Post World War II-era family cars in the 1950s were all about being big and being built for enjoyment. Most of these cars never came with a high output engine and only saw serious racing action in the early days of NASCAR. With it getting harder to find untouched classic muscle cars for street or drag racing use, gearheads are starting to think outside the box, and these old boats are becoming a little more common on the track.

This big 1953 Bel Air built by Scott Brown is boosted and will blow the doors off most sports cars without skipping a beat.

Brown built his Bel Air to be a fun street and strip bruiser that was going to be driven to the track. After completing the car it saw some track time in Austin, Texas and ran deep into the 11-second range on low boost while willing the street car class at Little River Dragway. Soon, Brown got bitten by the Drag Week bug and wanted in on the action. After getting a coveted ticket to participate in Drag Week, Brown made some upgrades and ended up making the top 32 in the Daily Driver class — even after smoking a piston.

The Bel Air is powered by a stock 2002 5.3-liter LSX truck motor with a single 72mm Magnum Turbo cranking out the boost. The rest of the driveline consists of a 4L60E transmission paired with an off-the-shelf Circle D Converter that sends the power to a Ford 9-inch rear end filled with 3.50 gears. Mayhem Videos captured some killer footage of just how quick Brown’s Bel Air is. You have no idea what the boat of a car is packing until it goes on the chip and then bangs off a 10.98 at over 124 mph — not bad for a car that weighs nearly 4,000 pounds!