
From there, Gordon paired the chassis to the front and rear end of a Ford Mustang. Though some of its underpinnings are classic Ford, the engine is a genuine General Motors small-block LSX V8 affair. However, this time, it's been stroked up to 468 cubic inches (7.66 L) and fitted with a B&M 671 supercharger that rivals a Hellcat's blower in terms of its menacing presence atop the engine. Power is fed to a TH400 automatic transmission, which is so archaic and durable that GM didn't stop making it until the early 2010s. Mind you, that's a transmission first built in 1964.
Not that you'll need much more capability out of a transmission meant to handle load a quarter mile at a time. With massive rear drag slicks on chromed alloy rims, coilover shocks, and Wilwood drilled and slotted disk brakes at all four corners, nothing here isn't standard issue on a genuinely competitive drag car. But what the average drag car doesn't have is an interior that's a genuinely nice place to strap yourself into. Liberal amounts of plush, stitched red leather, polished aluminum, and chrome, plus a full racing gauge cluster, there's as much function as there is form in this drag car interior.
It makes you wonder if an interior this nice is wasted on a drag car. There's an argument to be made there, but that's the wonderful thing about building a race car yourself. You don't have to follow a single rule or regulation that a professionally-tooled restomod shop has. In short, they don't have to get told no. Is it worth $100,000? The Craigslist ad seems to comport that.
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