Twin-Turbo LS-Powered 1923 Ford T-Bucket Might Be the Craziest Build on Earth: Track Time Tuesday Presented by the All-New Nitto Recon Grappler™ A/T
With 800 horsepower on tap and no weight to speak of, this 1923 Ford T-Bucket is a truly sketchy yet hilarious build.
These days, instilling LS power in just about any kind of vehicle imaginable is a common practice. LS swaps have become so common, in fact, that it takes something truly special to stand out these days. Regardless, we may have just stumbled across the most insane LS-powered ride on the planet – this 1923 Ford T-Bucket, which clearly caught everyone’s attention when it rolled into the 2021 Holley LS Fest, a place that always attracts some crazy rides. And that alone makes it worthy of being the subject of this week’s Track Time Tuesday presented by Nitto.
The owner of this insane 1923 Ford T-Bucket, James Rowlett, is pretty blunt about his creation as well, saying “it’s just as crazy as it looks.” But crazy was precisely what Rowlett had in mind when he slapped together this vintage rig for a friend. “He pretty much gave me free rein and said just do something that looks cool, and this is what I came up with,” Rowlett said.
The T-Bucket formerly had a small block nestled up front, and Rowlett’s buddy had a lot of fun ripping donuts in the car for a while. But eventually, he wanted more, and needless to say, Rowlett delivered in that department. “It’s pretty much a stock bottom end Gen 4 5.3,” he said. “It’s not super-duper crazy, but you know, it’s a nice 800 horsepower setup. It doesn’t weigh anything and every one of us is scared to death of it.” The twin-turbo LS has been treated to a cam, a Holley intake, and a pair of 6762 VS Racing turbos.
Of course, when folks built T-Buckets back in the early days of hot rodding, that was the idea – remove as much weight as possible to make it faster. But back then, the engines those folks were installing in these things didn’t offer much in the way of horsepower. So it’s not surprising that this one reportedly lifts the wheels off the ground and tries to wheelie every time the owner gets on it. “It’s a little sketchy,” Rowlett admits. “There are two bolts that hold this body on, and it doesn’t have seat belts.”
It may not be sane or even remotely safe, but this vintage T-Bucket does perfectly embody the original spirit of hot rodding, albeit with a modern powerplant, and for that reason alone, we find it to be irresistibly cool.
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