Brandon Boer and his dad run an incredibly entertaining YouTube channel called DadRod Garage. The duo dives headfirst into all kinds of automotive shenanigans through their various builds. One project in particular, their 1982 Ford Fairmont Futura, known as “Project Leftovers,” sets a new standard for budget-built speed.
Building fun project cars is what Brandon enjoys today, but his need for speed originally started on two wheels. For many years, Brandon was heavily involved in powersports and raced a variety of two-wheel machines. When he was 15 years old, he picked up a 1991 Camaro and got to work fixing it up, opening an entirely new can of high-performance worms.
Brandon eventually sold the third-gen Camaro because he wanted something sportier, replacing it with a 1998 Camaro. As modifications began to pile up, Brandon’s dad took the car for a ride, and soon after went out and bought a 2000 Firebird of his own to build. That decision kicked off an arms race between father and son to see who could build the faster car. The end result was a pair of 1,000-plus-horsepower machines and a full-blown family rivalry.
Project Leftovers came into the picture when Brandon and his dad decided they wanted to do a Roadkill-style build together. Brandon also wanted something that stood out more than his black Camaro. After picking up the Fairmont and driving it home, they immediately got to work transforming the car.
The name “Project Leftovers” isn’t a reference to last night’s dinner, it’s a statement about how the Fairmont was built. The car uses mostly secondhand parts or components purchased at deeply discounted prices. Power comes from a stock-bottom-end 5.3-liter LS engine that was barely disassembled beyond a basic inspection. The only brand-new part inside the engine is a Lunati camshaft, which was snagged during a clearance sale.
Boost comes from a Forced Inductions HD5594 turbocharger that Brandon picked up used for $700. The truck-manifold turbo kit originally came off a Mustang and was modified by Brandon to move the components farther toward the front of the engine. Engine management duties are handled by a Holley Terminator X system, which Brandon tunes himself.
While some might scoff at building a car using used parts, Brandon and his dad embraced the challenge. They put their heads down, put in the work, and were rewarded in a big way. The Fairmont ripped off a blistering 4.96-second pass at 141 mph in the eighth-mile and a stout 7.80 at 167 mph in the quarter-mile. Not bad at all for a car built for just $14,000. Be sure to check out the DadRod Garage YouTube channel for more videos on this budget
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