Oh, Look, a Saab-Powered Ford Hot Rod Drift Car

A junkyard dog hasn’t been this mean since Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.
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If Dr. Moreau had dabbled in automobiles instead of animals, the Urchfab Ford Pop Drift Rat would be found banging away at the bars of a reinforced steel cage. The vision of English welder, fabricator and customizer Matt Urch, it is 75 percent junkyard parts, cost roughly $280 to build, and “the handling is very twitchy.” No, we would never would have guessed that, either.

Urch said he wanted a standout hot rod drift car he could use to advertise his services at shows and on track. A 1953 Ford Anglia donated what was left of its body and sits on a custom floorpan. The engine is a nineties-era turbocharged Saab four-banger. The gearbox ripped from a Vauxhall. The rear axle comes courtesy of a Volvo 240 and is held aloft by a custom four-link suspension. The gas tank is two propane canisters and a fire extinguisher. Oh, and it has a three-inch, smokestack exhaust. Naturally.

The paint job is no accident, either—a mixed palette of dull turquoise, red oxide primer, satin black, and satin lacquer. As for getting attention, not only is this mission accomplished, it is a monumental compliment to the word “scavenger.”

This video tells the story of eight months of love and labor, in Urch’s own words. If curiosity compels you (and it should) there’s a build page and plenty of photos.

Basking in Oscars glow, Max Max director George Miller has promised us sequels. Consider this our casting recommendation.