Tim Grillot bought this 1978 Ford Fairmont Futura at the 2013 NMRA World Finals at Beech Bend Raceway. It was an impulse buy, he tells us.

“I had to borrow money from strangers to buy it,” Grillot says.

It was an 80,000-mile 302/automatic car that Grillot drove back to Iowa from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He bought the car with no real plan, saying he “just thought it was cool.”

Using largely a 2003 Cobra engine, the powerplant disposes of the factory Eaton supercharger in favor of a Precision single turbo.

After getting the car home and mulling it over, it came down to a coin toss between NMRA Coyote Stock and a Hot Rod Drag Week car. Not wanting to get rid of the car’s pristine interior, he was glad the coin toss landed on Drag Week. Along with the weeklong festival of horsepower, he plans to hit a few True Street events, as well.

Grillot built the chassis to compete in the Small Block Power Adder class with a cage built to 8.50 specs. Five months into the build he was offered a job with Holley Performance Parts so he picked up the family and moved to Bowling Green. With the relocation and all that entails, the car was on hold for a bit, until his wife and co-workers urged him to drag it out of the barn and get it done.

Using a UPR Products tubular K-member to drop the motor under the hood, the iron-block 4.6 Four-Valve with a Sullivan intake utilizes a Precision 7675 single billet wheel turbo, a Tial blow-off valve and wastegate, and four-inch downpipe. Behind the Four-Valve is a Turbo 400 transmission with an SFI-certified flex plate and Ultimate Converter Concepts converter. From there, a Strange Engineering driveshaft and billet trans and rear end yoke lead back to a 8.8 rear with Strange double-adjustable shocks, 3.27 gear, spool, and 33-spline axles.

The Futura’s basic interior is largely untouched. However, a Holley digital dash will keep Trillot of vital mechanical goings-on.

Of course, the car uses a myriad of Holley components, including a 12-1600 fuel pump, 120-lb/hr injectors, Earl’s lines, and a Dominator EU and digital dash. The combination uses a GM drive-by-wire pedal with a 90mm throttle body.

At this stage, Grillot just got the car running and “is close to being ready to shake it down,” he says. So, if you’re on Drag Week, and see an unsuspecting beige Fairmont, we would advise not to take it lightly.