It’s a strange phenomenon: Whenever I see slot mags on a mid-1970s Ford, the inner stunt driver starts going psychotic. And what’s even stranger is that voice of reason, the one that usually can contain that little demon, is standing right next to him, going, “What can hurt?” Maybe it’s because I watched way too much Starsky and Hutch re-runs during childhood. Maybe it’s because I might have a lot of experience power-sliding in a Torino that wore slot mags around when I was a kid. Maybe I’m just a delinquent who can’t properly function without rear-wheel-drive, tons of torque, and a plush seat to sit my ass down on before I proceed to scare the hell out of half of a county. But whatever the case, when I saw this Ford LTD II for sale on eBay, every fiber of my being started going nuts. This thing needs to have massive plumes of tire smoke pouring from those rear wheel wells.

But why this particular LTD II? Why any LTD II, for that matter? Simply because it’s a 1970s Torino with a new name, that looks better than any Torino that rolled off of Ford lines between 1974 and 1976. I’m not a fan of the rounded, kind of bloated look that the 1974-76 Torinos had. Compared, the 1977-79 LTD II had crips lines that actually carried the weight of the car well. They weren’t performers by any stretch of the imagination…the 400M might have made 175 horsepower on a good day…but torque was comparatively decent and with the right gears out back, the car would at least try to act like it wanted to move. Or, you could go for a really deep gearset and proceed to turn the rear tires to dust at whim.

Between the Arizona-fresh body, the strangely appealing paint/roof combination, and the slot mags that are worth the extra cost the seller is asking for, we’d be hurrying to put together a screamer of a big-block and a bulletproof C6 to back it up. You don’t see these everyday and I haven’t seen one in the flesh since 1989…it’s different, it’s comfy and it could rock with minimal work.

Confession: the truly warped side of me pictures this drifting in tandem with a typical drift car, chasing it down like a monster that is about ready to feed. Something about that image just makes me smile.

eBay Link: 1978 Ford LTD II