So here it is, I've been watching the Jr. Stock thread and got to wondering what class a 271 horse 289 Fairlane would fit in in 1964 or 65. Would any of you know what it would be or how to find out? I found a picture one online a few years back but so far I'm not having any luck.
With a shipping weight of 2913 and 271 horsepower, it would be in C/S. I searched and found different weights depending on the source. Shipping weight is different than curb weight, the closer to shipping wt. the better.
I would have thought they would be way down the list like K/L/M stock. C/S would be 1969 396 Nova, 1969 Cobra-Jet Mustang, 1969 440 Roadrunner territory.
None of the serious stock class racers ran those.... LOL. It was all about 'advertised' HP. The way the rules were set up, a racer could get pretty much the same power out of a 'ordinary' 289-4V and had 50 less advertised HP. That would drop you down two classes and give a slower ET to run against. Go into Super Stock and any HP differences disappeared and you still had the advantage of the lower rating.
Advertised horsepower for those cars was very underrated & they were heavier than the early Fairlane. The games had begun before then. Hi-Po 289 rating was fairly accurate. Joe
Like many other performance cars then, the 289/271 was not all that fast as it came off showroom floor….
My mistake. I was thinking of today what class they would run in. Nhra rates them at 271 hp and 281 with legal after market aluminum heads. Weight is at 3024 in a 62A body. It would not be very competitive today. As was mentioned you would be much better off with a regular 289 4-bbl. rated at 205 hp.
Here are the documents, (books) that I used to figure classes for guys back then. The NADA, had the shipping weights and advertised HP, and the NHRA Rule Book broke down the classes, by weight to HP. With a 2 dr HT, 11.04 puts it near the middle of C Stock.
The classes changed every year. My fathers car dropped a class almost ever year He ran a Hudson Jet. Low class car. He was u/s or v/s by 1970. Those classes are not even there in 64
The 4 barrel 289 was rated at 210 and 225 Kip, depending on compression ratio. 64 1/2 Mustang had lower CR, and a 210 rating . Higher CR cars, including the 65s were 225. Solid lifter 289s were 271, except the GT350, which was 306.
The science of stock class racing. Also and ego buster when you show up at the strip with your strong running but stone stock street car with street tires and win a couple of rounds and then pull up to the line and the car in the other lane is all lettered up, has a batch of national event stickers on it and the back window of that 62 Chevy 409 4 speed wagon has a line of national record holder stickers, Your 14.25 doesn't look very good against his running right on the record 12.69. That was me in G stock at Little River in 1969. That was 310 hp and 2495 lbs. 5 pounds under the price bump for the Texas license plate fees.
Hey M, Great information on the Ford powered stock class cars. Here are the results of the class records set for January 1964. With 271 horsepower, the Fairlane was no sleeper, but the national record for the C/Stock was fast for the time. 14.13 and 101 mph were the Super Stock class speeds and times from the 1959 and 1960 stock classes. For everyone else, in 1964, the classes were moving fast and within several years, were gone. So, there was a lot of set ups and tuning done during this time period for the cars that were competing. The consistent class winners and record setters were seasoned veterans of the stock class battles. Jnaki By the end of the year in December 1964, the record list was faster in all classes and record setting driver/owners. The only repeat person was Jere Stahl in G/Stock. The drag racing 1971 season was ending and the 72 season was just a thought, this was a December 1971 ad. The classes were decimated and the top winners were the competitors until they, too, weren't in the picture, the following years. So, there is no comparison to any stock class in the later versions when they were still around past 1966. Gone are the stock factory cars, replaced by allowable modified cars, running as stock car classes. To keep the limited classes in place, the description sounds like the old Gas Coupe and Sedan Class rules, with the allowed modifications. The term stock should be changed to factory modified stock bodied class cars. Since 1965 is the HAMB cut off date, rules or action beyond can't compare to the 64 rules.
In 1964 the 289/271 '64 Fairlane 2dr sedan fell in the bottom of C/S while the 2dr hardtop was in the top of D/S. There was only the 271 solid lifter 289 4-barrel or 195 horse 289 2-barrel. Unlike the '64 Comet or Mustang, the Fairlane did not get a 289 4-barrel with hydraulic lifters until 1965.
The 64 1/2 D code 210 hp 298 did indeed have a single exhaust. So did the 65 225 hp 289, unless the GT package was also ordered. (My own 65 289/225 Mustang came from the factory with single exhaust, side scoop delete, three speed transmission, whitewall tires, and an am radio. Nothing else. We bought it in 1967, when I was 16, for $1065, from the Credit Union, who repossessed it from the original owner.... thanks, Dad!). The 64 210 Mustang 4 bbl was 9.0 CR, and had a five bolt block. It was also available on the Cyclone. CR was bumped to 10:1 for the 65 model year, and power rating to 225. The switch to the six bolt block also came in for 65. A friend put an original 1964 210 hp low compression engine and four speed in his mom’s old four door 60 Falcon in about 1965. Quite the sleeper in its day. The hipo 271 hp was 10.5:1, except some references suggest 11:1 for the original small valve 63 Fairlane 271 hp version.
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