Features Ford Thunderbolts Photos Wanted

I know that you guys will think i'm full of shit but my buddy has one sitting in his garage/barn on a concrete slab right now unrestored that he hasn't touched in years!I seen it at the end of summer he knows what it is and he has everything for it,i don't know if it's one of the lost cars or not but i will try to catch up with him and see if i he will let me take some pics of it!

 

Looks like Butch has some weight in the trunk.Nice whitewall slicks.

 

Thanks Dennis. That's one less stray photo I have floating around on my hard drive now!

Funny you mention the bumper, because I've noticed the droopy bumper syndrome on a lot of the aluminum bumper cars. I've always assumed that was due to the lack of an outer bumper bracket. Is that correct?

Deron

 

I wasn't aware of that. I find it interesting that Dick Coffey Ford was less that 30 minutes from my house, but virtually no one around here has any recollection of the car other than the fact that it existed. Well, that and the fact that 90% of the folks who were aware of its existence still swear that its locked in a warehouse in Decatur just waiting to be discovered. That's one urban legend that just won't die....

So are you thinking that the dark colored car in the photo Cyclone posted is the Country Boy and the light car Donilson? Do you have any photos of the Dick Coffey car other than the one that's been posted previously?

As always, thanks for the info,
Deron


PS: I see that Dennis has graduated from "newbie" to "grenade inspector" here in HAMBland. Congrats!

 

If you can get the VIN too we can tell you where it was delievered to in '64. Keep us posted!!

 

If it's who I'm thinking of tell Dave I said hi.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Not to worry Deron. Sometimes my emails and posts read like I've got an attitude. My apologies.
I prefer the rustic tracks to the well groomed, NHRA palaces.
Joel

 

Emmett ran the 'glas bumper in the car's early days.
Joel

 

Its all good! Places like Phenix City and Baileyton are more my speed too.


Deron

 

A Thunderbolt at GNRS

http://www.bangshift.com/gallery/20...ter-show-Race-cars-and-dragsters-gallery.html

 

I agree.

When Emmett first took delivery the car had a fiberglass front bumper, as the aluminum version had yet to been released. My reference was when the car was painted black/1965, however I wasn't clear in stating that.

Matter of fact, I think one would be hard pressed to find a later circa 1964 photo of the car even when still painted white with a fiberglass front bumper.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Looks like the former Poole & Aitken car from the early 80's , an automatic car originally delivered to Hawkinson Ford, Oak Lawn IL. I recall looking at the car around 1979 when it was over at Wolverine Chassis in Romulus, MI being converted to a NHRA S/S er.

Regards,
Dennis

 

I think the Thunderbolt had and still has quite a lot of mystique and aura to it. Unfortunately, the historical and lineage aspects seemed to been not accurately documented and remembered, especally after the 1964 season.

Re the Dick Coffey car, later on it was in TX, TN, and currently in MA. Part of the confusion with car was due to later on the fiberglass doors being switched from the Woody Anderson Ford car to it.

Regards,
Dennis

 

The Country Boy car

 

I think the bumper angle may have to do with more how the inner bumper brackets were fabricated and how many bracket mounting bolts were used. The inner bracket was a 1964 production steel component with a tab welded to bottom in order to raise the vertical height of the bumper.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Holy shit that's him....i would never say where the car is but i guess you already know!

 

If it's the car I'm thinking of, here is a photo of it at Detroit Dragway from 1967. The car was in the Detroit area until the mid 70's when Dave acquired it.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Tell Dave that I said hello.

Here is another photo of it from a local car show in 1965. Note the car behind it. Cork owned both of them and they are both real. I think you can figure out the car in the background.

Regards,
Dennis

 

I haven't seen that car around in several years. I think the last time was on an auction site.

 

These may have been posted but they seem to be very early. Nice to see the actual colors on the original paint scheme.

 

MOHUMPUS..... That's absolutely classic! Any idea where this shot was taken?


Deron

 

Thunderbolt #93 is for sale, with lots of pics. Check it out here.

http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Exclu...nd-Factory-Race-Cars-Up-For-Private-Sale.html

 

Wow!...$330,000.00 for T-bolt #93 / 100! Not a big fan of the Automatic Trans...but it is original to this car!

http://www.bangshift.com/gallery/1964-Ford-Thunderbolt-93-of-100-gallery.html

 

Dang, if I hadn't just bought my wife that Valentine's day present I'd go get that thing......

The ad for this car leads you to believe that its an unrestored original car. Can anyone verify or disprove that? If its unrestored then its an absolute wealth of knowledge there in those photos. Also, the DST-added crossmember that locates the front pickup for the traction bars looks different from what I remember seeing in other photos. Underneath the driveshaft it just drops straight down, but I was thinking the others I've seen (which ain't many!) have square tubing mitered on a 45 down to the low point. Is my memory that bad, or perhaps is this just one of those things that wasn't done a standard way from car to car? Being a very late car, I suppose it could have just been done differently.

Any info as to the original dealership and owner/driver for this car?


Deron

 

The Tasca car in the background? If it is, there's something funny going on with the door art. It looks like some kind of dots or ovals above the trim.

What about the other car. Which car was it?


Thanks,
Deron

 

Is that the Thunder Hawk, Ron Pellegrini car that Hawkinson sponsored? Was he the original driver?



Deron

 

The car still looks the same as when John Paradise had it.

 

See post #643

 

This is the Thunderbolt that really gave me the fever for these cars. I read the original "Super Ford" magazine when John restored it. I was 13-14 years old when the articles came out. Each issue was awesome as they restored this car before it was popular to do these cars. They even did a dyno test of the hi-riser that went into the car. I still have most of the magazines with this car in them. It was called "Thor" as the series went on.

It is a very nice car but an older restoration with a couple of "nit-picky" things that aren't quite 100% DST correct. In my opinion $330,000 is a bit optimistic for this car, especially in this economy. It just goes to show how good of a deal the Gate Job FC was.......

 

The car is not an unrestored original car, it was restored by Randy DeLisio.

Only the first eleven had the driveshaft loop manufactured from rectangular tubing. The loop for the white cars were a combination of rectangular tubing and a radiused fabricated assembly.

My guess the loop was modified sometime during its history and for what ever reason it was decided to leave it alone.

Vehicle delivered to Collins Motor Sales, Ogdensburg NY
Morris Lee

Regards,
Dennis