They keep referring to the Fairlane as a 'Thunderbolt', I'm pretty sure that it's SBF powered. If it is FE powered, it's not something that Ford built...
It was built by Holman-Moody, there's a picture of that car at the top of their website. They built several of these cars in recent years, they're replicas of what they built back in 1964 and uses a 427 side oiler. http://www.holmanmoody.com 1964 Fairlane Sports Car - Holman Moody is building 3 new Fairlane Race Cars. The original Fairlane was raced in 1964 by Holman Moody and Alan Mann Racing. These new cars are complete with 427 race engine, aluminum top loader, fiberglass fenders & doors, Ready to race in historic events. The first new 1964 Fairlane raced in Europe in 2004, winning its’ class in the first race! Holman & moody has now sold three of these road racing ThunderBolts. http://www.holmanmoody.com/sports_gal.html Here's a Motor Trend article about them. https://www.motortrend.com/features/hdrp-0605-1964-holman-moody-ford-fairlane/
Steve, they said it was a 7Liter/427. It looks to be a Hardtop. Steve, you know all Fairlanes are Thunderbolts. Interesting Note: Fireball Roberts tested a 1964 Ford Fairlane Hardtop Coupe built by Holman and Moody for Nascar in January?? 1964. Nascar was researching the mid-size for Nascar. Holman and Moody built two of these Hardtop Coupes. These two cars went to Europe and competed in Road Races. Bothe were returned to Holman and Moody in the early 200s and restored.
The little Ford looks big next to the European cars, the Galaxy is fun to watch as it sashay's through the corners... If you lesion for it you can here the 427s.
Few more examples. Looks like masking tape was OK as well. Lot,s of racers were weekend racers then with a registered street car as race car. Like the big Customline or the relaxed guy in the last pic.
I was told it's to retain the glass lens in the case of something coming up from the track and breaking it. But who knows
If you look at some really, really, really old NASCAR Daytona race pics it's common to see headlamps completely covered with masking tape. On some cars the front bumper and grille and other moldings would be taped over as well, especially at the earliest races that were actually run on the beach. You get the sense that some of these cars were someones daily driver. Or if they survived they might end up for sale on the front row of some car dealer's lot.
I love those Goodwood videos, I've spent many an evening watching them. The Cortina's remind me of the one a buddy had back in high school, we beat the hell out of that car; it took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Even did a little off-roading/hill climbing with it, LOL!
When cable TV first became available, I used to catch the '60s NASCAR race replays @ 2 AM. Those big blocks hitting the banks just rumbled away like heavy thunder. Joe