In an auto shop class in Colorado Springs in the fall of 1999, I came across a unicorn of a car, a Ford LTD LX. For those that don’t know the story, Ford and Bondurant partnered up to build some hot Fox-body LTDs for the school. The school got 5.0/5-speed cars, and Ford sold a limited run of 5.0/automatic cars with beefier than stock suspensions…basically, a Mustang GT sedan. It could’ve been mine for pennies on the dollar, if I managed to get the purple beast to start. That never happened, and I held a grudge against them since. There was no possible way that I’d ever find a Fox LTD impressive…they were a dolled-up Fairmont, a 1980s turd worth forgetting.

Then I got introduced to Chris Goode’s 1984 Ford LTD in a big way: I first met the car at LS Fest 2015, which raised plenty of eyebrows on it’s own. By no means the only Ford body on the property, it was the only Ford sedan on the property, and it was rocking plenty hard on the strip. I missed my chance to chat with Chris then, but I caught up with him at the 2016 Street Car Takeover and finally got to shoot the LTD a year later, at the 2016 LS Fest. That being said, I only shot the car…it’s taken a bit more to actually catch up with Chris and to get the full information on the white Fox, and to be fair, we’re glad we did, because it meant that we got to go see Chris’s shop in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Well, it’s not so much a shop as it’s a detached garage in a quiet little neighborhood…the kind of garage you’d expect to see chock-filled with lawnmowers, winter tires and stuff nobody wears or uses anymore. Instead, Goode has repurposed the garage into a compact but efficient work station, and together with friends in the community is able to build some interesting cars…we aren’t going to spill the beans on the next one, but suffice it to say that the LTD’s crown as king is about to be passed on. But that’s a story for when that particular car is finished…for now, take a look at one of the sleepiest cars we’ve seen hit the strip in a bit!

Outside of the five-lug S-197 wheels and the strip-only slicks, the LTD is as basic as they come. When it is shut down, there is no indication that anything is amiss and it’s easy to pass the car up.

Which is a big mistake. Unfortunately for the purists, that is indeed an LS, a 370ci mill that runs the factory crankshaft, rods, pistons and intake. It’s got long tube headers and a 150-horse shot of nitrous, and is backed with a $50 4L80E automatic trans fitted with an Edge converter.

The LTD’s suspension is a mix of 2004 Terminator Cobra pieces and components from Maximum Motorsport, and an AJE tubular K-frame. Brakes are handled via a 1993 Cobra master cylinder.

True, the Fox LTD was a dressed-up Fairmont, but it’s beyond us how the two cars are mistaken for each other.

One of the better bits from the Terminator is the independent rear suspension. Not only is it stout enough to take the punishment on the strip, it has to make for a decent street ride as well.

Goode found the car on Craigslist for $900 a few years back. It had been owned by a lady since new and was lovingly maintained. When she passed, her nephew went to sell it and after some hesitation about his aunt’s car being turned into a race car, made the deal. This LTD’s interior is mint…not an easy feat for 32-year-old mouse fur seat skins.

Stickered up with slicks, you have a purpose-built drag car. Sat down on the S-197 GT wheels, you have a mild custom. If it was our call, we’d find some Crown Vic steelies and caps and rock the ex-cop look all day long. What do you think?

The mint-condition trunk isn’t as useful as it once was, but the fuel cell, battery and bottle full of fun take up room. It’s a tradeoff.

The LTD has run a best of [email protected], and has been to every LS Fest, as well as Street Car Takeover and local shows in the area. There really is no drama to the car: it fires off, it makes the run with no theatrics, and it drives around looking for more. Isn’t that what you want out of a purpose-built street/strip car?