The Ford Thunderbird is classic American metal but have been scarce on drag strips in Australia. A fan of old school doorslammers, Brandon Sugars has taken to revitalising one such Thunderbird for a return to on-track duties.
“Me and my father have always liked the old Thunderbird Pro cars and when we saw it pop up for sale we had to have it, I am really into the old 90s styled doorslammer stuff and this car is perfect for what I want to do with it,” said Sugars.
Bought from Adelaide Sugars thinks the car is an old Pro Stock car from back in the day, which one, he is not entirely sure. Being right hand drive rules out some potential candidates so if anyone knows for sure, drop us a message.
“The car had eventually been updated and has had a few more bars put in like double frame rails etc,” said Sugars. “A guy named Mel Caruso had the car and raced it in APSA 10.5 tyre class with a Hemi, screw blower, Lenco and clutch. The car was mental. He only raced it in Adelaide as that’s where he was from before it was parked up when APSA collapsed and never was raced again, it was put up for sale a year ago and I quickly jumped at it because I knew what it was.”
Sugars along with his father Mark went to work on turning the Thunderbird into their vision. In went a 454 small block Windsor with a 14-71 blower stacked on and all plumbed with full EFI injection controlled by a Haltech Nexus ECU. Horsepower is delivered through a 3-speed TH400 to either 315 radial or big tyre options depending on the event. Sugars is keen to hook it up in the radial scene but also have the option for Supercharged Outlaws or Top Sportsman.
“We bought the car as a basic stripped roller from Adelaide and me and my father have slowly pieced it back together, we built the motor together and updated all the necessary things on it,” said Sugars.
The Thunderbird is nearly ready to turn tyres in anger and for Sugars to begin his licensing.
“I have never raced any purpose built chassis cars, but I have had a few tough street cars like an ‘06 BF Falcon Barra turbo. My goal with this car is to purely have fun and hopefully get a low 7 second pass out of it, and 200mph one day is definitely one of my goals!” said Sugars.
“We have built the car to suit radials and slicks so we are keen to enter in the Kenda Series or even Supercharged Outlaws. We plan to have the car up and running around November sometime and hopefully making some passes early next year. I definitely want to make an appearance at the Winternationals with my father’s car side by side as he has a brand new 2006 Mustang Pro Stock car that he will be racing in Super Stock.
“I want to thank my father Mark Sugars for introducing me to this sport and being my number one supporter when it comes to getting the car together, and I would like to thank Aaron Gregory from ASG Motorsports for helping me with all the computer/dyno tuning and fabrication on the car.
