History Stock-S/S-F/X 1959-1966

That car you posted was actually the pilot car for the program,and the only one completed by Dearborn Steel Tubing.All the rest were completed by Holman/Moody,with a number of kits being sold to convert existing cars to the "torsion leaf" front suspension.


Scott


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Interesting never knew they were the ones with that suspension.

 

For anybody interested in the H & M Mustangs terryr posted a link to a nice story about building the one at H & M here:https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/holman-moody-the-history.571847/page-40

post 1195

 

Thanks Loudbang!I've been putting together my info to recreate that front suspension on my 65 Fastback for years,and photos of that quality are tough to come by.
Many good shots of rear suspension,trunk,and interior as well.
Ford/DST/HM were full of tricks when they put these cars together !

Scott


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If you can use them I THINK I can grab the photos in the article and make them bigger after NYE

 

Thanks!


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These are right from the article in the order they appear so you can match them to the captions. Save print them out and have them when you are working.

Some of them get even bigger when you click on them.

Guys these are for powrshftr if you are not interested in this unique suspension just skip this post.














Stock


Modified

 

Thanks loudbang!


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Brock Nelson

 

Bobby Arnold



Marv Ripes

 

Color Me Gone Roger Lindamood Early

 

Fast Eddie and Dyno Don



Dyno Don



Gas Ronda Downtown Ford



Les Ritcher Bob Ford

 

Did all Thunderbolts come White or Maroon?
Green one getting pushed might be a Thunderbolt clone, no fender badges.

ErrUmmm Scott is that another Ford getting pushed.

 

Yes they did come in those colors. The Bob Ford one is real and was a very winning car.

 

A guy who worked at the Ford engine foundry now owns the Bob Ford car.He is an absolute genius when it comes to historical details regarding these cars,and any other significant SS or FX Ford from the era.
It's the real-est of real deals,Norb.
And he's probably just pushing it so he doesn't scare the Chevys when he starts it.
They were all supposed to be delivered in white or burgundy,but Lots got painted.
The Gas Ronda car ended up in his signature "poppy red"(which is actually orange),the Bob Ford car was Gold,and at one time bright yellow,and there were probably others I can't think of at the moment.
I know there was another red one out west (British Columbia?),and John Donilson's "Dixie Stripper" car was originally white,then red in its second version as the "Hellfire" awb car.
His Son recently finished up a recreation of that version of the car,and it is gorgeous.

Scott


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Man Ford was really serious about winning in drag racing in the 60s.

How many Thunderbolts were built? Were there any built with automatics?

Did Malcolm Durham or did any one else give the Thunderbolts any competition in 1964?

 

It PROBABLY started in 1961 (don't want this to become a Ford vs Chevy who first session LOL) With the 409 vs 406 trips (maybe even High Performance 352's even earlier) Then the lightweight full sized Fords in 1962, 1963, and the the T-Bolt.

If I remember correctly the number was about 120 but there is some debate (see the thread below)

Yes the majority of T-Bolts were autos to start with thought to be easier on the drivetrain and better for traction with the small slicks. But the modified Merc transmissions didn't perform very well and most were converted to 4 speeds quickly.

Yes there were some interesting back and forth between Chevy vs T-Bolt mainly in the then very popular MATCH RACING days back then.

If you are interested in T-bolt history here is a thread on the HAMB with over 100 pages with input from some experts that know everything about the T-Bolt history.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-thunderbolts-photos-wanted.136384/

 

Our SS tribute car.

 

It wasn’t just Fords by ’63 all major manufactures produced special light weight drag cars. Chevy Z-11 with 427 engine, Mopar had Dodge and Plymouths with 426 engines. Manufactures got even more crazy after that until 1970.

 

There were 100 Thunderbolts built by Dearborn Steel Tubing in 1964. 59 were automatics and 41 were 4-speeds as they left DST. Ford saw how successful the Mopars were with the Torqueflite automatic so they used a beefed up Lincoln automatic. The Lincoln transmission was plenty strong, just not very quick. That is why most Thunderbolts were soon switched over to 4-speeds. .

 

Cool just learned something again

Before this picture I thought all bubble tops were Hard Tops, that's a post car.

 

Not a "bubbletop" , per se.

 

OK, I still like it.

 

Ram Truck B/FX

 

Super Stock????
Well, almost...

 

Few more....

 

I wonder where that goat came from..???
Sorry about that!
Let me know if you want it gone...

 

B/FX Bob Ford quiet One



John Hartwell

 

This is one of my favorite shots!!