Ace In The Hole: This Pro-Touring Warrior Puts Up A Fair Fight

This is a car building, Cinderella story. Once upon a time there was a Gearhead by the name of Martin Pond. Martin is the kind of guy who didn’t hang with the Six-Pack or Three Deuces crowd. You would not find him whistling Dixie to the whine of an overdriven, injected huffer.

mpond-fairmont

There are some interesting cars competing in the OUSCI, and Pond’s Fairmont is one of them.

In fact you might say he was a bit of a bird of a different feather so to speak. We wouldn’t go so far as to call him an ugly duckling but that tag might be appropriate for what was about to enter into his family.

Now if any of us were to make a list of the most popular muscle cars of all time, in a world of Mustangs and Camaros, we would undoubtedly have to look a long ways down that list to find the Ford Fairmont. And that is just the way Martin likes it. He went out and found himself a straight one and welcomed it straight into his family.

It is something more than just benevolence that drove Martin to welcome this lowly duckling into his family, Martin was a man with a plan. And this plan would come to include his son, the younger Martin Jr. Once acquired, Martin Sr. and Jr. proceeded into the teardown which led to the bright silver paint job laid down by Alameda Collision.

fairmont_goodguys12-1

Not your typical underhood image for a Fairmont, the 383 ci engine was built for speed.

You see, like many Gearheads, Martin Sr. is a recycler. He takes the old and refurbishes it back to better than new. The Ponds have been paying the bills for over 20 years at their Tidewater Tire shop and it was high time for them to put their own head turner out into the fray.

During that process the factory six banger was given a decent but respectful burial in favor of Jr’s ‘69 351 Windsor, bored out to 383 cubes. The mill is a stout build with Eagle rods and Ross 11.5:1 pistons in the bottom end.

It’s topped off by matching Edelbrock Victor Jr. cylinder heads and intake. Valves are actuated by a solid roller Crane bumpstick and matching Gold Race roller rockers. Up on the roof lives a 750 Holley and K&N package. Behind that sits a Tremec TKO tranny put together with a Centerforce dual disc clutch.

So, the Ponds’ speed secrets are not earth shattering. The powertrain is finished off with the 8.8 stuffed full of 3.55 gears, along with a Powertrax locking differential which has a tendency to get a little dicey in some turns.

The suspension setup consists of H&R Springs, Tokico shocks and urethane bushings. Braking, interestingly enough, is handled by a factory Cobra disc and drum set up. The Fairmont runs 245/45–17 Dunlop Direzza Sport ZIIs with 32 and 30 lbs. of pressure on Cobra rims. Their camber is at 2 degrees to the negative with caster at 4 degrees positive, Toe is at straight up zero.

Getting groceries in a Fairmont was never this much fun!

They do intend to shake things up a bit before SEMA with the addition of a torque arm and panhard bar along with upgrades in the braking department. Then maybe they will weigh the car, they might be talking around 3,000 lbs. Now that’s gotta help.

When you move into the interior, it’s all business. The original interior was also given a decent burial in favor of all black, including the black Corbeau racing seats. But this is their ace in the hole; the Fairmont shares the same platform with the Fox Mustang, a car that proved itself to be a very nimble handler right up to present day.

Guess what the car on the left is? Yep, their next racer.

And so we have the metamorphosis of the lowly Fairmont into a potent Pro-Touring street fighter. What was once a lonely castaway mildewing away beneath a redwood tree, only fortunate enough to have been born with two doors, is now a traveling gladiator.

The Fairmont has seen the road courses at such fabled tracks as Laguna Seca, Thunder Hill and Sonoma. And guess which car the crowds are gathering around? The car took 4th at the Goodguys Pleasanton Autocross Event. Now that’s saying something.

The Ponds have also taken the Fairmont down the 1320 to the tune of 12.63 at 115 mph. Bear in mind that was done in full road track set up. We know of many drag racers who have fought long and hard to get their drag cars down into the mid 12s.

Undoubtedly, the mighty little Fairmont is leaving a lot of tenths on the table. But, road course work is what this was built for and that is where the Fairmont is headed. The Ponds plan to hit these tracks next: Fontana, then Portland, and lets not forget their invitation to this year’s SEMA Show. Excellent!

Martin, Sr. next to the Fairmont that gives the competition a run for their money.

Now there are several racing series featuring these types of cars that are growing at a rapid pace. Many were introduced to this new form of competition by the Redneck Racing Series featured on Speed Channel last year. The American Street Car Association was the primary driving force there, and they are involved in competitions at a number of prime racetracks. Optima Batteries has been running competitions following the SEMA show for a number of years now. That has grown into the Ultimate Street Car Series which is coming to a number of renowned road courses for the first time this year. They are even venturing as far as Portland International Raceway. MAV TV will be along with them filming every race. Autocross races being run at select Goodguys events have been skyrocketing in popularity.

The Pond’s have yet to christen their Fairmont with a name. With the combination of parts, the crazy build and the uniqueness of this car amongst the multitudes of Camaros and Mustangs, it just stands out on its own and draws a crowd.

 

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