Hot Rods Pix of '55-'57 Ford Gassers - the "other" Tri-Fives

Thats when you know you got it right!

 

That's awesome! I'm running a hopped up 312 in mine as well - can't wait to piss of the neighbors when I fire it up for the first time!

Hey brigand1968, where did you find those fenderwell headers for a 312? I was going to modify the chevy ones in the picture below, but came to realize it would almost be easier to start from scratch. Where did you find yours?

 

just mod them you can buy a bunch of bends from schoenfeld headers cut em up or make new!you leave me no choice man...really you already got the headers...be easier to put a sbc in it hehehe!lol!!!!

 

SBC! No, not the cursed SBC!!!

 

Those were hand built by Patriot Racing down in Sacramento before I got the car. The headers dumped into a dual exhaust that exited out the back. I don't know if Patriot Racing is still around. I tried their website a while back and it came up as a reported attack site that does screwy things to your PC. Now it doesn't show up at all. Any decent race fab shop should be able to bend some up for you.
I really liked those headers because they followed the fender line so well and on the 57's there's a lot of room up under there to see them. I don't know what I'm going to do on my 56 yet. It's a smaller car with not as much room up there to display the teeth. The Zagar & England headers are cool.
Here's a couple of better shots of my headers and one of the Z&E car.
One thing I should note was that it was damn near impossible to get to the spark plugs with my headers. You had to come up from the bottom through the fender well. Huge pain to work on when the car was hot. I had a ridiculously lopey cam in her and it sounded great. At stoplights the whole car would just sit there and shake all over like it was angry and looking to pick a fight. I live in Portland, so the best part was pulling up next to folks in Priuses at a light and have them just stare daggers at you.

 

Great info! Thanks big time. And as a NW native (I grew up in Seattle and only recently moved to SoCal) I know exactly what you are talking about with g***ers being an anti-social statement in the eyes of the m***es. Part of why I love 'em so much! That '57 certainly was beautiful. Thanks for the additional pictures, and welcome to the HAMB! - Terry

 

Already sold the headers to another HAMBster who is building a '56 Chevy g***er. I have a good running ex-race 301 I could have dropped in, but if I moved away from the 312 Y block it would be toward my buddies extra Lincoln 430, which puts out 400 hp/500 ft lbs of torque stock! But I like the old school small displacement/high RPM approach most old-school g***ers took, so I'll probably stick with what I already have . . . and build some headers from scratch! I already have a good pair of Y block flanges to work with!

 

sounds like your on the right track I'd just get a bunch of bends and start from scratch!u know I'm juss messin wit ya!!hehehe! I wouldnt have a darned ol' tree fifty either!

 

Yeah, I knew it. I generally don't have a problem with mixing Ford/Chevys/whatever as I consider that to be basic hot rodding - make it run fast with what you have (or can afford), but with the '56 Ford I really wanted to keep with the Y block. Love how they sound, even if it's tough to get big power out of them.

So yeah Rat Nasty - I'll be building those headers from Scratch! Soon, too.

Oh yeah, and I just got a set of MT slicks and some old chrome reverse wheels to throw on the back . . . time to radius the wheel wells, too! I have to get this thing up and running by early April.

 

chromes are kool! what size slicks are they?they'll look good!

 

Tough to beat the looks of a Customline Victoria. A 406 in one of these has been a dream of mine since 1962. I owned a Customline Victoria and several 406s, but never at the same time.....yet!

 

Those are 29.5 x 9 x 15 MT ETs. They are very close to the same size as the tires I used in the picture below when I was mocking everything up. Once I radius the wheel wells, they should fit about perfect.

I couldn't afford a set of Hurst 31x10x15s, but sometimes they look like over-kill anyway, depending on how the rest of the car is set up. Mine isn't going to be all that radical looking, more of a low-key street racer type of thing, probably.

 

Speedyjones - brother, that car hogs all the cool! I like the scoop a lot. Here's a couple shots of my new Customline Vicky. Literally straight out of the barn and dropped at my curb not 30 minutes ago. Remarkably solid and complete '56. Time to get to work.

 

Nice find and looks to be in pretty good shape too. What are your plans for it?

 

I seen your car at the Portland swap meet 2 or 3 years ago.I was driveing my '66 Ford 1 ton pulling a '57 custom 300 that I have for sale. I thought U had a mountain motor in your car,sure did'nt sound like no Y-block?

 

I was gonna build a rig similar to the Zagar & England car. But then I was climbing around on it and it REALLY solid and REALLY original. So then I felt guilty and figured I should just restore it. But, frankly, I'm more of a hot rod guy than a stocker guy so I'll probably go with the g***er.

 

Yeah, she rumbled for sure.
Shame I missed seeing your car. I've seen stuff online of your AWB being built for a couple years now and I knew you were up in WA. Give me a holler if you come down for the swap meet this year and I'll buy you a cup of coffee and pick your brain. I'll be looking for '56 stuff this year.

 

Thanks! Obviously, it has a long way to go still, but its a good start. That Victoria looks fantastic...and I understand why you would have a tough time deciding on which direction to go with it.

So I'm curious, what kind of mufflers/exhaust did you run on your white '57 that it sounded so bad *** (I remember what you said about the lopey cam)?

Thanks again for all the header info, too - Speedy

 

You know, Patriot Racing built that whole exhaust system and it was there when I got the car. I don't know what mufflers they used. It wasn't anything special I'm sure. They weren't gl***-packs.
I've got build notes I can dig up and see if I can find what mufflers were on there. I know I have the cam spec somewhere too.

 

Here's a couple more from my reference photos that I had that I didn't already see posted. Forgive me if I'm repeating anything.
A couple more of Freddie Collins Jr's dads old '57, "Bad Hombre" that he sent me. One from the back when it was blue and the cleaned up one in gold livery. I think the rest of the shots of this car he still has have already all been posted. If I remember right, Freddie Jr. said most of the photos were lost in a fire or something. The other shots I don't know anything about. Except that "Top Cat" apparently was running a 406 like I plan to!

 

dig the Predator carbs on the "bad hombre"

 

A twin to the one I had in '62

 

Was it the black and white paint too? It looks like mine had a Coral interior originally.

 

Cool find, looks like a solid car. I just saw the on eBay and wanted to share, neat model, not mine... http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-1-18-RUS...ast_Vehicles&hash=item4aa1ae4fe8#ht_500wt_916

 

Mine was black and white with a gray interior. 292 stick, town and country radio.

 

does anyone have any stick pedals?for a 57 of co****?I am seriously wanting to go to a stick!!!

 

A Crown Vic with the wheel wells cut out and being drag raced...........Wow !

 

Stick is the only way to go. With automatics its just stab & steer. It takes some work to row a 4 speed but its much more fun. How's the car coming? Any more pix?

 

i have a set hanging in my 57 im thinking of welding the clutch and brake pedal together (out of sight) and running an auto

im gonna run an auto for sure ,havent decided completely on the pedals ive got a setup from an automatic car allready so i could go either way

 

u wanna sell the clutch pedal ***embly man? I possibly would want it all! pm me a price!