The Blue Oval’s LTD was for most of its life the pinnacle of Ford sedans in North America, but the times they were A-changin’ (as Bob Dylan so directly explains). That is why the LTD basically shed lots of weight and inches to become a downsized mid-size car once again with the arrival of the fourth iteration. But size doesn’t necessarily make a difference for this particular 1984 LTD.
This example has been captured running for quarter-mile glory by the expert eye of the Drag Racing and Car Stuff YouTube channel, and the sedan has the usual sleeper vibes (as in looking the part for a car approaching its forties) save for a few exceptions.
They’re obvious, though, because no one can mistake a set of drag racing tires and wheels for something else, while the bulging hood is also a clear statement that something cool takes place inside the engine compartment.
According to the description, the 1984 LTD has committed the sacrilege of going for a Chevrolet LS-swap and added a VS Racing 7875 turbo for good measure. With this setup, it went on for a series of spectacular challenges against various opponents at the Street Car Takeover event during the past weekend (May 7th-8th) at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia.
The first encounters (from the 0:35 mark to the 1:50 presentation) are used to put things into perspective. The LTD delivered a humongous gap between its 10.17s and 9.94s results and an F-150 (12.39s) and Chevy Camaro (11.97s), for starters.
But the LTD then had its work cut out for it because the foes became a lot better as the event progressed. For example, a slower 10.55s run from the 2:25 mark against a Cadillac CTS-V was enough to let the latter take the sedan glory with a not-so-great (but still enough) 10.46s result.
But that’s not all, because the LTD’s driver probably decided it was all or nothing as it subsequently went against a couple of supercharged (first a Paxton from 3:16, then a Vortec) S550 Mustangs for some breathtaking photo finishes. As such, the LTD won by a hair the first skirmish (10.06s vs. 10.13s) and lost at an atom-sized difference the second (10.04s to the ‘Stang’s 10.02s!).
Wait, there is more. Disregard the LTD encounter with another Camaro at the 4:10 mark and go straight to the battle with a C6 Corvette sporting an ECS 1500 kit from the 5:35 minute to see the ET board deliver the results as seen in a mirror because both cars nailed the same 10.02-second result.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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