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boudoir-innocence-blog · 7 years

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A Fool's Guide to 1964 Ford Fairlane Revealed

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Life After 1964 Ford Fairlane The Way to Get the Most Out of Your Super Bowl The Thunderbolt is extremely powerful and torquey, and I think after a couple of laps I was already up to the 12th location. A real side oiler was assembled and dropped from the Fairlane, and he had fun using the semi-T-bolt clone for around a year. Consequently, the Fairlane outsold all its rivals by a considerable margin, racking up almost 300,000 sales. If you possess a current Ford Fairlane, then you will want to preserve it for quite a few years to come. The Pain of 1964 Ford Fairlane History of This Thunderbolts Body Contrary to the notion, the manufacturing version includes 7 chairs. Unlike the idea, the manufacturing version comes with seven seats. The body is quite solid with no rust or bubbling that we've seen. It started as a fantastic body. The Thunderbolts bodies were also modified with the assistance of a company named Dearborn Steel Tubing. The Way to Find the Best REDTOP Battery Chargers An extremely pleasant car inside. Before you get a replacement battery, make sure to desire a new battery. Not all auto batteries are made equal, so locating the ideal fit for your automobile is crucial for ensuring you're receiving the best performance. The REDTOP high-speed AGM battery would be the top starting battery and is intended to deliver a highly effective burst of ignition power to get a trustworthy start-up each moment. Elvis would have become the very first to agree. An Introduction to Exterior Painting Nearly all the mouldings for your Fairlane have a unique fastener which goes with it. The paint on the automobile is in excellent condition with no vital imperfections to talk of. The interior is just one of Doug's other important concerns. It was in quite a good condition as well. The Way to Get the Most Out of Your Brake Fluid The bottom of the automobile is quite solid with no rust that we've seen. Shifting a seal of any type on an automated transmission involves removing some kind of rotating shaft and occasionally the labour can acquire intensely. The bigger distributor cap also supplied better significant RPM functionality by decreasing the chance of the spark conducting to the incorrect terminal. Axle seals are a frequent loser, and the trader may often have them in inventory, and whether they do not, there are a lot of aftermarket companies that'll. Hopefully, it's just your axle seal, all parts and labour are cheap, and you're going to be back to the street in a couple of hours if the bits are easily available. You might use any banjo gasket, as the frequent copper. Leaks can cut the quantity of available coolant, which might result in overheating. Brake Repair The front bumper has lately been re-plated, but the remaining trim is believed to display some gentle patina it appears fairly good from that which we can see. The rear of the car was restyled. Its wheels aren't stock. A radial tire is no more than a completely different ballgame for tires. These wheels are going to be a huge improvement, I feel all of your hard work will pay off. About 20 years back the F100s brakes locked up, and the owner decided there was not any hurry to repair it. The clutch is smooth although the large heavy gearbox must manage huge torque and generates a reasonable bit of mechanical drag. Gaming Consoles - What to Look For Shifting the transmission is between both bucket seat in a customized centre console. The reason behind a slipping transmission is dependent upon the sort of transmission you've got in your car If you've got a standard sliding transmission, the issue is typically in the clutch. What Needs to be Done About 1964 Ford Fairlane Purchasing Property in the Auction The book price might not be disclosed. Once a bid was made for the house, it might not be withdrawn. A written bidding may be employed together with the utmost bid amount for your product. Every effort was made to accurately portray the merchandise. The 406 Ford Cars Doyle is likely going to have more cars later on John also assembled custom subframe connectors to tie the entire thing together. The 406 Ford even wanted another opportunity utilizing a running start since it was to his benefit By restricting production of these two muscle cars, it has made a big demand from collectors of these two iconic vehicles. Used Car Prices No car is best for everybody. So now you have found your vehicle and have agreed on a price tag, you'll need to determine how to cover it. All you will need to do is collect the automobile at your nearest port and revel in The automobile is in fine form Now, people have started to appreciate those automobiles. Yes, it is a tribute car, but few tributes actually receive all the small stuff right. Locating the most suitable conventional car in the proper cost is among the best feelings there is, at least to some automobile lover.

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muscle-cars-aesthetics · 7 years

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1967 Ford Fairlane ---------------------------------- Facts Engine: 521 cubic inches, '70 429 block, Scat stroker crank, Scat H-beam connecting rods, SRP forged aluminum pistons, Trick Flow aluminum heads ported by Scott Johnston, Edelbrock Victor intake, ported, 1,050-cfm Dominator carburetor, Delta Cams custom grind, 266/272 degrees duration at 0.050, 0.680/0.700-inch lift and a MSD distributor and Digital 6 ignition Exhaust: Custom 1-7/8-inch long-tube headers and 3-inch exhaust with Borla bullet mufflers Transmission: Powerglide with transbrake, Art Carr 10-inch converter and Hurst Quarter Stick shifter Rearend: 9-inch w/Detroit Locker, Dutchman 35-spline axles and 4.11 gears Suspension: Front: Rod and Custom Mustang-II-style with rack-and-pinion Rear: Art Morrison four-link with ladder bars and coilovers Brakes: Front: Rod and Custom/Ford disc Rear: Wilwood disc Wheels: Front: Weld Racing Draglite, 15x7 Rear: Weld Racing Draglite, 15x12 Tires: Front: BFGoodrich P225/60R15 Rear: Hoosier Quick Time Pro LT29x14.50-15 Interior: Scat Procar bucket seats, Dearborn Classics door panels, LeCarra steering wheel, Auto Meter gauges, Morrison six-point rollbar Exterior: Dupont acrylic urethane in Honda Chianti Red by Mike Morales, owner-fabricated steel 4-inch cowl induction-style hood, Phoenix Graphix GT stripes, Crites fiberglass bumpers ---------------------------------- #ford #fairlane #falcon #mustang #torino #drag #musclecar #v8 #hotrod

#musclecar #fairlane #hotrod #v8 #torino #falcon #ford #mustang #drag

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thecardaddy · 5 years

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1932 Ford Roadster - $99,495.00

Take a look at this beautiful 1932 Ford Roadster. Under the hood, is a ZZ3 small block 350 cubic inch V8 engine with a GM turbo 350 automatic transmission with Lokar shifter. It also has polished aluminum heads and intake, billet AC pump and pulleys, chrome water pump, chrome alternator and aluminum radiator. Exhaust: ceramic coated Sanderson headers, Magnaflo mufflers, and polished stainless exhaust. This 1932 Ford Roadster has a Dearborn deuce all steel body. The exterior is a beautiful 2 tone green paint with custom louvers on the hood, a polished stainless steel grill, complete hideaway top assembly with a Haartz top and glass rear window, polished stainless windshield frame. Interior is very beautiful high quality 2 tone green leather, Mercedes carpet, vintage heat and air conditioning, power windows, power brakes, chrome tilt steering column, Banjo steering wheel, and AM-FM with iPod. Vehicle has a 9' Currie rear end with polished aluminum center housing with chrome tubes. TCI boxed chassis with Ride Tech adjustable coil over shocks and chrome moly 4 bar in rear, chrome moly 4 bar in front with chrome shocks, chrome tube front axle, chrome moly steering arms, polished stainless brake and fuel lines. Cruising on a set of polished Budnik 20' wheels on rear 17' on front, with BFG radials 295/45R/20 rear tires and 250/40ZR/17 front tires. This is one of the finest examples of a 1932 Ford hi-boy roadster you will find. The Dearborn deuce body with all of its components, is the absolute best you can buy. This 32 roadster is one of the finest in the country, proven good guys show winner, show quality from top to bottom, looks, runs, and drives flawlessly. The fit, finish, and attention to detail is incredible on this car. Please Note The Following **Vehicle Location is at our clients home and Not In Cadillac, Michigan. **We do have a showroom with about 25 cars that is by appointment only **Please Call First and talk to one of our reps at 231-468-2809 EXT 1 from Cardaddy.com https://www.cardaddy.com/vehicles/vehicle/1932-ford-roadster-cadillac-michigan-18533723

#Trucks #Cars #SUVs #Vehicles For Sale Near Me

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carsthatnevermadeitetc · 1 year

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Ford Thunderbird Apollo Concept, 1967. Five Apollo concept cars were created for Abercrombie & Fitch to bolster traffic in their 5 flagship stores. The new 5th generation T-Bird represented a major move upmarket as the Mustang had encroached on the Thunderbird’s market positioning. Ford were happy to provide A&F with the cars to generate publicity for the new generation model. The cars were finished in an exclusive Apollo Blue colour, and sent to long-time Ford customiser Dearborn Steel Tubing Company for “enhancement” and finishing, at a cost of $15,000 per unit (about $137,000 in 2022). In addition to the special paint and vinyl roof there was a gold anodised grille emblem, landau S-bars and badge work. Significantly the cars were fitted with prototype ASC sunroofs because there was no convertible 5th generation T-bird as there had been with all previous generations. Ford hoped the sunroof option would appease open-air enthusiasts though it didn’t become available until 1969. Also fitted were a quartz foglight, bespoke wheel covers and a trunk-mounted antennae to support the numerous wireless devices. Inside there was a custom-built full-length centre console including a radio-telephone, Philco colour TV, and dual reading lamps. Of the 5 cars built one was destroyed in transit to the San Francisco store but at least 3 of the others are still known to exist.

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#Ford #Ford Thunderbird #Ford Thunderbird 5th Generation #Ford Thunderbird Apollo #concept #prototype #Abercrombie & Fitch #A&F #custom car #modified car #1967 #5th generation #sunroof #ASC #show car #1 of 5 #vinyl roof

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itsworn · 5 years

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Historic Hill-Climbing Hot Rod From 1954 Lives to Race Today

If you’re old enough, you may have seen this car before, perhaps when it was featured in the July 1958 issue of HOT ROD. Since then, the hot rod hill climber originally built by Bob Davis of Boone, North Carolina, has been a few places. Now it’s back, completely restored and updated to modern specs for hot rodding, hill climbing, and vintage road racing.

Bob Davis built this car during the winter of 1953-1954, after serving in the Army in Europe and going to a few hill climbs, which are far more popular there than here. He got a Second, a Third, and a Fourth with it in the first season, and blossomed in 1955 with a win at Pilot Mountain. Davis passed the car around to other drivers, dominated the Grandfather Mountain Hillclimb three years in a row, and won four times in a row at Chimney Rock, North Carolina, with drivers Ed Welsh and Phil Styles. Styles, who bought the car in 1957 for $600, road raced it at tracks in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Shown in front of a replica of Ford Motor Company’s first headquarters building, the Davis Special, as restored by Garrett and Maggie Van Camp and their talented friends over 17 years, carries Van Camp’s road racing number. It’s on a ’41 Ford frame shortened 14 inches, with the X-member removed and the rails boxed, and the engine is set back 22 inches from its stock location. Van Camp races this car and a Lynx Formula Vee regularly in the Midwest and wins, in spite of the fact that he’s well past 70 years of age. (Photo location courtesy of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan)

After that, though, the car spent more than 25 years in a junkyard in Waynesville, North Carolina, rusting away until vintage sports car enthusiast Jimmy Dobbs of Memphis rescued it from obscurity in 1992. The cost of restoration was so high that Dobbs sold the car to Chuck Rahn, a talented fabricator based in Phoenix. Rahn attempted to sell it to Jim Herlinger, who owned a similar car, the Baldwin Special, in northern California. Herlinger passed, but called a friend of his in Michigan to tell him about the car.

Enter Garrett Van Camp, of Bingham Farms, Michigan, who bought the car from Rahn in 1995 as a complete wreck. Van Camp, his wife Maggie, and their talented friends spent nights and weekends over 17 years until the car was not only completed, but updated for vintage racing rules with a master electric shutoff, an onboard fire system, four-point seatbelts, and a fuel cell, all well hidden to preserve as much of the original car’s looks as possible.

This vintage photo shows the original builder/driver, Bob Davis, testing the Davis Special in the hills of North Carolina in the early 1950s. Although the original side exhausts are gone, the rest of the restoration is very faithful to Davis’ original design, which in turn was borrowed from a California homebuilt sports car. Davis spent two years building the car and two more years racing it before he got his first win, at Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, in November 1955.

On May 18, 2013, Garrett and Maggie Van Camp trailered the car back to the town where it was born, Boone, North Carolina, to show it to Bob Davis’ widow and family. Maggie Van Camp says, “Joyce Davis, her daughter Kathy, and about a hundred of their friends gathered at the Chevy dealership where Bob Davis used to work. It was a magical weekend to have the car back in the town where it was built.”

Since then, the Van Camps have been busy showing and racing the car at such venues as Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California, Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Put-In Bay in Lake Erie, Waterford Hills, Michigan, and at the vintage racing extravaganza over Labor Day weekend in Lime Rock, Connecticut. He swaps the street tires for Dunlop vintage treaded racing tires, and he’s swapped out the 4.11 gearset for a more reasonable 3.78, but other than those changes, the car is raced as-is, in between the Van Camps’ Formula Vee sessions.

In a July 1958 feature story, HOT ROD called the Davis Special a roadster “of mixed and interesting ancestry” and its pieced-together body “a real Mulligan stew.” Citing the Special’s many hill climb victories, freelancer John Corey noted, “Rather interesting what can still be accomplished with the old flathead!”

After visiting three states and sitting in a junkyard for 25 years, this is what the Davis Special looked like on the day it was delivered to the Van Camp home in Bingham Farms, Michigan, north of Detroit. The hood is made from two ’49 Chevy pickup body panels, the scoop is a reversed ’36 Ford hood, and the tailpiece is made from two 1947 Plymouth front fenders.

Every square inch of sheetmetal on the car is new, reconstructed from photos by Van Camp’s late friend Jerry Kiefer and painted ’96 Miata classic red in California by Irv Dixon. Kiefer was responsible for the body, air scoop, grille, instrument panel, radiator ducting, seats, and upholstery during long winter nights in Michigan over the entire 17-year restoration. The grille is made from silver-soldered brass flat stock, half-round, and tubing, using photographs for reference.

The Rich Willim–built engine in the restored Davis Special is a ’47 Ford flathead, its 3 5/16-inch bore by 4-inch stroke making 276 ci. It is topped with Edelbrock heads, an Edelbrock three-carburetor manifold, and three Stromberg 48 carburetors. Power moves through a ’39 Ford three-speed transmission with Zephyr gears to a quick-change rearend with either 4.11 or 3.78 gears. The emergency oil supply on the firewall is there to keep the oil pump pickup covered no matter what. The period distributor contains modern MSD electronics, and the sheetmetal around the carburetors seals against the inside of the hoodscoop to keep fresh, cold air coming in.

The oil pan has been fitted with a custom-made, extra-deep sump fitted with internal baffles and doors to keep the oil around the oil pump pickup. The headers are hooked up to exhaust pipes and mufflers for street use and some race tracks with noise restrictions. Uncorked, this engine is the soul of mellow.

By 1950s flathead V8 standards, this custom-built aluminum radiator is overkill, but that’s the way Van Camp wants it. He worked as a lead brake engineer for Ford Motor Company for 37 years, retired, and was called back for an additional 13 years, making it a nice, round 50 years at Ford.

A professional brake engineer, Van Camp put together Ford leading/trailing brake assemblies, put the whole setup inside a set of 12-inch Buick aluminum brake drums, and added air cooling scoops to the backing plates. Front skinnies are Dunlop 6.00-16s mounted on reproduction steel wheels for authenticity.

Bob Davis’ inspiration for the design of his hill climb car was a car he saw racing in California, the Baldwin Special, built in Santa Barbara by Willis Baldwin. It had a nose and body configuration very similar to this car, and a three-carb Mercury flathead V8. The Baldwin was raced all over California from its debut year in 1949 to 1959, and, after changing hands many times, is still being raced today.

The beautifully hooded and engine-turned instrument panel houses classic gauges and frames the remote shifter and a custom-made Ford V8 steering wheel by Van Camp and a rearview mirror by fabricator Jerry Kiefer. Tony Vogel added the walnut veneer floorboards for a touch of class inside the Davis Special.

The Jerry Kiefer leather bucket seats in the restored Davis accommodate a new three-point roll bar, helmet restraint, and a five-point racing seatbelt setup demanded by Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association (VSCDA) vintage racing rules. The cockpit also contains the master electrical switch and a fire suppression system, with controls hidden in the upper left-hand corner of the instrument panel. A big fuel cell and a Holley electric pump hide under the spare tire. Maggie and Garrett Van Camp race this car and their Lynx Formula Vee as much as possible.

The Van Camps met in 1966 while skiing in Aspen, Colorado, married in 1968, and have been going uphill and downhill ever since in various kinds of race cars, including his first, an E/Production ’58 Porsche Speedster. He built a Lynx Formula Vee in 1969, won the SCCA national championship in 1971, sold the Lynx in 1972, bought it back in 1999, and has raced it ever since, which slowed down the progress of the Davis restoration.

More of Jerry Kiefer’s amazing bodywork can be seen in the spare tire well, the rear bodywork with its gentle, final peak, and the integrated rear bumper and license plate light. Yes, the Van Camps do occasionally run this car on the street, to the delight of all who witness it. They did so recently in Boone, North Carolina, when the car was reunited with Bob Davis’ family.

The post Historic Hill-Climbing Hot Rod From 1954 Lives to Race Today appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/historic-hill-climbing-hot-rod-1954-lives-race-today/ via IFTTT

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itsiotrecords-blog · 7 years

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http://ift.tt/2rfgObJ

Each year automobile manufacturers produce tens of millions of automobiles, most of which will be bought and sold a number of times before ending up being crushed and recycled. Normally no one will notice that the vast majority of these vehicles ever existed, but once in a while an everyday automobile will end up playing a role in some great tragedy or historic event and so will live on in—so to speak—long after most of its contemporaries have been turned into scrap metal. Of course, which vehicles deserve to join that list is largely subjective, but here is my list of the top ten most historically or notorious automobiles ever to roll off an assembly line. NOTE: These are not famous Hollywood cars like the Batmobile or the Delorean from Back to the Future which, in reality, are little more than props. These are real vehicles that people could have owned—and did, often to their detriment.)

#1 Jayne Mansfield’s 1966 Buick Electra 225 What Marilyn Monroe was to the fifties, Jayne Mansfield was to the sixties. With her platinum blond ‘do and buxom figure, she even closely resembled the more famous Monroe, though she was never able to quite eclipse her better known rival. She would never have the chance to do so either when she was killed, along with her lover, Sam Brody, when the Buick Electra she was a passenger in ran into the back of a slow-moving truck in the pre-dawn hours of June 29, 1967 near Slidell, Louisiana. The crash took the roof off the car as it slid beneath the truck, killing all three passengers in the front—Mansfield among them—but miraculously leaving her three young children, sound asleep in the back seat, with only minor injuries. Reports that she was decapitated in the crash proved to be unfounded, though she did die of blunt trauma to the skull. The one positive thing from the tragedy was that to prevent cars from sliding up beneath the back of tractor-trailers in the future, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began requiring an underride guard (a strong bar made of steel tubing) on all tractor-trailers, which ultimately became known as a Mansfield bar. As for the Buick she died in, like James Dean’s Spyder, it too briefly went on display before ending up in the Tragedy in US History Museum in St. Augustine, Florida until the museum’s closing 1n 1998. What happened to it after that is anyone’s guess, though rumors abound that it was bought by a Mansfield enthusiast for a hefty sum of money.

#2 James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder Not a lot of people today may know who James Dean was, but back in the fifties he was a top name in Hollywood and a rapidly up and coming actor famous for his smoldering good looks and intense style. He was also famous for his love of racing and fast, European cars, so it wasn’t remarkable that he would end his life in one. And that’s exactly what happened when, on the afternoon of September 30, 1955, Dean and his co-driver, Rolf Wutherich, were involved in a head-on collision just a mile west of the town of Cholame, California. Colliding with a monster 1950 Ford Tudor coupe as it made a turn onto Route 41 directly into the path of Dean’s speeding roadster (thought at the time to be doing better than 85 miles per hour), Dean’s much lighter vehicle flipped into the air and landed on its wheels some forty feet away. Remarkably, both men were pulled from the smashed Spyder alive, but Dean died at the scene, abruptly bringing an end to a most promising career. As for the smashed roadster, it was shown around the country for several years afterwards as part of a driver safety display but has since disappeared. No one knows its whereabouts today, though chances are it’s probably stashed away in some wealthy collector’s secret warehouse somewhere.

#3 Princess Grace’s Porsche Rover P6 3500 In a graphic demonstration that royalty isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, on the morning of September 13, 1982, former actress turned Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly suffered a stroke while driving down a curvy mountainous road in Monaco (a small principality on the Mediterranean coast of France) and plunged into a ravine. The crash left her unconscious and with serious internal injuries that she died from the next day. (Remarkably, her passenger and teenage daughter, Princess Stephanie, survived the harrowing crash with just a few scratches and bruises.) Not surprisingly, like the Mercedes Benz another ill-fated royal, Princess Diana, was to die in fifteen years later, (see No. 4) the wrecked Porsche was quietly “disposed of”–supposedly by being crushed into a cube and dropped to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

#4 Adolf Hitler’s 770-K Mercedes-Benz staff cars Some automobiles acquire fame—or infamy, as the case may be—by being a participant in some great historical event or grisly tragedy. In this case, however, Hitler’s staff cars were involved in neither (unless you consider World War II to be both) but are famous for being owned by arguably the most notorious figure of the twentieth century. Der Fuhrer ordered several of these massive, armored-plated behemoths to tool around the Third Reich in and, remarkably, almost all of them survive to this day. Perhaps the most famous of these is the one currently on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Canada that was captured by an American soldier during the last days of the war. Confiscated by the army, it made its way through a succession of owners until finally ending up being donated to the museum in 1970, where it remains to this day. A second car was presented to Finnish Field Marshal Carl Gustav Mannerheim by Hitler as a gift and to cement the Finno-German alliance. Never a big fan of the German corporal, Mannerheim promptly had the car shipped off to Sweden for “safe storage” and promptly forgot about it. The Swedes eventually seized the car for back taxes and sold it to an American industrialist in 1948, who used it for promotional tours and raising money for various charities. A third car resides at the Technisches Museum in Sinsheim, Germany while others reside in the private collections of several wealthy millionaires around the world.

#5 President Reagan’s 1972 Ford Lincoln Continental This vehicle became almost as infamous as President Kennedy’s Lincoln when newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot while getting into the car in front of the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981. Unlike his unfortunate predecessor, however, the bullet proved to be non-fatal—though just barely—and “the Gipper” went on to serve two terms. The car was also at another presidential assassination attempt, this one involving President Jerry Ford back in September of 1975, when a woman named Sarah Jane Moore took a few pot shots at him from across the street as he was getting into the vehicle. Moore missed, however, and spent the next thirty years in prison thinking about it. Today the car resides at the Henry Form Museum in Dearborn, Michigan next to JFK’s assassination car to serve as a poignant reminder at just how difficult protecting a sitting president can be.

#6 Bonnie & Clyde’s 1934 Ford Model 730 Deluxe Sedan Few outlaws in history have managed to capture as much attention as did two young bank robbers, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrows, during the Depression years, and few cars remain as famous as the Ford V8 they died in. Ambushed by police just outside of Bienville Parish, Louisiana on the morning of May 23, 1934, the couple were cut to pieces before they could surrender (if, in fact, they were ever given the chance) and died as fast and furious as they lived. It is said that between the two of them, they were hit by as many as 160 bullets, though this is an exaggeration. The bullet-riddled car itself became an icon of the gangster era and was put on display for decades by numerous owners before it ended up being sold to the Primm Valley Resort and Casino in Nevada for $250,000 in 1988. According to the internet, it has since been sold to the Terrible’s Casino in Nevada and is now supposedly on display at one of their casinos in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

#7 Princess Diana Spencer’s (Lady Di) Mercedes-Benz W140 In a modern fairy tale gone horribly awry, the world was shocked when it woke up on the morning of August 31, 1997 to discover that Lady Diana Spencer, the former wife of Charles, the Prince of Wales and, had she not divorced him, a potential future queen of England, had been killed in a horrific automobile accident on the streets of Paris, France early that morning. In an event that still generates much controversy today, the official story is that she died when the car she was riding in with her fiancee, Egyptian producer and billionaire Dodi Fayed and two other men, slammed into a concrete support pillar at high speed while purportedly trying to outrun the always present paparazzi. The crash killed both Fayed and the driver instantly and left a third man and Princess Di critically injured. Though apparently conscious immediately after the accident, she expired a few hours later at the hospital from massive internal injuries. Though blame for the crash was officially placed on the driver—whom tests determined to have had an extremely high blood alcohol level at the time—others blamed the paparazzi (several of whom were arrested but later released) for being a factor, though later investigation showed they were not near the vehicle at the time of the accident. Conspiracy theories that she was killed by British Special Forces at the behest of the royal family quickly spread and, though they have never been substantiated, they continue unabated today. As for the smashed Mercedes at the center of the affair, it appears to have disappeared immediately after the crash; most likely it was quietly “disposed of” in deference to the royal family and to keep it from serving as a morbid relic of the truly tragic event.

#8 Rosa Park’s Number 2857 1948 General Motors TDH-3610 City Transit Bus In one of the defining moments of the twentieth century, on the afternoon of December 1, 1955, a 42-year old African-American woman and Montgomery, Alabama resident by the name of Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger and was dutifully arrested. Little did she realize that her simple act of civil disobedience would start a firestorm that over the course of the next decade would not only end segregation throughout the south but would result in the sweeping civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The bus remained in service until it was retired in 1970 and was purchased by a gentlemen who left it parked in a field behind his home and used it to store tools. His descendants decided to sell it in 2000 and, after having it authenticated as the actual bus Mrs. Parks was on, eventually sold it via an internet auction to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan for a whopping $428,000 (about 250 times what the bus cost new in 1948)! Restored to its original condition and looking much as it did in 1955, today it is available for public inspection as one of the most historically famous vehicles of the century.

#9 President Kennedy’s 1961 Ford Lincoln convertible A participant in one of the seminal events of American history, few cars are as famous as the dark blue limousine President Kennedy was riding in when he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet on the streets of Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. In fact, few images are more iconic than that of Secret Service Agent Clint Hill clambering onto the trunk of the limo as it picks up speed in an effort to prevent Mrs. Kennedy, who had crawled onto the truck of the car, from falling off the vehicle. The car underwent a major facelift in the aftermath of the shooting—including turning it permanently from a convertible into a very hard top—and other major cosmetic changes that made it look considerably different than it did that day in Dallas. The car went on to be used by four other presidents before being retired in 1977 and today sits in display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Because it looks so different from the car they remember seeing in the video of the assassination, many people walk right past it, never realizing for even a moment how historically important the vehicle is.

#10 Franz Ferdinand’s 1911 Graf & Stift Double Phaeton I’ve chosen this vehicle as number one for one simple reason: it was the scene of arguably one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century. The sort of car built exclusively for royalty, this was in this vehicle that Austro-Hungarian leader Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were riding in when they were gunned down by assassins on the streets of Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914. Due to the political tensions in the region at the time, the deaths became highly politicized and led to rioting by ultra-nationalist residents against local Serbs. In a series of one diplomatic miscalculation after another, the incident eventually escalated into full-blown war when Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia (whom it held partially responsible for the assassination), which was reciprocated a day later by Serbia’s chief ally, Russia, declaring war on Austro-Hungary. This, in turn, induced Austria’s ally, Germany, to declare war on Russia, which triggered declarations of war by France and England against Germany, until soon pretty much everybody was at war with everybody else, the result being the First World War and 16 million deaths. While urban legends swirled around the fate of the car (it was supposedly involved in numerous fatal accidents and bad luck for subsequent owners) none of these proved to be true. Instead, the car was put on permanent display in the Museum of Military History in Vienna, Austria, along with assassin’s gun and other related items, where it remains to this day to stand as a mute reminder of how very large fires can be ignited by a very small spark.

Source: TopTenz

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itsworn · 7 years

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Huge Muscle Car Turnout for 2017 San Marino Motor Classic

00The seventh annual San Marino Motor Classic (SMMC), building upon the success of last year’s event, assembled another outstanding field. The concours included a diverse mix of more than 350 vehicles, with brass-era cars, American Classics, sports cars, hot rods, muscle cars, and more spread out over the spacious grounds of San Marino’s Lacy Park (near Pasadena). More than 10,000 spectators enjoyed the day’s nearly perfect weather.

This year’s Muscle Car and Pony Car classes were especially strong. Class cochairmen Joe Salvo and Paul Ginsburg invited more than 30 exceptional cars over the four classes: Class N1 GM Muscle Car Hardtops and Sedans; Class N2 non-GM Muscle Cars (Ford and Chrysler) Hardtops and Sedans; Class N3 Muscle Cars Convertibles, all manufacturers; and Class V, all Pony Cars, AMC, Chrysler, Ford, and GM.

Salvo explains the recruitment process: “Once the actual classes are determined in September of the previous year we begin to recruit. The recruiting process is ongoing, and essentially we recruit all year long for the event. We attend dozens of car events all around Southern California as well as outside the area. [In fact, two entrants for 2017 came from people Salvo recruited from MCACN in Chicago!—ed.] For each entry we ask the entrant to include a photo as well as a detailed description of their automobile with their entry.

“For cars that will be judged, we try and hold a strict line of integrity for the American Muscle and Pony Car Classes in that we are looking for original cars, not modified cars. Every now and then a car will slip by the process, but for the most part only original and original-equipped cars are what the SMMC is looking for. We have a little more wiggle room if the car is not going to be judged, however. The SMMC does try and take as many cars as we can, since we are raising money for charity at the end of the day.”

This year the show raised more than $300,000 for the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA, the Rotary Club of San Marino, and the USC Trojan Marching Band. To date, the event has raised $1.6 million for charity. Here’s a look at some of the outstanding muscle and pony cars that came out for the SMMC.

Photo courtesy Kahn Media

1964 Ford Fairlane 427 Thunderbolt John & Martha Karelius Not only did this 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt earn First place in class N2, but it was also awarded the Muscle Car Review trophy as the San Marino Motor Classic’s top muscle car. Given the outstanding quality of the field, this honor was well deserved.

“My early Thunderbolt is one the documented 100 produced and is one of the few remaining examples of Ford’s all-out assault on drag racing in the 1960s,” John Karelius explains. “It was delivered to Max Larson Ford in Goldwater, Michigan, on December 26, 1963. It was then resold on April 21, 1964, to Jack Reformed Ford in Springfield, Ohio, where it was campaigned throughout the Ohio Valley.”

Karelius tells us that Ford delivered these “‘Thunderbolt’ Fairlane 500s to Dearborn Steel Tubing as K-code, High Performance 289, four-speed cars. They arrived less the engine and transmission. By ordering the K-code engine, the car was shipped with larger brakes and the legendary Ford 9-inch differential.”

At Dearborn Steel Tubing, the chassis was reinforced and modified to accommodate a 427 High Riser FE engine with two four-barrel carburetors. The original steel hood and front quarter-panels were replaced with fiberglass panels. A special teardrop hood was installed to accommodate the massive FE power plant.

“The early Thunderbolts were delivered with a fiberglass front bumper, which was later replaced with an aluminum one,” Karelius says. “The interior was modified with the following changes: radio, heater, defroster, side mirror, and door panel armrests were deleted. Rubber floor mats, a single driver’s sun visor, single driver’s windshield wiper, single driver’s seatbelt, and lightweight Bostrom Thinline racing seats were added. The Thunderbolts were also delivered with drag racing slicks as standard equipment.”

1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Z-16 Frank & Laura Rodrigues This gorgeous Z-16 Chevelle was voted First place in Class N1. “It was funny when someone came up and questioned me about the trim on the rear,” says Frank Rodrigues. “I explained that this is a very rare Chevelle Z-16, the first Chevy to get the then-new 396 big-block. It’s very limited production. Just 201 were built in 1965, and it’s just one of 76 that we know left in existence.”

He bought the car from a town outside of Chicago from Jerry Huffman, “who has his own Z-16 that he had in high school. This restoration took four years, done by Chris Daniels, who is one of the noted experts on the Z-16 Chevelles. He still has two Z-16s of his own that he bought back in the 1970s and has restored several. I assisted with the restoration, and I can say that it was truly a labor of love.”

Rodrigues says, “What’s noteworthy is that at one time this car was owned by the automotive writer, Terry Boyce. I have some photos and documents of the car that goes back to the time he owned the car.”

1968 Shelby G.T. 500KR Robert Cassling Robert Cassling’s “King of the Road” Shelby was voted top in the N3 class. He tells us, “I purchased my KR convertible approximately three years ago following a five-year search for a black KR convertible with a four-speed transmission. Little did I know this was quite a rare combination, as there were only 18 made in this configuration. Having a black top made it even rarer, with a total production of only five triple-black KR convertibles.”

He first spotted the car on television, at a Mecum auction. “After years of fruitless searching, I gave Mecum a call, and they gave me information on the owner. It turned out that he lived only 5 miles from me! So the transaction was easy. The car was rotisserie restored by a well-known Shelby restorer and won gold awards at SAAC and Team Shelby in 2016. I think my car’s greatest attribute is its rarity.”

1965 Shelby G.T. 350 Bruce Meyer The winner in Class V for Pony Cars was noted car collector Bruce Meyer for his first-year G.T. 350. “It’s truly one of my favorites, which I’ve owned for 30 years,” he says. “It was restored almost 30 years ago by Cliff Lipke in Colorado and driven ever since. It has been on the California Classic Rally as well as the Copperstate 1000 Rally. This car does it all: comfortable, old-school fast, and handles like a dream. Very predictable with no surprises.”

Meyer says the G.T. 350 “just speaks to me. It’s a pure American automotive piece of art. Just nothing like it. A California hot rod Mustang in the traditional American color scheme perfected by Briggs Cunningham, white with blue stripes. In addition to its wonderful aesthetic, it dominated on the race track as well. It walked the walk and won multiple SCCA B/Production championships. It’s everything a Shelby should be.”

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 Ward Grappa “My Chevelle was sold new in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 6, 1970, at Ed Black’s Chevrolet Center to Tom White,” explains Ward Grappa. “Tom was a 19-year-old pharmacy major at the University of New Mexico. The purchase price of this car was $4,454.60. The original owner used this LS6 Chevelle as daily transportation until late 1980. By that time it had acquired 91,000 miles. Tom’s four daughters came home from the hospital as newborn babies in this car.”

In early 1981, White sold his LS6 to its second owner, Greg Compagnone, also from Albuquerque, for $4,500. “Greg drove this LS6 infrequently and kept it until late 1984,” says Grappa. “During that period he had the rings and bearings replaced in the engine because of excessive oil consumption, and had a ‘Mop and Glow’ paint job done because the original paint job was faded.”

Grappa has his car’s full owner history: “On December 12, 1984, this LS6 passed to Jerry Cogswell from Los Lunas, New Mexico, its third owner, for $5,500. From late 1984 until late 2001, Jerry put less than 1,000 miles on this car. At the time I purchased this Chevelle on January 13, 2002, it had traveled 95,575 miles. A complete, 2,000-hour, body-off restoration was finished by me in February 2003. All components are numbers- and date-code matching. Documentation includes the original Protect-o-Plate Warranty Folder and the new car purchase order.”

1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 Keith Watkins “I’ve owned the car for three years now,” says Keith Watkins. “I purchased it from a restorer in Atlanta who purchased it from the original owner. The car underwent a frame-on cosmetic restoration prior to me buying it. Once I bought it, I went through the car again to finish up all the fine details and get the car as close to original as possible. This included new fenderwells, OE battery and cables, OE spark plug wires, N.O.S. fuel pump, N.O.S. AM/FM radio, upgraded OE gauge package, N.O.S. tilt column, and all new correct hoses and clamps.”

The Chevelle “looks and drives exactly as it did when it left the factory in 1969, and it’s been a ton of fun working on and enjoying this time capsule,” Watkins says. “The car has the original engine, transmission, rearend, carb, snorkel air cleaner, and brakes, and sports its correct 789 Tuxedo Black paint, along with correct 11C Garnet Red interior. All the glass except the windshield is original to the car, along with the original body panels. Inside the car smells like steel and vinyl and takes me back to my childhood every time I go for a spin.”

1970 Ford Torino Cobra John Chencharick “I purchased this original, numbers-matching car with 24,000 miles in 2005,” John Chencharick tells us. “It now has 26,000 miles. I documented the mileage by contacting the second and third owners. The engine internals were photographed and documented by engine master Jim Van Gordon, and the transmission was inspected and photographed by John Saltzman. The original torque converter was also inspected and photographed. The engine compartment was expertly detailed by John Coute’s Arrow Auto Air in San Bernardino, California. The painting was done by Rounsville’s in San Bernardino, California. Parts were supplied by Jeff Sneathen at SEMO Mustangs, and any technical detail information was furnished by Phil LaChapelle.”

Chencharick says he has been “actively involved with most phases of the restoration from either a hands-on or research aspect. The originality of the car is its most amazing attribute. The car has participated in three concours events and had been very well received. It was invited to the Fabulous Fords event to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Torino and has just been invited back for the 50th celebration. It has also been invited for a major, yet unannounced, event coming up in January 2018. The car has done very well in shows, and I look forward to more highlights for this special car.”

1969 Ford Galaxie 500XL Mark Rice Mark Rice tells us he bought his Galaxie in 1979 “for $400 out of an ad placed in Hemmings. It was in a repair shop where it had been parked for five years. I am sure the shop told the customer that they had blown up the engine. Don’t know how the owner of the shop had the authorization to sell it, but he did, maybe for the customer. It was the first car that I brought back, and I drove it after doing some valvetrain work on the original motor.”

The Galaxie was far from how it looks now. “It had no rear glass and had been out in the rain for four years, so it had lots of rust,” says Rice. “The entire floor section had to be cut out of another 1969 convertible that I found at an Ecology Center. My dad and I cut it out on one Easter Sunday. It also needed the right door and trunk lid replaced. In the late 1970s into the 1980s you could find four to five cars a row at the junkyards and still find a fair amount of new parts at the local Ford dealer.”

The Galaxie was born with a K-code 429 two-barrel that came with a single exhaust. Rice says, “I upgraded it to a 460ci crate motor in 1985. I never liked the way it ran—no bottom end. A man in Signal Hill [California] began the rebuild of the 460 in 1999 with the correct DOV-C heads from a 429. It is completely balanced and port-matched with Cobra Jet cast-iron headers. I helped in all the intake and exhaust porting. I restored the car myself with the exception of the paint and upholstery. It was painted in late 1989 and still has that paint on it. It’s been a part of my life for the last 38 years.”

1968 Shelby G.T. 500 Christopher Sullivan “Mine is a true Los Angeles Shelby G.T. 500,” says Christopher Sullivan. “It was originally purchased from Downey Ford, Downey, California. It was built on December 21, 1967, and received at Downey Ford on January 11, 1968. It’s all factory-correct, matching-numbers with its original, unrestored factory interior. It has benefited from a six-year rotisserie restoration process—every nut and bolt—using all the actual parts that came on the car wherever possible. All correct factory colors, details, and using correct date-coded original N.O.S. parts, turn signal switch and so on.”

Note that the Shelby has its original black and yellow California-issued license plates with the original Downey Ford dealer license plate frame. Sullivan says, “This dealer frame was the personal frame of the original owner of Downey Ford, Mr. Graham Sr. which was given to me by his son, Mr. Jim Graham from Santa Margarita Ford. He told me, ‘So you own the green hot rod. I knew that car when I was 14 years old running around my father’s shop!’”

The Shelby (No. 00909) was raced at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California, and at the Riverside International Raceway. “The car had some vintage Lions Drag Strip decals under the hood when I purchased it in 2009. It took many years to get the G.T. 500 to the level it is today. And I really enjoy driving it around Venice Beach,” says Sullivan.

1966 Shelby G.T. 350 Margaret Alley “In 1967 my husband Paul and I traded our VW Beetle and a little bit of cash to one of our neighbors for this car,” Margaret Alley recalls. “Over the years he would drive it to work, racing on the Long Beach freeway. He loved it, he wanted a muscle car so bad. He loved fast cars. Together we drove it in slaloms, time trials, and gymkhanas.”

Over the years, with Paul driving it back and forth to work, “the car went through several paint jobs, some not so good, the cheap-type stuff,” she says. “Over the last couple of years, I dug it out of storage and had Mike Abssy, the owner of Schraders’ Speed and Style in Azusa, do all the work. It is a true muscle car, no power brakes and no power steering. You just muscle it around, which I do about once a week.” We shot a video of Margaret at the show and posted it on Facebook. “As I left Lacy Park on the day of the show, that video must to have gone viral,” she tells us. “As we drove the car off the field, people were shouting at me, ‘You’re the real little old lady from Pasadena!’ That was so much fun, the perfect ending to a wonderful day. And now my G.T. 350 will be in Muscle Car Review magazine.”

1964 1/2 Ford Mustang Robin Grove “Salli, my 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible, found me through a friend whose father, M. E. Evans, had just passed away,” Robin Grove says. “I am the car’s second owner. Mr. Evans was a big Ford truck buyer for his ranch in Texas in the 1950s and 1960s. He bought his wife a present for her birthday, which was a triple-black, fully loaded, Tiffany-advertised, hot-off-the-assembly line Mustang. He had her delivered on a large flatbed truck with a bow.”

She says the engine had some problems in later years, so it became a father-son project. “Somehow they never finished it, and it sat in their garage for 30 years, all parts in boxes and accounted for. “My first car was a black 1964 1/2 Mustang, and over the years because of that I was named Mustang Salli,” Grove continued. “Hence, when my Mustang found me, she had to be named Salli. Salli’s a babe, and us girls always stick together. At shows, when someone recognizes it as a 1964 1/2 Mustang, I love pointing out the almost dozen or so small differences between the half-year, 1964 1/2 cars—such as the generator and sharp-edged hood—and the changes made for the full-year 1965 cars.”

1972 Mercury Cougar XR-7 Skip Humphrey Skip Humphrey’s Cougar is a rare cat, one of just 32 convertibles built with the 285hp 351 and a four-speed manual transmission. “I ordered the car in September 1971 from Hempstead Lincoln-Mercury in Hempstead, New York,” he says. “It took until December 23 for the car to be delivered, as Ford had trouble getting it to pass Federal smog requirements because of the four-speed transmission. On the weekend of July 4, 1973, I read that Ford had built its last convertibles. At the time she had 39,000 miles on the odometer. I went out and bought a used Falcon Station wagon, and put the Cougar in my garage, to be used only weekends and only in good weather.”

Humphrey moved to Southern California in 1988 and had the Cougar, then with 63,000 miles on the clock, shipped west. This past April, while Humphrey was driving home from the Fabulous Fords Forever show at Knott’s Berry Farm, the odometer rolled over to 85,000.

“This car is as original as I have been able to keep her,” he says. “In 2012 at the Knott’s’ show, I was award the Johnna Pepper Memorial Trophy, presented to me by Henry Ford III, the great-, great-grandson of the founder of the Ford Motor Company. She is lovingly cared for and driven to numerous shows, mainly in Southern California.”

1968 AMC AMX Mark Melvin “My car came with an interesting history, as it was Angela Dorian’s grand prize for being named Playboy’s 1968 Playmate of the Year,” says Mark Melvin of his distinctive AMX, which we featured in “Pretty in Pink” in the Jan. 2016 issue (hotrod.com).

“Although the pink car was a beauty in 1968 when formally awarded to Dorian, the car was very rough when spotted for sale on a used car lot in Southern California,” he recalls. “A contract was signed and title transferred, ending the Playmate’s 42 years of ownership, which made me the second owner of the ‘Playmate AMX.’”

The AMX, wearing black paint, was put into storage for two years until “a combination of local club members agreed to help take on the project of restoring the AMX back to its original ‘Playmate Pink’ glory,” says Melvin. “The restoration, led by club member Allen Tyler, took nearly three years, as every nut and bolt came off the car and every component was rebuilt.”

He says his AMX “does very well at all shows. Even if it misses out on an award, it still gets looks from everyone, especially the girls, who can’t pass up an opportunity to have their picture taken with the pink AMX.”

1970 Dodge Challenger Peter Treglia A couple of cars on the Lacy Park lawns were veterans of previous SMMCs. One was Peter Treglia’s Challenger. He says, “I bought the car about two years ago, 90-percent restored, from Greg Nelson, a big Mopar guy who runs The Mopar Ponderosa in Minnesota. Since then it’s been an ongoing project to make it as correct as possible. I entered the show here last year, where I was pleased to be invited, and finished last in my class. That inspired me to do better, and over the last year we fine-tuned where we felt we came up short. This year I took home the Second place trophy, which I think is quite an accomplishment.”

Treglia says his Challenger was “inspired by the remake of the movie Vanishing Point in 1997. It’s equipped with a numbers-matching 440 Six-Pack, transmission, and rearend. It’s a Dana 60 Super Drag Pack car with a 4.10 rearend. It’s finished in B7 Blue, which is one of the rarest colors and is the color the car was when it left the factory.”

1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Warren Seko Another SMMC veteran was Warren Seko’s Grabber Blue Boss, which earned the MCR award at last year’s show. He says, “The Boss 429 Mustang is a rare muscle car and was homologated by NASCAR to build at least 500 street examples for Ford to use in racing,” Warren explains. “Total production was 859 made for 1969, and 499 for 1970. My car is KK number 2171.”

Seko’s late father, Saburo, was the third owner. The car had a repaint back in the late 1980s “with single-stage paint in its original Grabber Blue color,” he says. “The interior is 100 percent original, with its slight patina, vinyl scent, and the white comfort-weave seats. The Decor Group with the woodgrain side panels was an option for the 1970 model year.”

Seko points out that “all 1970 Boss 429s were equipped with the Hurst shifter, while the 1969 models came with the Ford handle. The car has been in the show circuit in the L.A. area since the 1980s and has won numerous awards throughout the years. It currently has 25,000 miles on the odometer.”

According to the Marti Report, this Boss was one of 10 built for the Los Angeles ordering district. As such it is equipped with the special California evaporative emissions equipment on the gas tank, air cleaner tube, and a charcoal canister under the engine block.

“It was delivered to Culver Motors Ford in Culver City,” he says. “My late father, when he first purchased the car, verified its performance at the dragstrip by clocking a 13.99 at 104 mph at Orange County International Raceway, in factory stock condition, including the full complement of smog equipment and original tires. We still have that time slip to this day, as well as old Polaroid and 35mm photographs as a tribute to my dad.”

2017 San Marino Motor Classic Results, Muscle Car & Pony Car Classes

Class N1 American Big-Block Muscle Cars 1962-1974 GM 1. Frank & Laura Rodrigues, 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Z-16 2. Dan Bishop, 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 3. Keith Watkins, 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Coupe

Class N2 American Big-Block Muscle Cars 1962-1974 non-GM 1. John Karelius, 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt 2. Peter Treglia, 1970 Dodger Challenger 3. Les Juhos, 1965 Dodger Hemi Coronet

Class N3 American Big-Block Muscle Cars 1962-1974 Open 1. Robert Cassling, 1968 Shelby G.T. 500KR 2. Dann Allen, 1969 Mercury Cougar 3. Mark Rice, 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 XL

Class V Pony Cars Through 1973 1. Bruce Meyer, Shelby G.T. 350 2. Jim Mikkelson, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro 3. James Powers, 1967 Mercury Cougar

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Birth of a Total Performance Icon: 427-Powered 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie Lightweight

In 1961 Ford adopted “Total Performance” as its corporate mantra. Two years later, in 1963, Ford powered the rear-engine revolution at Indy, competed on NASCAR high-banked ovals, and continued its drag racing activities. To remain competitive in NHRA’s expanding Super Stock classes, Ford built 200 Galaxies that were put on a diet, shedding approximately 425 pounds. In the process these Galaxie Lightweights became a Blue Oval icon.

Ford had ambitious racing plans for 1963, centered on the introduction of a more aerodynamic semi-fastback roofline with a more slanted backlight (rear window) for its two-door hardtops. In February 1963, in a move intended to make the Galaxie even more competitive, Ford’s car merchandising manager, V.P. Motto, announced that the Dearborn automaker would introduce a “special lightweight performance vehicle.” It would be a limited-production model based on the production Galaxie with the new roofline, to be offered to drag racers nationwide. The Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight would give Ford a competitive entry for the 1963 racing season.

Retired Ford engineer and longtime Galaxie Lightweight and Thunderbolt owner-historian Dennis Kolodziej says, “All 200 of the production 1963 cars were built at Ford’s Norfolk Assembly Plant from April to June 1963. They were not built as a single batch of cars sequentially. Two additional pilot-build cars were assembled at Wayne Assembly Plant in Michigan on January 21 to 23, 1963, shipped to the Arizona Proving Grounds on January 28, and then ultimately delivered to Les Ritchey-Bob Ford Inc. and Tasca Ford. Plaza Industries in Toronto, Ontario, supplied the fiberglass components for 1962 and 1963.

“Five converted 1962 Lightweights using their respective 1962 Lightweight Galaxie chassis as ‘donors’ were assembled. Three of the five had their 1962 Lightweight bodies removed from their chassis at the Ford Experimental Garage in Dearborn, and in place a preproduction 1963 fastback body and front end manufactured at Wayne Assembly Plant on January 23, 1963, was installed, along with the 427 8V drivetrain and related components. These three units were returned to Dick Brannan (Corinthian White), Ed Martin Ford (Rangoon Red), with the first Stark-Hickey Ford unit retained as an engineering development drag car. It was also campaigned by Bob Ford Inc. (Raven Black) with Ford Special Test Drivers Len Richter and Bill Humphrey.

“Similarly, two painted and trimmed preproduction bodies and front ends (Viking Blue) were manufactured at the Los Angeles Assembly Plant and shipped to Bill Stroppe and Associates in Long Beach, California. These were utilized to convert the 1962 Lightweight Galaxies of Les Ritchey and Gas Ronda into 1963s. Ronda repainted his unit Heritage Burgundy. Interestingly, all five of these converted units had beige, trim code No. 24, interiors.”

Some reports over the years have stated that the first 50 cars were built by Dearborn Steel Tubing (DST). This is incorrect. This may be a result of the fact that DST built 10 1962 Galaxie Lightweights. DST would gain more notoriety in 1964 when it built the Thunderbolts using the smaller, lighter Fairlane to do battle with GM and Chrysler’s intermediates.

Kolodziej shared some information on several more Galaxie Lightweights that competed in the 1964 Tour de France race. “Tour de France cars, four Lightweight Galaxie units with a June delivery date, were shipped from Holman Moody to Europe. According to internal records, the first Tour de France car was ultimately assigned to Ford of Mexico, then given to Dan Gurney. The second Tour de France car was assigned to Alan Mann and served as a Girling [disc] brake test car, the third Tour de France car was given to John Wilmett, and the fourth unit went to Sir Gawaine Baille and ultimately was destroyed in use on February 3, 1965. These four have the highest Consecutive Unit Number (CUN) in my Lightweight Galaxie Registry and are likely the last 3N66R lightweight vehicles built.”

Charting the Changes

How did the lightweight Galaxies differ from their more mainstream production-car versions? This car’s owner, John Karelius, charts the changes.

First came the motivation. Ford’s legendary 427ci V-8 was equipped with an aluminum low-riser manifold sporting two Holley four-barrel carbs and a 324-degree mechanical tappet camshaft, and was factory rated at 425 hp. Because of the immense torque (480 lb-ft) produced by this high-performance evolution of Ford’s FE big-block, an RC Industries aluminum safety bellhousing was installed in front of a BorgWarner T10 (with aluminum case and extension housing) close-ratio four-speed manual transmission. The 4.11 final drive ratio spun a set 8.20-15 Firestone Dragster cheater slicks, while 6.70-15 Firestone Polyester bias-ply tires rolled up front. To bring things to a halt, each car was equipped with Police Interceptor low-fade 11×3-inch brakes.

All of the production Galaxie Lightweights were Corinthian White with a red interior. Because the Blue Oval found itself at a disadvantage compared to GM and Mopar insofar as weight was concerned, Ford put the Galaxie on a diet, shedding almost 425 pounds compared to a fully equipped Galaxie 500 XL hardtop. This was accomplished by using fiberglass for the hood, front fenders, decklid, and inner fender liners. Further weight was shaved through the use of aluminum front and rear bumpers, aluminum bumper brackets, and a lightweight frame. To date, much misinformation has been published on the lightweight frame, which was clarified further by Kolodziej, who says, “The frame assembly is comparable in function and appearance to C3AA-5005-AA, a production frame assembly, except frame side rails are to be at minimum material tolerance.”

Other exterior modifications included the deletion of the hood springs and the trunk’s counterbalancing spring. The trunk mat, spare tire, and jack were jettisoned. Kolodziej notes that in 1963, the battery remained under the hood. But it would not have been unusual for those campaigning the cars in period to move it to the trunk, where it was factory-installed on the 1964 Galaxie Lightweights.

Because entertainment and comfort were not a priority for trips of only 1,320 feet, an AM radio was not installed. One horn, the clock (standard on the Galaxie 500), heater, defroster, and door panel armrests were deleted. The front bench seat usually found in a Galaxie 500 was replaced with a pair of lightweight bucket seats from Bostrom. Carpets were replaced with thin polyethylene flooring. No sound deadener or seam sealer was installed on any of the 200 cars built.

The price for all this high-powered, lightweight goodness was $1,414.15 ($11,500 in today’s dollars) on top of the base price of $2,783 ($22,150 today) for an unoptioned Galaxie 500 two-door hardtop. And you got a credit of $75.10 from Ford to delete the heater components.

How Fast?

Just how fast was a 1963 Galaxie Lightweight? In 1963, two magazines put the Galaxie Lightweights under the stopwatch. Hot Rod’s Ray Brock noted that the car belonging to Les Ritchey (John’s uncle), an early car that lacked the fiberglass doors and inner liners and so weighed in at 3,510 pounds, reeled off a 12.29 run at a speed of 117.30 mph. Its sister car, driven by Gas Ronda, with fiberglass doors and inner liners and weighing 3,425 pounds, ran the quarter in 12.07 at 118 mph, illustrating what shaving just 85 pounds could yield.

Popular Hot Rodding took Les Ritchey’s Winternationals car to Pomona and logged a 12.49-second run at 116.27 mph. To put this in perspective, remember this was 1963. Even after the visit to Weight Watchers the Galaxie Lightweight, nominally in street trim, still weighed 3,480 pounds.

To say that owner John Karelius bleeds Blue Oval Blue would be an understatement. “I have Ford and drag racing in my DNA,” he says. “I was there in 1963 when my uncle, Les Ritchey, took the S/S Class at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis in his 1963 1/2 Galaxie 427 Lightweight, named Cynthia.”

John says he will “always remember, after a long flat tow, Les’s first run. Once he left the line, the entire crowd stood up and applauded at the sight of the Big Ford.”

Over the years, John has owned several high-performance Fords, including a K-code 1965 Mustang 2+2 Hi-Po fastback, a 1967 Shelby G.T. 500, and a 1969 Mustang fastback. He also owned a 1963 1/2 Galaxie 427 Lightweight that had been campaigned by a local Alhambra Ford dealer. But he sold it in 1966.

“I always regretted the sale of my Lightweight five decades ago,” recalls John. “I heard of a family in Arizona interested in selling one of these rare factory race cars from a collection of 10 fabulous old drag cars. I could not get out there quick enough, first to verify authenticity, purchase, and then return the car to California for some restoration work.”

After acquiring his prize, the restoration started on what was an exceptionally original and complete car. For the restoration John turned to Jerry Kugel and his team at Kugel Komponents in La Habra, California. John wants to call out Chris Smith for his dedication to this project.

First the engine, transmission, and rearend were removed to be rebuilt. The chassis was refurbished with all suspension components rebuilt to a factory-new standard, while at the same time the brake system was replaced. Underneath, the frame was detailed and painted.

While out of the car, the original top-oiler 427 R-code V-8 was blueprinted to factory specs by L&R Automotive in Santa Fe Springs, while the factory-original Holley 550-cfm carburetors were blueprinted by C&J Engineering, also in Santa Fe Springs. The robust Ford 9-inch rearend was rebuilt by Currie Enterprises in Corona, California.

John noted that the exterior paint, which had been done 27 years earlier, was in excellent shape and needed just color sanding and buffing to get it in the condition seen here. The interior is almost completely original with only the flooring replaced.

Since the restoration, John has shown the car at a number of events in Southern California. At the San Marino Motor Classic the car took top prize in the non-GM muscle car class (“Concours d’Cubes,” Sept. ’16). The car has made the 180-mile roundtrip to the El Paseo Cruise Night in Palm Desert and also goes to his local Cars and Coffee in Aliso Viejo.

John noted that the Galaxie Lightweight shares garage space with an original 427 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt and a 22-year-old Contemporary Cobra 427 SC Roadster powered by an original 427 SOHC Cammer engine.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention one more component in John’s life, his wife Martha. When we came up short a driver for the car-to-car photos, Martha stepped up and handled the camera car duties like a pro. We’d say that John is blessed in many ways.

At a Glance

1963 1/2 Galaxie 500 Lightweight Owned by: John Karelius, Dove Canyon, CA Restored by: Jerry Kugel, Kugel Komponents, La Habra, CA

Engine: 427ci/425hp V-8 Transmission: BorgWarner T10 close-ratio 4-speed manual Rearend: Ford 9-inch with semifloating axles and 4.11 gears Interior: Red vinyl Bostrom bucket seat Wheels: 15×5.5 factory steel Tires: 6.70-15 Firestone Polyester bias-ply front, 8.20-15 Firestone Dragster cheater slicks rear

John Karelius tells us his Galaxie Lightweight was originally drag raced on the East Coast and then sat in storage in Arizona for the better part of three decades. He bought it out of a collection of “old, fabulous drag cars” that came up for sale when their owner passed away.

John’s Galaxie is largely original, though the mechanicals have been rebuilt, including a blueprint job for the engine. The cast iron header-like exhaust manifolds were factory issue.

The 1963 model year was the first for the 427-inch version of Ford’s FE motor. Two were available in 1963 Fords: one with a single four-barrel carb rated at 410 hp, and this one, the top-dog 8V motor with twin Holleys under the oval air cleaner.

As part of its diet to reach Lightweight status, the Galaxie saw its front bench seat replaced with two Bostrom buckets. Note, too, that the armrests were removed, as were the carpet, heater, and radio. Every ounce counts on the dragstrip.

A spare tire and jack weren’t needed on the strip, so they were deleted to save weight, as was the counterbalance spring for the trunklid. (John had to hold the lid up so we could get this shot.) Note that the sheetmetal decklid was replaced by a fiberglass version.

The factory installed the battery underhood, but most racers moved it to the trunk to improve weight transfer.

The Lightweight Galaxies were made with fiberglass front fenders and hood, and fitted with aluminum bumpers and bumper brackets. The car had been repainted nearly 30 years ago but needed just color sanding and buffing to return to its original luster.

The redline on the big Sun tach is no joke. The 427 was designed to spin at high rpm, and the 425hp peak came in at six grand.

The post Birth of a Total Performance Icon: 427-Powered 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie Lightweight appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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