History 64/65 Comets old drag cars lets see pictures

teddisnoke · Dec 9, 2012

Mooneyes Christmas Show- Hoffmans Comet flew straight and true. It was a weird day for racing though if anyone was there, they know what I mean..

Sleeper_6 · Dec 9, 2012

Thread brings back a lot of memories

65COMET · Dec 12, 2012

Dale;when does the "ROCKET" return from Japan? Anybody heard from Mercuryjunky? ROY.

teddisnoke · Dec 12, 2012

Not sure. According to D. Franklin, its at the bottom of the Pacific, 'cause the U.S. Navy saw a container floating that fell off a ship ,and they shot if full of 50.cal.

Can't wait for it to get back, though.

ClearSpot · Dec 13, 2012

Good luck Dale.
Lets keep that jewel "overseas" as they say!

teddisnoke said: ↑

Not sure. According to D. Franklin, its at the bottom of the Pacific, 'cause the U.S. Navy saw a container floating that fell off a ship ,and they shot if full of 50.cal.

Can't wait for it to get back, though.
Click to expand...

ClearSpot · Dec 13, 2012

A Moyer '65? I don't remember seeing it posted here. Or is it the one I posted inside of the airplane hanger that's been restored????Does anyone recall?

ClearSpot · Dec 13, 2012

65COMET · Dec 15, 2012

Myron;I knew I had seen it before! Here are a couple of shots,#100-pg5,#104-pg6,#s521-525-pg27.The photos are black and white,looks like it was a white car. ROY.

Troublemaker427 · Dec 16, 2012

http://www.thesamauxierjrshow.com/photo-gallery/

Boss/Cyclone · Dec 16, 2012

65COMET said: ↑

Myron;I knew I had seen it before! Here are a couple of shots,#100-pg5,#104-pg6,#s521-525-pg27.The photos are black and white,looks like it was a white car. ROY.
Click to expand...

This one (with 64 and 65) really shows what drag racing was like back then.

Judd · Dec 17, 2012

Been a race car since the 60's Chad and his dad run Battlefield Raceway just outside Meridian, MS.

ClearSpot said: ↑

Nice '64!

Click to expand...

65COMET · Dec 17, 2012

Judd;that 64 is very clean,good looking car!!! Is it still a 289?Do you have any info on it? ROY.

LennyFreebern · Dec 21, 2012

mercuryjunky said: ↑

I found this the other day.Its from a newsletter from the Comet East Club back in 06.I would think the car is all the way restored by now but I havent heard anything current on it or any new pics.

Heres the link to this article,There are three pics of the car there,I cant seem to move them over here.

http://www.cometeastcarclub.org/Newsletter/CE_News_v5_5a.pdf

kunz's

comet: "Return of the Flying Farmer"

By Bob Gajewski

From out of a small thundering herd of only six known to
exist from the Mercury stables, we now reveal with great
pride Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick's 1965 A/FX Comet
Cyclone. This car now resides in Michigan and is owned
by a good friend Dave Kunz. What a marriage: A super car
and super guy. But without any further ado, let us continue
on with the saga of one of the rarest Mercury mastodons
ever to devour 1,320 feet of asphalt.
Unlike the infamous 427 Fairlane Thunderbolts, the A/FX
Comets did not enjoy a propagation of the species. The
Comets were not mass-produced by Dearborn Steel
Tubing or Kar Kraft. These A/FX Comets were factory bred
and born. For those of us who have been denied an
existence prior to 1950, the "A" designates a 427 motor
and the "FX" designates "factory experimental." Hence the
name "A/FX Comet. Now back to the "Flyin' Farmer,"
a.k.a. Kunz's Comet. Dave acquired the Beswick Comet in
1984. The Comet first resurfaced publicly in a 1984 edition
of "Super Ford." Here it appeared in Minnesota, sporting
white paint and a blue stripe. The former Beswick Comet
contained the famous 427 medium riser fuel injected
lunger, 4-speed top loader gearbox and 9-inch 3l-spline
locker. All this was encased in the factory fiberglass and
sheet metal skin.
According to Dave, Arnie "Farmer" Beswick piloted the
A/FX at the Winternationals in Pomona. The farmer also
scorched the old U.S. 19 strip in Albany, Georgia with a
blistering 1/4 mile 10.88 E.T.
In May of 1965, Arnie parted ways with the FX'er, perhaps
to try his luck with his second string GTOs. The Comet
then fell into the hands of Paul Rossi. Rossi substituted the
427 with the famous SOHC 427 Hemi dual quad mastodon
motor. Rossi pioneered the Cyclone sporting new gold
metal flake wrappings and appropriately names the Comet
"Goldfender". Paul had acquired the car out of Morrison,
Illinois. He match raced the car at the now defunct Motor
City Dragway, at Detroit Dragway and in Canada during
the summer of 1965. Paul then sold the car in 1966. Ford
got the car back and farmed it over to one Roy Stefi, who
extracted the SOHC cammer. At this point, the Comet
became a "dollar" car drifting over [to] White Plains, N.Y.
The Farmer car then found its way to Canada and into the
hands of Jim Melsten who flogged the Comet with its goldmetal-
flake trim in various match races. A 427 medium
riser wedge was once more cradled between the gold
fenders. After this, the former white Cyclone, now gold,
was repainted to blue, then [later] re-dyed to red. The
years melted away and the Beswick Comet became lost in
obscurity, changing owners and hiding its true identity
under many layers of paint.
Enter David Kunz. Dave set out to capture an original A/FX
Cyclone. Little did he know that his Comet safari would
lead him to Canada, where he would discover the famous
Beswick beast. When purchased, the Comet was wearing
a coat of red paint. However, she had weathered the
passing of 20 years remarkably well and the fiberglass
front bumper, steel rear bumper, fiberglass fenders, ram
air hood, fiberglass doors and deck lid were all intact and
in place as was the prized Ford Motor Co. warranty
"disclaimer" tag; still affixed to the door.
With his prize safely nestled in his garage, Dave
immediately undertook-the most important task first. He
performed a "chain fall" tune up and commenced
dismantling the tired 427 powerpack. During the course of
disemboweling the engine, Dave discovered the motor had
been assembled incorrectly, cam bearings improperly
installed, very poor oil circulation and a multitude of other
sins.
Rumor has it that the machine shop, who specialized in
Chevy engines, did the "blacksmith job" on the Comet
motor. No wonder those Chevys collected so few time
slips! Leaving nothing to be overlooked, Dave had the
engine honed true with a torque plate, installed a flat
tappet cam, beefed rockers, a forged Lemans crank, rods
and internals. Mixing it up at the rear, Dave installed a 35-
spline spool. With the mighty 427 now properly buttoned
up, Dave topped it off with a Calumet-Jackson injector
setup. This allows the "27" to gorge itself on gas, alcohol
or nitro. The Comet also sports the same traction system.
That is, the same factory installed traction bars that the
Beswick car launched with.
Originally, a 3-point cage overshadowed the driver. This is
now replaced with a 6-point cage. A standard Ford dual

point distributor still adequately

8
handles feeding spark to all 8 lungs. Dave adds that the
Cyclone ran quicker with the 427 than it did with the SOHC
cammer. The 2-1/4" headers handle the job of purging
spent gases well. Transmitting the 427's power to the rear
wheels is your basic tried and true 4-speed top loader. A
beefed Mark Williams prop shaft with a heavy duty slip
yoke and pinion yoke turn the 9" PRO gear securing the
l5"xll.5" rear tires are 5/8 wheel studs.
The Comet also sports the original 5-spoke Cragar mag
wheels that came standard. The same Logghe Brothers
wheelie bars that Paul Rossi ran with still separate the rear
bumper from the asphalt, and the original leaf springs still
cradle the rear end. A tubular type front axle holds the
front tires.
Dave runs 11-1/2 inch Goodyears on the Comet.
Originally, l5"xlO" tires were standard on the FX. Big
meats for 1965 standards! Somewhere between Beswick
and Kunz, the Comet got a slightly shortened wheelbase
for weight transfer. Dave still retains a set of original
magnesium Halibrand rims.
The A/FX Cyclones came without rear seats and only two
front bucket seats. The instrument panel from the cluster
on was a fiberglass panel with a block-off plate for the
heater. A very spartan interior adorned the cockpit. Interior
decorations included red carpet and door panels, sans
window cranks (B/FX Comets had window cranks). The
A/FX utilized weight saving plexiglass for the side glass
and backlight. The interior is Rangoon Red. In fact, that
was the ONLY color. The ominous fiberglass hood sucked
in fresh air through twin snouts feeding a direct ram air
system - simple but effective. Dave chose to retain all the
previous owner's handiwork such as the Beswick white
paint scheme, Rossi's parachute, reworked steering gear,
relocated front axle, and Logghe wheelie bars. In order to
preserve Mercury's drag racing history from 1965, Dave
has wisely chosen to duplicate the Beswick car exactly as
she ran in early 1965.
Dave, not one to farm anything out, picked up his air gun
and blew the fresh white paint job on the Comet. Then,
armed with photos of the Cyclone from ' 65, he loaded the
white Cyclone on a trailer and trucked on over to George
Garner. Now George does with a paint brush what Van
Gogh did with canvas -creates a masterpiece. George
duplicated the exact lettering that appeared on the Comet
when Beswick flew it in 1965. George even duplicated the
misspelling of Jardine headers to "Jardene" to preserve
automotive drag racing history. All this was accomplished
off of old magazine photos. Dave obtained an injector
setup that actually came off of a Lemans GT-40. Dave, of
course, replaced all injector lines himself.
According to Dave, only six 1965 A/fX Comet Cyclones
were built. One factory backup was sold to Moyer's
Dealership in Maryland. The six A/fX Comets were piloted
by: Arnie Beswick, Hayden Proffitt, Fast Eddie Shartman,
Dyno Don Nicholson, George Delorean, and Ramazinski.
Dave says all six Comets exist today.
By now I'm sure most of those readers who are experts of
A/FX Comets are probably saying: "You missed #7. What
about Chrisman's Comet? Chrisman's Comet is a story in
itself, but just for general info, here's an abbreviated story
on Jack's Comet. The 1965 Chrisman Comet was not a
factory '65 A/FX. This car was actually a '64 Cyclone that
was a totally re-skinned car using a '65 front clip and
quarters to produce a '65 Comet. This car ran a Sox &
Sons blower perched atop a SOHC cammer engine;
hence, this was not a factory '65 A/FX car. From time to
time, campfire stories tell about other long lost A/FX
Comets resurfacing. Again, there were only SIX of these
factory freight trains built. Four of these contained the
SOHC 427; the remaining two had the 427 medium riser
engine.
Those of us who are fortunate enough to own a '65 Comet
can be proud of its heritage and history. You can imagine
Dave's feelings when he pulls his trailer onto the road,
knowing that he is pulling along the actual car that wrote
the Mercury history book.
Editors note: This article originally appeared in a 1988
issue of the Performance Ford Club of America magazine.
It has been edited by the author and is used here with his
permission. Comet East wishes to express our gratitude to
Bob for supplying us with this insight into a piece of Comet

racing history.

Click to expand...

An excellent summation for sure but I disagree with two points. Beswicks car was originally a SOHC motored car. I also believe that the Moyer car was not a backup but in fact the seventh car of a seven car construction run with all of the seven having consecutive serial numbers. Why some of you folks in the know don't publish the facts on these car when you've known them for years will forever baffle me. Here's some details to consider:

Car #1: Nicholson- SOHC motor- S/N#5J27A506990 Currently owned by Kayo Irwin.
Car #2: Proffitt- SOHC motor- S/N#5J27A506991 Current owner unkown
Car #3: Beswick- SOHC motor- S/N#5J27A506992 Current owner Dave Kunz
Car #4: Delorean- SOHC motor- S/N#5J27A506993 Possibly in Canada
Car #5: Rachanski- Wedge motor- S/N#5J27A506994 Current owner unkown
Car #6: Shartman- Wedge motor- S/N#5J27A506995 Current owner Brent Hajek
Car #7: Moyer LM then directly to McCormack/Bill Lagana- Wedge motor- S/N#5J27A506996 Current owner Rick Kirk

If you guys want to buckle down and cooperate we can track down the cars with unkown whereabouts. I have some of the interim owners of the unkowns but not where they are today. I'd like to complete the ownership chains of each car plus pics of each variation of individual cars.

Happy hunting,
Len

teddisnoke · Dec 23, 2012

What is the concensus feeling with regards to running a meachanical fuel pump, and adding an additional electric unit. Can you safely have both, or just ditch the mechanical unit??? Opinions??

the fletch · Dec 24, 2012

dan weis ,anyone know where this one went ,or is now.

LennyFreebern · Dec 24, 2012

mercuryjunky said: ↑

I remember that hanger, He had an original matchung 64 that looked as nice as that one. I think he had Phil Bonners orig. 63 Galaxie also. All Nice stuff. Dont know who he was . Just some hanger in the Northwest.
Click to expand...

Ken,

That's Bart Colson's place in Washington. He also owns an original thunderbolt. The Courtesy Ford-McGroan car from Texas. Don't know the specifics on the comet.

Len

LennyFreebern · Dec 25, 2012

Dennis K. said: ↑

Re Comet Registry:

Re the seven factory Stroppe built 1965 AFX Comets, I believe you will find these cars have been documented for quite some time among the current owners.
fficeffice" /><O></O>
Re factory Stroppe built 1965 BFX Comets, there is some question to how many units were built. One owner claims only 15. I have seen internal factory documentation stating 50 units. Among the owners, I believe there are around 15 cars documented in some shape or form.

Dennis has posted this document before and it says that Stroppe was in the middle of completing the build of (50) cars of the BFX configuration. But, (50) cars were never built. L-M racing program docs show only (23)were actually constructed. Why the remainder were not done I do not know. I hope to find out. Lo and behold there was a simple answer. The cars were built to orders only and they only had orders for (23) cars.

Len

<O></O>
Re factory DST built 1964 AFX Comets, there were a couple thoughts on how many units were built. The wagon and two groups of ten coupes for 21 total. I’ve also heard 22 units, that is the wagon, a development coupe, and two groups of ten coupes. I tend to believe at least 22 units, as there was the wagon, the S&M car which is a very early Los Angeles Assy Plt 4J23F build, then two groups of ten from the Lorain Assy Plt, 4H23_ builds. A number of the 1964 AFX cars changed hands during the 1964 racing seasons, which makes it appear even more cars were built.

According to some of the folks involved at Lincoln-Mercury there were only (4) cars that were fully factory sponsored. Those were:
Nicholson- (2) cars (a coupe and a wagon)
Sox/Martin- (1) coupe- An interesting side note: Martin told L-M that if they gave them (2) cars like they did with Nicholson that they would stay with L-M. L-M refused so Sox & Martin went with Chrysler for the 65 season after Chrysler found out they were available and made them an offer they couldn't refuse.
Helen Sachs-Tom Strum owner/driver. Not sure of why this happened but Helen Sachs was head of the large western dealer group and had a lot of pull with Lincoln-Mercury. Not sure if this was one of the Shrewsberry/Chrisman cars before they got them or the Jardine Headers car Strum later drove or another car altogether. Hopefully I'll be able to resolve this.

These (4) cars were 100% factory supported including the car, parts, replacement equipment, and expenses for the 1964 season.

Including the aforementioned (4) cars there were (11) total 64 AFX Comets commissioned by Lincoln-Mercury. The additional seven cars were sold (for about the same price as the Tbolts) to favored dealers. I don't have the specific dealers yet but they include the cars already in our previous lists. Probably from the 541 Serial Number cars from the 1st group of ten.

It was also noted that the additional (10) cars (of the 551 Serial Number Series) were commissioned by Ford and not Lincoln-Mercury. Why they did this I'm unsure at present but hope to find out.

Len

<O></O>
Re factory built 1964 BFX Comets, there was the blue Doug Nash coupe which was built from a former Durability car. The above does not take into consideration the cars built by Pflugger Motors.
<O></O>
If you go back in this thread, most of the AFX cars have either been identified and/or a picture posted.
<O></O>
Regards,
Dennis
Click to expand...

I will update you all if I find out additional information.

Len

WICKEDJOHN · Dec 24, 2012

Ronnie Sox, Buddy Martin & Jake King out of Burlington, NC and their wicked fast Brinsfield Lincoln-Mercury '64 Mercury lightweight Comet 427CI. powered A/FX cars. Ronnie "The Boss" drove the Comet to the Factory Stock Eliminator title at the '64 NHRA Winternationals. It was the first A/FX car in the 10s that year! We miss you, Ronnie!

WICKEDJOHN · Dec 24, 2012

AFX DAVE · Dec 25, 2012

The Ronne Sox 1964 AFX Comet was built by Stropp in Ca. Which was the first 2 door coupe built. Where DST built there first one being a 4 door Comet AFX station wagon for Dyno Don. So DST got the contract to build 20 more AFX Comet of which Dyno Don got the first one of that group. Now that makes a total of " 22 AFX 427 ci 1964 Conet built " One thing to note! Dyno Don & Ronne Sox Comet Coupes had Fiberglas doors just like the 2 AFX Falcons that DST built for Charlie Gray head of Ford Racing. Remember Mercury and Ford were 2 Differant Drag race teams. "AFX DAVE"

dscomet · Dec 25, 2012

Happy holidays to every one

Analog Dog · Dec 25, 2012

Hey Len,I have documentation showing that one 1964 Cyclone went to Stroppes shop before Pflueger Lincoln Mercury took delivery.It was 1 of 10 that Pflueger special ordered with the Hi-Po package,of which 5 were Cyclones and 5 were Calientes.I have pictures of it taken through the years and it's different stages.

porkshop · Dec 25, 2012

This showed up in the drag cars in motion thread....JOHN

biscaynes · Dec 26, 2012

thks john, i was just about to repost it here.

fiveoh108 · Dec 26, 2012

Code AFT 20% off Dearborn classics today! Restore those Mercurys!!

ClearSpot · Dec 26, 2012

Not on the dragstrip,but I thought it's kinda cool looking!

LennyFreebern · Dec 27, 2012

porkshop said: ↑

This showed up in the drag cars in motion thread....JOHN
Click to expand...

Wasn't this Beswicks former car? Went to the Orbiter and then this?

Len

AFX DAVE · Dec 28, 2012

LennyFreebern said: ↑

Wasn't this Beswicks former car? Went to the Orbiter and then this?

Len
Click to expand...

Len;
Yes your correct! This was taken when Jim Melsten came down from Canada on a tour in the United States to Differant Drag Strips. That when they were running a 427ci Fuel Injected Med Riser. That's when it turned a 9.56 with 10% Pop (nitro). Remember this car has been lighten up quite a bit.
AFX DAVE

teddisnoke · Dec 29, 2012

Spreading the holiday cheer with fellow A/FX racer and Comet Cyclone pilot Todd Hoffman at San Diego's High Dive Bar. Dangerous place, as its walking /stumbling distance from daughters university.

65COMET · Dec 30, 2012

Dale and Super Todd;we need some pictures of your BADD ASSED Comets in action!!!! ROY.

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History 64/65 Comets old drag cars lets see pictures

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