The Matel Hot Wheels brand has long been the source of many young gearheads’ dream vehicles, but over the past few years, we’ve seen more than just children’s play things come from the famed toy brand. One such creation is the life-size Rip Rod model- a modern take on classic hot rods that runs and drives like any other vehicle. Check it out in the above, compliments of Ford Racing. Hat tip to autoevolution.

Rip Rod in its latest livery may be a 2014 Hot Wheels collection model, but it made its life-size debut in the automotive community last year at the annual SEMA Show. Though it was merely a non-working 2012 display model at the time, sitting atop a trailer pulled by a Ford Transit Connect, Ford Racing decided to take the vehicle up a level and transform it into a living, breathing performance machine thanks to a turbocharged 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine at its heart for 2014.

To bring Rip Rod to life, the Ford Racing teams from the United States and Europe partnered with Mattel, who converted the kids toy into a life-size model, and Bandito Brothers, who helped integrate Ford’s EcoBoost engine into the project.

A sign of the times, the Ford EcoBoost powerplant used to power Rip Rod may not be your traditional hot rod power source.

But if the video above is any indication of what the tiny 1.0-liter engine can do, it sure has the ability to make any performance-driven hot rodder a happy customer.

The only question that remains is when Ford will debut a consumer Rip Rod model much like Chevy did with the Hot Wheels Edition Camaro last year. We know….wishful thinking!