(By Eric Rood) – For most of its dull life, the long-forgotten Tempo quietly slipped into the Ford lineup between the economy Escort and mid-size Taurus as a starter car for young, exquisitely boring families. Today, they’re increasingly rare on the road and, when seen, are often metaphorically uttering suicide oaths between gasping breaths. While the late V6 Tempos could run an almost-respectable 16.1-second quarter mile, that was it. There simply was no performance aftermarket for the little hoopties, which of course makes the existence of this rip-snorting 12-second Tempo one of the greatest low-buck accomplishments in history.

The owner claims to have had less than $3,000 in the Tempo when it ran 12.03 at more than 129 miles per hour back in 2010. So how does one do that? For starters, you get rid of the “High-Swirl Combustion” 2.3-liter four-banger, preferably by launching it into the ocean from a trebuchet. I’m not positive the owner did that, specifically, but having personally driven a car with that engine–which was basically two-thirds of a Ford 200 straight six–I can say unequivocally that is their best use.

Anyway, in the HSC’s place is, somehow, the turbocharged 2.3-liter Ford Lima engine from a Merkur XR4Ti, which is mated to the transmission from a 1988 Ford Escort GT, of all things. The owner posted video of a dyno pull that he claims resulted in 325 horsepower to the wheels without a shot of the output. Since I saw that video before the drag run, I was skeptical until I watched the Tempo’s miserable little shape tear down the back half of the track. I’d say that power figure is pretty darn accurate and, given the mph, he should be able to know 0.04 second off to break into the 11s if the Turbo Tempo is still kicking.
And lord knows, we hope it is.