Know Nothing About Cars? This Guy Didn’t Let That Stop Him Building a Sick Drag-And-Drive Jeep

This ’54 Willys pickup is the concoction of Texas man Mark Foresman. A few years ago he knew absolutely nothing about cars, but he decided to learn.

He’s all self taught and the Willys has been his sandbox for honing his mechanic and driving skills. It’s fitted with a 5.3 LS from a junkyard and a 78mm turbo for more go. It was a $1000 purchase from a family friend’s backyard and Foresman took to ‘YouTube University’ to figure out how to go about turning it into the 11-second-capable car it is now.

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“It’s a boxed but original chassis, four-link, 4L80 with a trans brake, coilover, mostly junkyard stuff. The steering is off a Prius,” he said. “I’m more of a measure once, cut twice kinda guy but I’m lucky to have a very patient wife who lets me sit in the garage all night and work.”

2021 was his first Drag Week, and Foresman spent the last month thrashing on engineering and fabricating a trailer that would best suit his needs. After explaining to his friends what the week would entail and giving them an option to come along, none were game enough to take on the task. This didn’t dishearten him at all. “When I put my mind to it no one will stop me. If I gotta do it solo, so be it.”

At Sick Week 2022, Foresman improved to an 11.21 best at 117mph. Not bad for a YouTube graduate!