This Draggin’ Ford Durango is a Seven-Second Retro Pickup
You know what a Durango is, right? Well, probably not like the one you see before you.
Before the Dodge Durango SUV, there was the Ford Durango. The rare badge was applied to only about 200 or so cars. They were hand-built by National Coach Works, using Ford’s Fairmont Futura as the base.
But we can guarantee not one of them ended up like this! Justin McMurtrie’s Durango is a proven seven-second street car, which came within just a few hundredths of winning the 2021 edition of Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0.
The factory motor has long been replaced by a Mike Lough Racing Engines-built 400ci Dart LS block with Brodix BR 1 heads, fed boost from a single 102mm Induction Solutions turbo.
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The body panels are all factory, with the exception of an aftermarket fibreglass front bumper and a polycarbonate rear window designed to accommodate the SFI 25.3 roll cage.
While it looks different and unique, underneath the body is a lot of Fox body architecture, making parts surprisingly easy to adapt — especially in Justin’s case. He had a quick ’79 Fairmont that he wrecked at the track and he was able to use many of those same parts in the Durango.
To date, the Durango has run as quick as 7.37 at 191mph, making it one of the quickest drag-and-drive cars in the nation.
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Photos by Phillip Thomas and Luke Nieuwhof.
