XLT.....RIP?

This street submission screams Monty Python Holy Grail? ....."Not dead yet"

Coming from a former owner of 3 different ford rangers, I can sympathize with the owner of this 1989 Ford Ranger XLT.   Mine of course would never have gotten close to still being "street legal" after 25 years of dipping the rear end into the harbor to launch my 15' Boston Whaler.

Apart from the obvious (its about rust in half), i'm curious as to what is so damn important under the canopy of this one that he maticulously covered it with vulcanized rubber and bootlegged 2 fathoms of halibut longline to lash down. Nor do I know why foam is spontaneously generating between the cab and the bed and the door.  What I do know is that the front end is surprisingly better off than the rear end and if this was my daily driver, I would keep the hubs locked so i could just jam it in 4x4 when the inevitable creak, crunch, and metal rip of "final separation" occurs....then i can just keep on driving with a slightly better view of the sky.    This Ford is "living" proof of the inaccuracy of the acronym FORD...Found on Road Dead.

"Sputter, sputter rollin' over gutters

Cars dip low with hard core brothers.."--Sir Mix-A-Lot 1989

Firebird in the hole

Like the mythical bird-beast with the same name that rises, cyclically, from dregs of it's predecessor this 1980 Pontiac Firebird Formula has risen again...this time "jacked"!

I was floored as i made my way through Jackson trailer park to see this megalithic ride appear from the fog. I woke up at night, sweating, worried about the poor resolution of this picture only to make my way back to the scene of the crime (kodiak hoopties cardinal sin) to find it gone.  I will be searching for this ride on the K-cruise and also in my dreams.  In the meantime let us dissect this one...

In 1979 the infamous "blackout" tail lights were introduced and only the firebird Formula and Trans-am had em.  By 1982 the new breed of Pontiac Firebird  was released which we all remember fondly as the Hoff's ride in Knight Rider.....KITT...and a futuristic light year different from the muscle cars of yore.  The bad thing about Firebirds by 1980 was that the emission standards all but got rid of the Pontiac muscles big blocks like the 400 and 455.   But 1980 had some uniqueness when Pontiac unleashed the only turbocharged V8 (301) in the world at the time....however Flinstonian the technology, it is what it was.

A lot of folks called Firebird headlights "batmobile" style and this paint job seems to conjure up a little bit of caped crusader with a dash or the dark knight. I'm not sure this would be able to squeeze into the bat cave crevasse.

 Its rollin on 33's and looking like it could take the 1984 Broncos in the mudboggin' race at the fairgrounds on a warm August night!  The rear end is actually custom cool.  The dual exhaust redirected up is decidedly not Firebirdish, as is the frame, step sides, and luggage rubs on the trunk.  Its not 100% stock but it is 100% wicked.



 "Made a left turn as I watched in fright
My ex-girlfriend shot out my headlight
She was standin', in the road, so I smashed her toes
Mashed my pedal, boom, down she goes..."-Sir Mix-A-Lot 1989