We've all had that great find on Craigslist—a good grill, a mint-condition pool table, a new power washer, what have you.
But you've probably never found anything quite like "Old Smokey:"
The story of this epic build starts in the mid-2010s when Chuckles Garage owner and lead fabricator Scott Birdsall stumbled upon a grossly neglected 1949 Ford F-1 while browsing Craigslist. Even though the truck was in a sorry state, the asking price was too good to turn down, so he brought it thinking that he could clean it and sell it for a quick profit.
Scott always had a soft spot for these 1948-1952 "monkey-faced" Fords so during the months that followed, he decided to keep the old rust bucket and transform it into a shop truck. Using the now rust-free yet patina-laden body, Scott and his team went on to make slight chassis modifications such as a Mustang II-style suspension and fitted a Cummins turbo-diesel borrowed from a 1994 Dodge Ram into the venerable Ford's engine bay.
Mr. Birdsall subsequently decided that he just wasn't getting enough horsepower out of that "turbo-diesel" engine, so he made some "engine mods" to soup it up a bit—you know, the same thing any of us would do, right? No big deal.
Well, anyway, it worked:
Now known as Old Smokey, the race truck was entered in various quater-mile, and drifting competitions where it became even more popular. The mods continued, and apart from the constant mechanical upgrades, it was eventually fitted with a huge rear wing, a front splitter, and a carbon undertray so that it could compete in time attack races.
This dude bought a car from the 1940s on Craigslist and he's over here turning it into the Black Pearl.
This machine eventually went on to compete in the legendary Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado. And did it perform? Oh, baby:
[D]espite an engine failure during qualifying, Scott and Old Smokey managed to compete in the main event, climbing the 12.4-mile (19 km) course in 11 minutes and 24.065 seconds. This time made Old Smokey the fastest diesel-powered vehicle to ever race at Pikes Peak ...
Apart from a lot of hard work and determination, this feat was made possible by a near-flawless setup and a whole lot of power. In its record-setting configuration, Old Smokey was powered by a heavily modified, 6.7-liter Cummins inline-six capable of spitting out around 1,400 hp. Even more impressive, the compound turbo system with its two huge Garrett turbochargers capable of 106 psi (7.3 bar) of boost helped the diesel engine send no less than 2,111 lb-ft (2,862 Nm) of torque to the rear wheels.
I just...
Here's maybe the best part:
[Old Smokey] ran at Pikes Peak on NexGen's novel NexDiesel, a renewable fuel that contains no petroleum products. While it may not be as clean as your overpriced Tesla, Old Smokey doesn't live up to its name in terms of emissions and apart from being a Pikes Peak legend, it's also a renewable fuel pioneer.
This car is blowing records out of the water, climbing mountains in Colorado, and doing it on some kinda vegetable diesel fuel or something. Just unbelievable.
Let's hear it for Old Smokey, the Craigslist Wondercar!
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