Gearheads have a real hard time leaving anything stock, including the truck they use to town a race car to the track. Danny Anderson’s 1995 Ford F-150 started out as the tow pig for his 1973 Ford Maverick before he started modifying it. Now, Anderson’s F-150 is boosted and tackles drag and drive events.
Anderson grew up around the automotive trade. So, it makes sense that he would become an auto tech and enjoy wrenching on vehicles.
“My dad was an auto body guy. He was always driving beat-up old cars that barely ran and would often break down. As a kid, figuring out what was wrong with it on the side of the road, or walking to the nearest phone was always a fun adventure for me. That’s probably why my favorite racing events are drag and drives now,” Anderson says.
When Anderson was 14, he purchased his four-door 1973 Ford Maverick. The inline six-cylinder engine was quickly removed and replaced with a 5.0L engine from a 1991 Cougar. After the swap was complete, Anderson started working making the Maverick go as fast as possible.
Anderson was working at a local Mitsubishi dealership in 2012 when the F-150 landed in the wholesale lot. The truck caught Anderson’s eye as the perfect tow vehicle for the Maverick, so he picked it up before it could go to auction. Little did Anderson know what kind of journey he would be making with the pickup.
The F-150 is now powered by a 357 cubic-inch Ford mill that uses the stock block, stock crank, pistons from Wiseco, and SCAT H-beam connecting rods as its base. The engine’s top-end uses a bevy of parts from Trick Flow, including cylinder heads, valvetrain parts, camshaft, and intake. Anderson assembled the engine himself after LA Engineering finished all of the machine work.
A custom turbo system works with the VS Racing 80/96 turbocharger to create up to 15 pounds of boost for the Ford engine. The Ford 4r70w transmission and Circle D torque converter transfer horsepower back to the Ford 8.8 rearend that’s filled with parts from Moser Engineering. In race mode, the F-150 rolls on Billet Specialties Street Lite wheels and Mickey Thompson tires.
Anderson has worked with Steve Anderson, Greg Percoraro, Kyle Paris, and Louis Campbell to refine his truck over the course of six years. The end result is a truck that looks pretty much stock but has run a best of 10.58 at 130 mph. Now, those aren’t record-setting numbers, but to Anderson, the truck’s performance is just proof his hard work has paid off.
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