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Ford Factory Race Cars
Preface
Last updated on 6 / 28 / 2003
at 9:31 a.m.
A note to
all visitors. Not all of the pages of this site are up dated at
the same time or at any one time.
The 1960's, are gone, but not forgotten. We had ten years of automotive wonder, performance and history.
The Interceptor, the light weight Galaxies, the Low-Riser, High Risers, the T-Bolt or Thunder Bolt it was known by both, Medium Risers, the Tunnel Ports both in 302 and 427, the Hi-Po 289 and Boss 302s, the Max Wedges, the Z-11 Chevies, Pontiacs Swiss Cheese Catalinas, the Super Duties, Rat Motors, L-88s, the ZL-1s, the Hemi and Cammers, and the last was the still born Shot Gun motor. The Boss 429.
Everybody was building light weight race cars. These cars could be ordered at the local dealership. All you needed was the correct part numbers. Ram Induction, Cross rams, Cowl induction, Hood scoops, Fiberglass and Aluminum body parts, not to mention the Acid dipped body parts! Half pane glass and Plexiglas windows, no radios, no heaters, no sound deadener, no back seats, no sealer of any kind. Anything to save the racers weight. Then came the altered wheel bases, these would become the "Funny Cars" that we know today. Those not wanting the "Nitro" problems, went another way. They formed what we know as "Pro Stock." These are the cars that dreams were made of in the sixties. Today they are still dreamed of, by those that saw, had or just wanted to own one, but could not for what ever reason.
These ancient drag strip warriors were in the dreams of many of us. And in many cases are still the dreams of many of us! They were the untamed products of a Detroit that will never be again. They were built when there was no politically correctness, no fuel mileage issues, no crash tests, and the Government didn't think it knew how to design automobiles. These cars were built for one purpose and that purpose only, to win races. They were built without compromises. They were the very best of their day. They didn't require or ask for, the government's seal of approval, or anyone else's.
This was the time of the horse power wars. That time is long past now and most of these powerful and very special single purpose cars have passed into their places of history.
Let's take a step back in time to the era of Detroit, a time when your biggest worry was getting a ticket for stomping the Guy in the next lane in a race to the next stop light. There were no drive by shootings, no high school drug lords, no grade schoolers packing a 15 shot, 9mm pistol to school, " just for protection". Life was safe, gas was cheap ( about 30 cents a gallon ) and cars were the danger, but only to the guy in the other lane!
Simple times, times of hard work, honesty and racing competition between the auto manufactures.
I have done the best that I could, being human, to represent the following information in a manner which is accurate. I am open to review of the facts, if anyone wishes to contribute to this site, advice and/or submission of information is welcome. Much of the testing and development was done by racers and engineers. They were just trying to win the next race, so some changes were not documented, simply because they ran out of time at the track. There are many "How's" and "Whys" left undocumented, and questions left unanswered. I have presented the facts, figures, places , people, and things, as accurately as possible. One more thing that must be realized is that most of the testing was done in secret. Hopefully this web site will shed some light on some of the where's, why's, who's, and how comes of the Ford Factory Race Cars of the 1960's.
Click any of these for more Ford Factory Race Car pages!
[1960]
[1961]
[1962]
[1963]
[1964]
[1964
A/FX Falcon] [1965]
[1969-70]
[Rancheros]
[Cobra]
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