We aren’t 100% sure, but we have a feeling that the lads at Mighty Car Mods may have been influenced when they came to the United States to play with a beat-up Impala not too long ago, because their latest build is focused explicitly on building a 10-second car out of something otherwise yawn-worthy. The duo of Marty and Moog scored a sponsorship from the upcoming Transformers movie, so they’ve decided to spend the money and build a monster of a machine. While they aren’t building a Holden or a Falcon or a burnout machine, they are legitimately aiming for the ten-second mark by using a late 1980s Toyota Cresta and a 4.0L Ford “Barra” inline-six cylinder engine. Legit speed, fab work and minimal “maaaad”? Ok, we’re watching…
The Barra six needs no introduction to regular readers. It’s an inline unit, usually turbocharged, that can make stupid power with solid upgrades. We’ve seen one in a nearly-stock weight Ford Territory crossover wagon that is flirting with the nine-second range. Consider it a nice alternative to #LSTHEWORLD. The car needs some explanation, though. It’s a late 1980s Toyota Cresta, which is similar to the U.S. spec Toyota Cressida. This isn’t like a four-door Supra…this is more like a rear-drive Camry with an aggressive look. From the moment the Cresta comes off of the boat from Japan until it’s lined up in the waterbox at Sydney Dragway, there is a lot of work going on to make the Cresta a monster. They say sleeper, but nobody would be fooled by the drag radials or the raucous exhaust note. How good is it, really? We will only say that they are worried about getting kicked out of Sydney Dragway. Trust us…watch this one.
You say that, but I met the MCM boys at Sydney Dragway back in 2013, so they’ve been at the straight line game a while.
And as awesome as I thought this thing was, it left me disappointed. I mean, MCM has always been a case of ‘we built this mad car – here’s how you can too’ but with the Cresta, they looked like they simply dropped the car off at a friend’s place to have the rear end done then threw the Aeroflow catalogue at it.