Incredible pro build, 700 horsepower, seen on "Counting Cars" TV show, amazing!

Insane Black Widow is the car’s name and it more than lives up to it. Starting with a rather rare (in the US, anyway) 1959 Ford Anglia station wagon, a NASCAR fabricator and one of the big names in automotive TV transformed it into the wicked—no, make that INSANE—car that it is today. 700 horsepower in a car that barely weighs 2000 pounds. Show-quality paint work by TV’s Danny “The Count” Koker of Count’s Customs in Vegas. Fully finished interior. 100% ready to rock. The car stops traffic wherever it goes, but it has the engineering to put the horsepower to use, making it one of those rare cars that runs even better than it looks.

If Insane Black Widow looks familiar to you, that’s because you saw it on TV’s “Counting Cars” on the History Channel. The Count didn’t build the car, but he did give it that over-the-top custom look that will earn it Best Paint trophies at just about any event it visits. The car was actually fabricated by one of the main guys on a NASCAR team (we can’t mention which one), which explains the NASCAR-grade tube frame chassis and cage. There’s a bit of old-school dragster to the hardware, which is especially evident inside where it emulates a vintage funny car, but we’ll get to that in a moment. The body is 100% original steel, no fiberglass, and it’s laser straight. The black paint is what it originally wore, so they worked overtime to get the panels as smooth and flat as possible, and it shows. There’s not a ripple or wave anywhere on this car, and while it’s small, you still can’t afford to cut corners when you’re using black paint. The doors fit amazingly well, which is probably due to the ultra-rigid chassis keeping everything aligned, and all of the seams were welded to not only give it a smooth look but to reinforce the tub. Up front there’s a 3.5 gallon Moon gas tank with a spinner cap and out back there’s a parachute and wheelie bars, all to help with that NHRA look. And yes, if you get on it, you’ll probably be happy the wheelie bars are there.

So it was gorgeous to begin with. Then someone from History Channel called looking for something unusual, something different, something that no other show had ever featured. The Anglia shipped out to Las Vegas for a complete transformation (you can see the whole show online, but there’s a clip of the reveal below). Danny and the guys gave it one of their stunning show-quality paint jobs, with custom flames licking across the bodywork, over the roof, and even coming out of the zoomie exhaust pipes, which are fully functional. The headlight trim rings were painted black to help them blend in and a few other parts were chromed, like the tank, which also has new red anodized bracketry. Beautiful custom airbrush work on the tailgate shows you just how it got its name, with a wild black widow theme and a gothic look. Finishing it off is an original “Anglia” script emblem, just in case anyone needs to know what, exactly, just blew their doors off. It’s just stunning in every way.

The interior is part NHRA funny car and part hot rod and 100% cool. Aircraft-style aluminum bucket seats with custom red leather padding, 5-point harnesses, and a removable funny car style steering “wheel” (if you can call it that) reinforce the race vibe. However, there’s also plenty of sound deadening, custom upholstery on the floors, embossed door panels that continue the flame motif, and a Rat Fink there on the B&M shifter. The original Anglia gauges were too cool to ditch, so they’re still in place although they’re not hooked up. Auto Meter supplied the rest, including a memory tach, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and fuel level gauges in their own stands on the dash. You’ll also find The Count’s signature there on the dash, more proof that this car is legit. Overhead, there’s a switch panel for all the vitals, including fuel pump, ignition, starter, lights, and fans. There is no stereo, but if you have to ask, well, I’m afraid you’re doing it wrong.

Climbing in and settling into the bucket seats is easy with doors that open all the way and a well-designed cage that stays out of the way, and once you’re in there, it’s actually a pretty good place to spend some time. There’s plenty of head room, control efforts are modest (although due to the narrow track on the diminutive car, a sand rail rack was used up front, so all you need to do is THINK about turning and it does), and it works the way a car should. Well, the way a tiny car with 700 horsepower should, anyway. In back, the entire cargo bay was consumed with the oversized Mickey Thompson meats, fuel cell, and battery, but it’s all hidden under a beautifully upholstered panel with more embossed flames. The NOS bottle isn’t hooked up, but if you’re a special kind of crazy, it could be, putting the stout mouse motor close to the 1000 horsepower number. You’ve been warned.

The warning is that 355 cubic inch Chevy small block with the big honkin’ blower on top. It was built by one of the guys who is familiar to NHRA Pro Stock champions and started its life in a NASCAR stocker. It’s a 4-bolt main block bored 010 oversize with a steel crank and merchant rods inside. A full roller valvetrain with a custom-grind camshaft that’s unique to this motor makes it civilized but potent, and it’s force-fed through a set of aluminum Dart cylinder heads. The supercharger is a BDS 6-71 with a pair of Holley 600 CFM blower carbs that idle well, but if you roll onto the throttle at 1000 RPM, it barks to attention. Full boost is on tap before you can even get your foot on the floor—you’d better make sure it’s aimed where you want to go before you do something foolish like that.

There’s also a giant aluminum radiator up front, complete with electric fan, so it seems happy enough to sit in traffic and never gets fussy. Custom headers dump into a trick exhaust system (sorry, we can’t show it to you because the Widow is too small for our lift) with side-exiting zoomies that sound spectacular but have the cones inside so it’s not deafening; the car attracts enough attention as it is. There’s a full tube frame chassis made of 2x3 rectangular tubing and 0.90-wall 1.75-inch tubing for the roll cage and associated parts, so it’s incredibly rigid. The front suspension consists of tubular A-arms and coil-over shocks with spindles from a 1969 Camaro, so parts for the disc brakes will be easy to find. Out back there’s a custom-made Speedway Engineering 9-inch with a nodular housing, disc brakes, 3.89 gears from Tex Racing, a Detroit locker, and Moser double-splined axles for safety. In between there’s a built TH400 3-speed automatic transmission that was freshly rebuilt a few hundred miles ago and snaps off shifts like cannon shots. It’s finished with a set of Weld Racing aluminum wheels wearing skinny 24x5.00R15 front and massive 29x18.50R15 rear Mickey Thompson rubber.

Insane Black Widow is 100% street legal and has been licensed since it was built in 2012. It always starts, idles, and runs like it should, and it creates a stir even when we pull it out into the parking lot. As the fellow in the video says, “Holy crap that thing’s fast!”

I’m not going to taunt you into buying this car by suggesting you’re not man enough for it, because we know this car isn’t for everyone. But if outrageous, high-quality, and expertly engineered cars are your thing, well, it’s going to be hard to top this one. It’s docile enough to run around at the cruise night but will probably rip off 10-second times at the strip (maybe better—remember that nitrous bottle?). It tracks straight and true, brakes hard, and rides reasonably well for something with such a short wheelbase. No surprises, no questionable antics, just a double-plus nasty rod that’s been massaged by some of the biggest and best names in the business. And a little TV stardom certainly can’t hurt. If that’s you, here’s your car. Come get it!