1960 Ford 352-360hp. "Period Correct S/S"

Here is a shot of Nick Smith's '60 Fords from Bradenton FL. Nostalgia drags last weekend. The Starliner ran a best of 13.38 @ 103 and the Fairlane 13.55 @ 101. We feel there is more left in both cars also.

As some of you know my Dad built the engines in both cars. They are real 352-360hp. engines built as if it were 1960. Stock spec cams, stock stroke, no roller rockers, unported & stock heads and intakes with small 540cfm. Holley carbs with a stock re-curved distributor. They both do have 4 speed transmissions as opposed to the original "three on the tree" and Stahl headers. Basically very close to the way they were in 1960. Both cars are running 7" M&H slicks and stock suspension.

Nick tried to create how a NHRA legal Optional Super Stock car would have been built in 1960. I think he hit the nail on the head with these great cars.

If you've seen these cars in person you know they are spotless show winners!! The Fairlane has been in numerous magazines also.

I think these times are pretty impressive for what they are and how "stock" the engines are. It is only the second time either car has been to the track in two years also.

By the way, both cars out ran a '61 Pontiac Catalina, 421,2x4, 4 speed, 4.30 gear in a scheduled match race!!! FE Power!!

Anybody know of a 348, 409 or 413 looking for a match race??

 

Nice cars for sure

 

I think I'd have to put one of 'em on the street! Brings back memories, my uncle had a '62 tudor with lo-po 352 and "bolt action" 3-speed as a family car. It had some great torque.

 

First engine I built was a 352 for my 59 ford conv. The FE always has empressed me as a performance motor. Heavy but a torque monster. 13.38 is great for those 60's ford.

 

Those are absolutely beautiful cars. Nothing quite like a FE in my opinion. Awesome numbers for the ole 352!

 

Looks great.....

 

Very cool. Hauling the biscuits too, those numbers are nothing to sneeze at for 4000lb+ cars with basically stock 352s. Impressive!

 

Very Cool cars. That is a great picture and some pretty good times for those rather heavy cars. I am a huge fan of the 352. Too many people just want to turn them into 390's or 410's, but the 360 hp 352 is nothing to dismiss.

Thanks for the post.

 

Does bring back memories. The oldman bought a new '60 Galaxy 2dr. Some kind of 'special' 352, (interceptor maybe?). At 6, I was just starting to pay attention to that kind of stuff .

Very nice pair you have there!

 

To be honest we all thought the Fairlane would be faster and it still may work out that way. The car is a little lighter and we thought the engine in it was a little better than the Starliner's but they both are very, very close. More tuning and track time is needed as they are both fairly new builds.

 

Thanks for the thread ...I've been appreciating both Y blocks and FE's a lot more than I used to .

T

 

By the way I found the Fairlane here in the HAMB classifieds for Nick. It was a no option six cylinder car that he converted to hipo specs. It turned out to be a great find. The Starliner is an original 352-360 hipo car. Nick is very partial to '60 Fords as you can tell. He raced one when they were new. Bellow is a website for his awesome car collection. You may have seen a few of his cars before....
http://www.factorylightweights.com/

 

Years back, I almost bought a '61 Fairlane base model 2 dr sedan. Was thinking about putting my FE in that instead of the Falcon, but went with the Falcon because it was lighter and in MUCH better shape. Still kind of regret that sometimes..

 

I have an original 60 352-360hp Intake... very interesting piece. I had it on a 390 with a 410 Edsel Carb. worked great.

 

I have heard of that motor and wanted to see what one looked like since I was thinking about dupicating one to install in my 55 sunliner for a period swap if I dont build a Y block

 

a lot of people call them junk my third car was a 61 starliner with a 352, also the first motor that i built, ended up with a 428 4 speed and messed up a lot of guys in chevys and other makes, they thought i wanted to run top in but was geared for the quarter

 

I had a couple 65 4 bbl 352s that ran good,they would rev quicker then the 390s I had.

 

A local guy here has a HUGE amount of cars that includes a really nice 60 Fairlane. He says the 60 is one of the ugliest cars he owns. I srongly disagree. I love em'.

 

A pair of bad boys for sure, those 352 are great power houses.

 

Nice job on both cars. Normally I would go with the fast back, but the box top looks pretty cool too..

 

Awesome cars ! A friend had a box top model back in 1960 that ran low 14's and that was a damn good time back then. Every day driver with lake pipe dumps coming off the stock cast iron headers.4:11 gears with 3 speed on the column. Handled many 348 chevies.
I ran a 62 "406" galaxie and did my best to carry the ford flag !!!!!!!

 

I have a nice pair of C0AE shorty headers. Always wandered what they fit since most pairs I have ever seen are C1AE which I knew was for the 390 and followed by the 406 engines. Great looking cars! Underhood shots?

 

I'll post more photos tonight. These cars will be racing at our FE Race & Reunion at Beaver Springs Dragway on 4-27-13. They are coming from Florida for the event.

Check out the link below for more event info.

 

was't A/stock the highest classification in 1960---my cousin whose dad was a ford dealer had at least one of all those great fords of that era---atlas bucrons baby...

 

Pretty certain that the super stock class oficially started in 1959. Reason i say that is a local wilmington, de guy won what was supposed to be the first s/s class at the indy nationals in 1959 in a fuel injected 1957 chevy. Name was harold ramsey. Later became a pretty famous pontiac drag racer.each year the highest hp factory cars ran superstock.the 1960 ford 352/360hp was right up there hp wise !

 

first indi nats were in 61---that black 57 won the points championship the prize was a 61 ss poncho--his sons nova was on the cover of hot rod a few years back---57 was from cal...

 

A great film but it's not the '58 Nationals it's the '59 Nationals. The '58 National Championship Drags were held in Oklahoma City Fairgrounds and NHRA allowed only 500 entries which did not include stock class cars. The '59 Nationals were in Detroit. Harold Ramsey, who later became famous for his Pontiacs, won S/S with a '57 Chevy 150 with a 283/283 F.I. engine with a 3-spd trans--14.94@ 92.30. Ramsey also won Stock Eliminator. 1959 was the first year for Stock Eliminator. A/S was won by George Chaltin with his '57 Ford Fairlane 312/300--15.16.
copied this from article / film ..... assume this is accurate​

 

black 62 ..... just posted that previous post cause I was sure that s/s class started in 58 or 59. you were correct about Indy nats being started in 61 , but it wasn't Ramsey that won that year.that was the year that the 409 chevs dominated. I remember that poncho being won but by who ?

 

Love the early Stock-S/S cars. ...mmm, i'm gonna have to get the FORD DRAG TEAM book out.

Speaking of Charles Morris, is he still selling the Factory Lightweights book?