The first time I saw the 1973 Mercury Comet GT, it was bright red with blacked-out trim. And that was the last time I saw it with any sort of red showing whatsoever. I’ve referenced this particular Comet more than a few times from my past catalog of cars…outside of maybe the four-speed Dodge Diplomat I owned, the Comet was the car that entrenched the idea of raw, violent V8 power and what that kind of force could be tamed to actually do. Put bluntly: that Comet is the car that was used in my self-taught lessons on how to drive like an absolute ass. Rockfords, bootleg turns, second-gear drifting, some of my earliest top-speed runs…whoever built that Mercury’s mill did themselves proud, because the worst the car ever suffered for my lessons were bald tires and the rare times where it’d get a bit hot.

Ever since then, there’s been a vision in my head: the flat-black beater Ford. It can be a Maverick or a Mustang II, a Pinto or a Fox body, but the premise is always the same: a screaming small-block Ford, gears deep enough to get into trouble with at a moment’s notice, a manual transmission (the one thing the Comet didn’t have), enough safety and suspension upgrades so that I don’t kill myself, and no sense of responsibility to the car…meaning that I would have no trouble beating on it unmercifully. I actually made a play for a 1989 Mustang LX hatchback a couple of years ago that was a rolling shell to start a build, but at the last second was rebuffed because the car “had too many good parts on it”.

There’s enough Fox Mustang shells that sooner or later, I’ll get to it. I’ve got two small-block Fords in the shop, and I can only use on in the wife’s Mustang…which is NOT on the menu for the build, so don’t ask or suggest. This kid’s drift-set Mustang is kind of the idea. While the builder of this car makes me look for my blood pressure medicine, my recommendation: ignore or skip past him, and watch Marcus, the host, and the fun he is having. Tell me that this dude isn’t having fun in a stripped out and sketchy Fox. That’s why I want to do one of these cars.

That, and to drive like an ass some more.