I keep seeing this hemi t-bird pop up on facebook. They don't give much info other than the following: "Vintage sloppy build from the early 60's I stumbled across online. 457ci Chrysler Hemi in a Ford Thunderbird with a turbo draw-thru setup that was built by a guy that worked for Garrett AiReserch. Made 804hp NA and 1,100hp on alcohol. It has a separate tank and pump to feed the third carburetor with methanol. Shared from another page not mine" Has anyone seen this bird before, any more engine pics?
The ingenuity back then was something else, no online forum telling you that it's all wrong and won't work, just take an idea and run with it !
I love it! It is always amazing what these guys did with manually configured superchargers and carb or injector fuel systems. The fact he could bring in the 3rd carb when he was running alky is pretty cool. I can't imagine how much fun it was to attempt to get a correct fuel mixture at various throttle and boost conditions. Also a TON of money, custom components and endless complexities went into this setup. The other fun T-Bird I used to see and ride in was Joe Reath's silver one with a BBC in it - and an Art Carr T400. Really cool stuff!
Cool! Hemi in a t-bird. I know nothing of that car but the Desoto Hemi in my PU came from a guys garage locally that purchased it to stick in his 57 t-bird that I also liberated and sold to a buddy. I thought the idea sounded ridiculous, looks like he wasn't the only one with the idea.
Bit more here: https://www.motortrend.com/news/look-at-this-unbelievable-stash-of-factory-race-cars/ I’m sure there’s a video on YouTube recently of them getting the MT hemi head Galaxie going too.
A friend built this one way back when. https://www.motortrend.com/features/thunderous-bird-january-1980-982-1130-20-1/ It had been his mom's car and he first put a 327 in it while he was working at a speed shop in Covina. The big block went in while he was the fabricator at a boat building place. His brother (or his son) still owns King Bolt in Covina our local go to place for any oddball fasteners you may need.
Blown T-Bird, January 1980 Hot Rod. I think Gray did a Rod test of it.......damn, I miss him and those "rod tests"......
https://www.motortrend.com/magazines/hot-rod/issue/571284/ July 1964 Hot Rod Magazine Pages 32-35 Click "text view"
Imagine rollin' into a full serve station and tell the kid to check the oil. Just give Me an open road. I might catch the Sun.
Even as a kid that's one of the things that drew me into racing and hot rods, cars in general...just all the crazy shit they tried, all the rules that got bent and broken
Nowadays it's 'what can I buy to bolt on to this thing?'. Actually figuring stuff out went out the window a while ago for a lot of ppl. I love this kinda hot rodding!!
Thx for the link. I read the whole article. Pretty amazing engineering from a long time ago. There's stuff on this car that's seen in today's supercars.
Draw through dual fuel turbo setup built in the 60's, with turbo seals made using 60's material technology.... That seems like a recipe for an improvised explosive device, using a fuel that burns with an invisible flame, but it is definitely cool as hell.
Makes me SMILE !! I can't help but think....when I was a kid "back-in-the-sixties" I would read this and go..."yeah cool" and move on to the next article. (BECAUSE there was plenty of one off stuff sorta like this to read and think about!) Back then.....this was NOT WOW !! holy-cow!! CRAZY! stuff. ...Mickey Thompson and others were dream'in this stuff up all-the-time ! Example....Dyno Don had a set-up on one of his drag cars where when he speed shifted into high gear there was a cable to 'manually' pull timing out of the distrib at the top end! A Manual set-up ! That has stuck with me for over 50 years ! Smart huh?
All the intricate plumbing reminds me of a Model A coupe show car that was in the magazines in the 60’s called “Alazan” or something similar as I recall. Ir was bright red, I think a Lincoln motor maybe that had all sorts of chrome plumbing everywhere. I couldn’t understand it all then, and probably still couldn’t, but it was all red and chrome and looked pretty cool to my 14 or 15 year old self. I know I’ve got a little pages with it in it somewhere.
The Jalopy Journal
