Loved the video, my father in law bought a new 57 Ford with the four barrel 312, stick and overdrive, later he put the Paxton/McCullough super charger on it, Hurst Shifter and tach, he regrets having sold the car back in 1967. He still has the tach and Hurst shifter (in the org box)
Ford wasn’t the only one that had parts banned by NASCAR during the 57 season. Chev/Pontiac FI’s and the multiple carb options from every manufacturer were banned at the same time. This remained until the throttle body injection we have now.. Nice video but if that was an original F code the last thing I would do is headers and a 4-speed that Ford didn’t offer until 62. If it’s a clone it doesn’t make any difference.
Neat video. The four speed conversion really wakes it up doesn't it? He also shows no mercy on the y-block it sounded like it sat on the rev-limiter for a few seconds. Pat also has the same style test on the off topic Boss 429 Mustang, it's worth watching.
Jimmy is right, NASCAR wasn't picking on just Ford. This was a political decision by Detroit, and NASCAR needed to go along to make it all work. The big three had been waging a full-blown HP war and it was upsetting other players. The Insurance industry was increasingly alarmed by climbing highway fatalities and was pressuring Congress to 'do something'. Faced with the possibility of additional laws regulating them and wanting to avoid that at almost any cost, the manufacturers via the AMA passed the infamous 'Racing Ban' in '57, supposedly stopping performance development. They also very publicly dropped all factory sponsorship where possible. As NASCAR was where this was primarily showcased at the time, NASCAR faced behind-the-scenes pressure to reign in HP, having NASCAR ban all of the 'exotic' options allowed Detroit to claim they had addressed it with the powers-that-be while giving them cover with the public. To a large extent, this was a dog-and-pony show simply to avoid any further regulation and it was enough to quiet things back down. This quieted things for a few years, long enough to allow Detroit get it's congressional ducks in a row to hopefully fend off this in the future. GM and Chrysler redefined their performance development work as 'police' or 'heavy duty' and back-doored it out to the racers. Ford was a brand-new member of the AMA at the time and actually did stop most performance development, but by '59 it became obvious that they were falling behind; HFII was pissed about the 'cheating' going on and took off the gloves. Ford came back with a vengeance.... and the rest is history.
Very cool. The unit on my F code clone in the roadster was modified by Pat with the late model internals. Over 15 years ago, this let me put a face with the voice on the phone and the unit on the car.
My brother runs a sweet 292. He had a sweet torquey 272 years ago too. I used to love the way that 272 rocked on the blip. And they sound so good uncapped. Thanks Jeff, I gotta show 'em this McCullough thing. We never got the blowers or 312's in Aussie, but the 272/292 Y block was king down here- there were few SBC's here back when, they only were sold here in small numbers from '60 on, as only as base-spec. The Y block was THE ticket down under.
I mentioned them in my response… that ban limited all manufacturers to a single 4 barrel. the FE’s, Hemi’s, and other big blocks looked like something was missing on top of those big engines in NASCAR since hot riders and drag racers loved multiple carbs. Personally I was glad when they went to the 358”. In 63-4 tires were being overdriven making it really dangerous for those big cars.
I have posted else-where here on the hamb briefly, comments with regards to the Burdick family out of Omaha & the supercharged 57 Ford 300 sedan they raced on the I.M.C.A circuit with garage owner Roy Burdick manning the wrench & son Bobby Burdick at the wheel. Need to sort through my photo box, as I call it, with hopes of rediscovering photo's of it & another race prepped 58 as well. I was barely a teen at the time & on rare occasion tagged along to the garage with my Father on a weekend if he were free, don't recall peeking under the hood, but vividly recall the rear photo of both parked side by side & in a young kids mind at least, I marveled how the rear die cast tailamp housings were blanked out & filled over smooth, seemed excessive to me & thinking back it may have been a requirement to remove the hazard prone die cast & retro fit sheet metal. Not certain why that particular vision remains with me to this day, but one I'm sure the competition shared as well !.............
In 56 it was the dual quad option that were available at the Ford parts counter that caught the attention of a few Korean War returning GI’s. A gentleman saw the dual quads on my 56 told me of an uncle who found out about them, ordered a 56 post salesman coupe with all the deletes and a 312 overdrive. He had the power package put on and raced the hell out of it. The guy telling the story was about 14-15 at the time and never forgot that car. In his mind the first muscle car he ever saw. Turned out the forerunner of the E Code. When he got out of the Army the the uncle had sold it.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Ford had retained the blower option when the FEs came out in 58.
The 58 FE 332 wasn’t really a good engine….yet. It seemed in larger trucks where rpm was governor controlled it was adequate. Racers figured what they needed pretty quickly…..59-up things started really jelling for the Fords especially on the longer tracks with the 352” and way better oiling. An FE with a Pro Charger today is a mean street killer.
I had a 58 fairlane hardtop with a police interceptor 352 in it. It was not a dog by any means but our 58 Edsel bermuda 9 pass wagon would outrun it. LOL. It was a 303 horse 361. Lippy
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