LS-Swapped 1978 Ford Fairmont Wagon Terrorizes the Drag Strip: Track Time Tuesday Presented by the All-New Nitto Recon Grappler™ A/T
Don’t let the sleepy appearance of this classic Ford Fairmont wagon fool you, because it’s rather quick.
GM’s LS family of powerplants has found its way into pretty much any make or model one can imagine over the years. But our favorite swaps are cars that no one expects, the kinds of rides that sneak up on folks at the drag strip and leave them staring at taillights, wondering what went wrong. This 1978 Ford Fairmont wagon – the subject of this week’s Track Time Tuesday presented by Nitto– is such a machine, the kind of car you have to sleep on because, well, it’s a vehicle that was purchased and driven by boring family types decades ago.
As we can clearly see in this video from YouTuber Drag Racing and Car Stuff, this Ford Fairmont wagon is no longer used to take the family on cross-country trips, but rather, it lives its life a quarter-mile at a time. The wheel and tire combination, along with a parachute hanging off the tailgate, are the only real clues as to what’s going on underneath that classic, boxy body.
Pop the hood, and you won’t find some old, underpowered Blue Oval mill sitting in the engine bay. Rather, this wagon is powered by a 5.3-liter LS that’s been fitted with a big old 85mm VS Racing turbo. Outside of the aforementioned additions, there’s a roll cage inside that also hints at the car’s real potential, but in this video of the Fairmont in action at Midwest Drags, it has no problem knocking down pretty much everything it lines up against.
In its first race, the wagon runs an impressive 9.19-second pass at nearly 148 mph to take home an easy win while its foe faces some sort of mechanical issue halfway down the track. Next, it runs an even better 9.07 at 149 mph to beat out a Chevy II it lines up against. A serious-looking Fox Body Mustang outruns the Fairmont with a stellar 7.84-second pass at 185 mph, while the wagon just keeps getting faster with a 9-flat run at 151 mph. Finally, the wagon stalls at the line, allowing an old Chevelle Malibu to send it packing.
Regardless, this classic Ford Fairmont wagon proves that it’s a force to contend with in this particular outing. And thanks to its sleepy appearance, we imagine that more than one of its foes probably took it a bit lightly, only to get embarrassed by the ultra-quick LS-powered machine.
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