Features Ford Thunderbolts Photos Wanted

thanks spike

 

ONE and only ONE........Downey Ford car of Darrell Droke. Pictures are in this thread. After he had it Jerry Harvey raced it

 

Don't recall it, sounds like a Mustang, not a Fairlane. Any additional details, what year, etc ... ?

Also sending you a PM.

Regards,
Dennis

 

I ran across a Thundernut....

 

I forgot to ad that there is some video of this car. Look under 1969 lions dragstrip on you tube. They got the year wrong but nice video of Droke beating Butch Leal. Also there is video of when Harvey drove it on the " drag racing in the 60's on you tube...

 

Courtesy of http://www.colesy-juniorstockforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37&start=40





This one is at Irwindale courtesy of the Drag cars in motion here at the HAMB

 

Just wondering...When Droke had it it ran B/FX in NHRA...What is E/XS E Experimental Stock ??>> Nascar ? Ahra ??

 

The thundernut 63 Fairlane 2 door ran at Detroit Dragway and Milan Dragway in 1964, 65. Was owned by Lee Dietrlck out of Garden City, Michiban. He had a 260 ci with 2 - 4V Carbs with all the hipo stuff and a 4 speed trans. His times were in the low 13.90's not bad for back then. We raced him with a 1964 hipo Fairlane 2 door hard top, with headers and a 4.56 gear. He would beat us most of the time.
By the way Lee is still racing a 65 Comet with a 351W these days at Milan Dragway along with several other cars. He told me he hasn't had Thundernut sence the mid 60's long gone!!! ~~~~~~~~AFX DAVE~~~~~~~~

 

There were two B/FX Mustangs made that had Quarter Horse on the side. I know Ed Terry/Joe Clement had a Black one. Ran out of Kleinman Cole Ford Oakland Ca. The second was white. Eldon Doman could have bben the driver/owner. 289 cars

 

That was my point as one was raced with a 427 HR and then it was raced with a cammer.Later there was talk it was two different cars but really the same car!

 

Those Mustangs especially the Ed Terry car started out as G/S car in 65 in AHRA and C/S in NHRA then changed to B/FX cars in 66 NHRA as I've got some pics of them.

 

Did any of the ORIGINAL cloverleaf hoods ever survive until now?

 

Was the other 65 BFX Mustang with 4 Webers the Broadway Ford Mustang in Southern Califorina the other car? A neighbor down the street from me has that Car. That would make 3 Factory BFX Cars on this street. Not Bad at all!! ~~~~~AFX DAVE~~~~~~

 

I think you are talking about the BFX Mustang down the road. I only seen his mustang once. ~~~~~AFX DAVE~~~~~~

 

Rumor has it they were shipped to Ireland................hee hee

 

Yes, kind of.

Regards,
Dennis

 

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_d...vra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FL0112_S123

 

Any pictures? I am interested in seeing one. Too cool.

 

Not T-Bolts but ... Can anyone offer any information on these two photos found on another site? The person who posted them hasn't any information, track, the cars, etc.? I'm wondering if the Ex-Gulf one is the Expressway Gulf team that ran one of the ex-Bob Ford T-Bolts in '65.
Joel

 

Yes, correct. That is the Gulf station at Belleville Rd. and I-94 near Detroit, MI. Paul Moody and Billy Williams, they were brother-in-laws. Paul passed away a couple of years ago and Billy has Altzeimers and possibly may not be with us anymore. Not certain, but I think Bill Pearson wound up with the 61 after Paul. It ran a 3 spd O/D with 4.86 gear.

BTW, Paul Moody ran the former Bob Ford S/S Thunderbolt in 1966 season, Kenny Vogt ran it in 1965 as Stinger I, exterior color yellow. In 1965 season Paul Moody bought the former Bob Ford AA/SA 1964 Lightweight Galaxie from Paul Harvey.

The other one, don't know. It's not a Detroit area track. Looks like an Eastern track, perhaps M-D?

Regards,
Dennis

 

Dennis K.
Is the 61 ford that Expressway Gulf had the same car that Bob Ford, ran with the words Jack Gray Ford on the side with Bob Ford in small print. I remember seeing it run in March of 1962 back then they were running Four Cars at a time in SS Class. I heard that over 700 cars showed up that day. I remember only One Dodge was in SS that day. The car that Won was that 62 Dodge (The Ramcharger Dodge) the lettering looked like hell, after that Mopars were everywher ~~~~~~~~AFX DAVE~~~~~~~~

 

No. The Bob Ford Inc. - Jack Gray car was a plain jane no trim 1961 Fairlane 2dr post car not a Starliner.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Another Bender Ford "GIGI" pic. This is the trailer it fell off of on the New York State Thruway. Pretty car.

len

 

This is the actual pic that 64 Cyclone used to isolate the GIGI car. Kenneth C. Essig was racing Mike Gray in the Reynolds tbolt in 1964 at ESTA drag strip in Cicero, NY. Kenny died in 2006 in Cicero, NY

 

Although Jack Gray, who was a salesman at Bob Ford, raced his demonstrators (always the lightest cars with the biggest engines) permanently lettered with both his name and Bob Ford prominently on the sides, (by Paul Hatton) his many customers usually wrote Jack Gray's name on their cars also. Jack was very popular among Ford racers and active in the Super Stock scene in the 50's and 60's, and had a huge following. He probably was responsible for most of the Hot Fords sold on the west Side of Detroit, and one-half of those sold in Lower Michigan. In fact, Jack Gray (who I met at the now defunct Motor City Dragway in 1958) was the person who brought me to Bob Ford, and eventually Ford Engineering, first as the mechanic on all Jack's cars, and then starting in 1961 as the driver. When Paul Harvey came back to Bob Ford from Jerry Alderman in 1961, Paul put me on the dealer's payroll, and elevated Jack's racing effort to a full dealer-sponsored effort. Jack promoted a full Holman & Moody engine and support, paid for by Ford Motor Company, for his ’61 Galaxy, and I do not remember ever losing a race with that car after that.
Paul Moody and Billy Williams were two of Jack's many customers, and in addition to the ex-Bob Ford race cars you mention, also bought the Bob Ford '62 406 Galaxy I drove, shown in the 2nd picture.

 

It's a bit of a long shot, but here it goes: I was wondering if someone could tell me at what angle does the lower rail sit when an FE is installed? It's the rail that goes the length of the engine bay as the picture shows. I know those with different size tires may throw it off if using a regular angle finder, but hoping just the same. Without an engine my angle is off since the springs will compress a lot.

 

Havi:
The frame rail you show in your picture is preset by the frame fixtures during the uni-body welding process. If you are asking what the engine installed angle should be relative to the frame and chassis, Ford designed their motor mounts to install the engine at 4 1/2 degrees, and the driveshaft at 2 1/4 degrees, both tilted upwards in the front. To verify this angle, put the frame rails and rocker panels at level (zero degrees) and with a straight edge laid front to back across the bare engine block "China Walls" the angle, as measured on the straight edge, should read 4 1/2 degrees, or 4 1/2 degrees past vertical if measured at the flywheel surface. Another quick and dirty way is the engine's carburetor mounting surface (Ford Intake manifold) should be level with the frame and rocker panels with the engine in place. The installed driveshaft should be 1/2 of the engine’s installed angle with the car at curb height. (Car fully assembled and sitting on its wheels with the springs loaded by the car weight) <O

 

Mr. Lyall, thank you. As I understand it, with the engine in place, the carb base, rails, and rockers all remain parallel to each other, so when the car is sitting on the ground ready to roll, all are level (zero degree angle). So without the engine in place, the rails should still be parallel with the rockers, except they both lean back due to the empty engine bay (in my case 5 degrees).

EDIT: couple hours later, I lowered an engine (400cid) into the bay, and sure enough it dropped the front 3.75", and the rockers went to zero degrees. The heavier engine probably makes up for the lack of tranny, too. Thanks again!

EDIT again: I assume when you mention mounts, you mean the upper part, not the frame perch end? I tried to measure the perch end with the engine in my way, and got zero degrees, just like the rockers and rails.

 

This thunderbolt was owned by father vin #4f41k230588
from Hippodrome 1212 broadway Nashville Tn ford invoice no 887549
03/21/1964 THANKS CLYDE B FELTS II

 

Welcome Clyde!

Any chance you have any old photos of your Dad's car or any knowledge of what happened to it? That's one of the cars that seems tohave been pretty camera-shy back in the day.


Deron