Yes kids, there was a time when pro mods weren’t a bunch of old Camaros, Corvettes, and pro stock looking late models. In fact, there was a time when being different and weird was celebrated. There was an era in the 1990s when everyone and their brother wanted the title of “world’s fastest something” and it blossomed into a menagerie of cool and weird vehicles that fans across the country loved. While we have no idea when this Escort EXP bodied pro mod was built we can tell you that there is an element of that wild and wooly attitude built into it. We’re going to take a shot and say that the thing was originally constructed in the 1990s but that’s a total guess.
The engine in the car is a 557i Ford stroker with Trick Flow A460 heads, a tunnel ram with a couple of carbs on it and a bottom end full of stuff from Eagle. The transmission is a PowerGlide with a PTC converter and the rear end is a Ford 9″ style unit with 4.88 gears. Being that the car is naturally aspirated and that it runs an automatic transmission, we’re thinking that its fastest days are behind it. For it to be a legit pro mod, it would need some sort of power adder. That doesn’t mean the thing is slow of course, just that as it sits right now, “pro mod” doesn’t really cover what it is. Eighth mile quick eight machine is its likely intended purposes these days.
There are signs that the thing has been mothballed a while. The flash rust on the cage that you can see, the spiderwebs on the engine, and rust visible on stuff like the header flanges says to us that this car has been laid up a while. Back in its fighting days it must have been a heck of a piece. That absolutely monster hood scoop gave the driver little hope of seeing the whole tree, and the relatively short wheelbase must have also made it a handful to drive. The gigantic picnic table wing on the back completes the classic look and are we the only ones who noticed the roof hatch?!
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND THEN HIT THE LINK –
Future candidate for Drag Week 2016., Id drive it.
Bob Glidden had one in the early 80`s and said it was the worst handling race car he ever drove!! Don’t think I would want to try it! It is pretty neat though!
Sorry! Correction! Glidden had an EXP! Not much different though!
Same body as the Glidden EXP. Very short wheel base!
Zooming in on the cage pics, it appears that it was updated. Most of it is gray, but the funny car style appears unpainted and surface rusted. Not the area where is was welded to the rest of the cage, the paint was ground off.