Features Ford Thunderbolts Photos Wanted

Yes, it was Burl Kuhn. If you zoom into the photo you posted, you can just make out "Aimed by: Burl Kuhn" I don't think I've ever seen it worded that way...


Deron

 

Glad were getting some great new material in here. Just think....There a picture here and there all over the country from Kodak box brownies. The just have to find themselves to our thread!

 

I agree Total Performance. I've said for a long time that I believe photos exist of all 100 cars as they were originally raced, we just have to find them. Even 45 years ago when they were new, these cars were too special and unique to not have gotten the attention of some 16 year old in the pits with a brownie camera. The pictures are out there, no doubt, we just have to keep hunting!


Deron

 

He's another I found in the group. I think we've seen this one before. Anyone recognize the track? I don't think it's Dragway 42.

64, the scan came of an original picture that was on heavy paper. It's a cool pic, lots to see. I wonder if the hubcaps sitting on the trailer came off the four door?

I added another pic. I think there's a better one in the group but this one was scanned with the T-Bolt pic

 

Optical illusion. It appears high because the rocker panels are not clearly visible in the photo. That, in addition to the raised front bumper and the 3 leaf/2 leaf rear springs, which are DST modifications.

Allegedly had the 427 removed and then sold on a used car lot. No idea where the car is today and from what I gather no one else knows either.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Here's an enlarged view of the photo that I cropped....



It looks like that 4dr was ordered that way. I did some research and found that the 1964, a plain Fairlane 4dr with the 289/271 engine "fit" D/S right at the top of the class. It fell 11.33 in D/S. In 1964 the D/S class was from 11.30 to 11.88 lbs per horsepower. One must remember that back then the weight could not be adjusted for a car to fit the class like is done today. That's why 4drs, station wagons, and convertibles were more popular back then at the races.

This is not the only 4dr Fairlane with a hi-po 289 that I have seen raced. Back in the mid 60's there was a 4dr Fairlane 500 that was raced in D/S locally in the Louisville area. The racers name was Ray New and the car was very competitive in its class.

 

Thanks for the photo. I believe these are Howard wheels. Sox, and Dyno Don among others ran them in '64-'65. I think they are a very cool wheel. The only pair that I've seen lately are on the S&M "Paper Tiger Too" restoration. It would be cool if someone would repop them.

A buddy of mine restored the King Ford Car. I was at his shop today. The car is still in Maryland in a private collection. The only time it was ever shown was at Carlisle where the other photo was taken in 2005.

 

I've never heard of a K code four door anything. What trans would it have had? You couldn't get an automatic in an early HiPo, right? Several years ago there was a 427 two four barrel 4 speed four door '65 or '66 Galaxie on Ebay. I thought they were full of shit but later learned that it was possible.

I'm working on some more scans, but no more T-Bolts. We'll have to settle for some other Fords.

 

Here's a couple more pics from the group. The first pic is an I stock Falcon. Jack Bridenthal's name is on the door so I would assume this was the car he raced before the four door Fairlane. The second is Burl Kuhn at Dragway 42 before his car was lettered. The others are of both cars in front of the dealership. They just recently blocked up the windows of the building and it's now a insurance agency.

I have a few more I can post if there's interest.

 

Not that they made them, I think you could bend the rules a little. My dad ran a 260 64 Cyclone for awhile.

 

Killer pictures! So what would a D/S 63 1/2 Galaxie have been? K code 289?



Deron

 

Deron,
It's a 330 hp 390. Here's the pics. I love this stuff, I'm glad you're enjoying them. I have to assume that's Burl with the trophy.

Oh, yeah. See the advertisement over the Galaxie? An example of the "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" mentality. Love it!

 

Here's a pic of a Bridenthal Galaxie at Dragway 42. I'm thinking it's a lightweight, but I don't know. Looks like it ran Super Stock. Dennis K. said that dealerships that had '63 lightweights usually got a Thunderbolt. That's Burl's car on the right and Jack Bridenthal's Falcon on the left. Anyone know who drove the Super Stock car?

I threw in another pic of Linda Vaughan because she's beautiful.

 

On the 4 door K code Fairlane debate,i believe Muscle Car Review ran an article within the last year or so on the subject.The author owns an original 4 door k code Fairlane.

 

As I remember the K code Fairlanes and Comets were different. Only the Fairlane offered the solid lifter 271 HP engine. The " K " in the comet did not mean the HP solid lifter 289...

 

That's right, there were no Hipo 64 Comets build for US retail production order. There were also no 260 Cyclones.

 

What about Falcons ? Didn't they make a handfull ? Canada maybe ?

 

That's what I've heard. Like 5 or so.

Not that this is on topic, but it is a little I guess. I was looking at the Nazy Crate Hot Wheels T-Bolt I bought around Christmas and noticed that it doesn't have any body side mldgs like the original. That's impressive in a way because I thought it would have just been the same old Thunderbolt with a different paint job.

 

S. Pierce' T-bolt tribute. Not my pic.

 

Don't know about Comets but there were a limited number of '65 289 HIPo Falcons built in Canada. Some were race models and some street models.

 

Found some info on the net says 14 built. Another site says 7. Either way RARE. All made in Ontario Canada

 

From the AWB thread....

 

The story about that Fairlane in post #2218 is that it was the original Hi-Risers car.It was sent to a shop in Northern California to be restored in that configuration.I have no proof of the originality but I was at that race at Famoso and that was the story going around in their pit. ROY.

 

These pictures have been in the family for a long time the falcon picture is from 1983-84 right after it was restored at a local car show in south bend IN. The black thunderbolt is Larry Shorts car at the time which to my knowledge is the goat herder car in Don Snyders collection now. My dad was able to ride in this car at the Ricart Ford show in 85. The white bolt we are still trying to figure out.

Thanks for looking
Jeremy

 

The white car in the middle was John Miu's. It was the former Bridenthal Fugitive car owned by Skip Wilson. The car was originally delivered to Tasca Ford. Skip said Jack Bridenthal got the car from Tasca as the delivery was quicker. The car has been owned for 20+ years by Don Snyder.

Regards,
Dennis

 

I know this isn't a thunderbolt, but it's close. it was an original 64 Ford 427 Galaxie i had years back. factory dual quad, cast iron headers, 4 speed 411.

 

Never mind the handsome young man in the pic, but this was a Thunderbolt that I helped run with 2 other really great fellows during the early 70's.
This car had it's original interior gutted, front shock towers removed with an econoline front axle, and 2X3 box tube ladder bars that ran from the rear axle to the trans cross member. It was purchased by my friend Sam Hannah in the late 60's, from original owner Percy Dowlin (sp?) who had done the gasser conversion, for it's high riser and drive train that Sam wanted to use in a super stock endeavor that was in desperate need of the increasingly rare and bound toward extinction spare parts.
The original intent was to junk it, but kept it intact after much insistence by those who watched him run it, and so he painted it purple from the original gold color, and ran in Modified eliminator while he took a break from S/S. Sparks flying off those low hanging ladder bars with the nose in the air was a real crowd pleaser.
After the carnage caused after one of the sodium filled valves dropped, it was determined the hard to replace 427FE had been sleeved and brazed on too much already.
But a good gas class car with fiberglass and plexi didn't come by every day, so a partner Jim Caldwell who had a big block Chev without a car came along and shared driving.
With a Hurst saddle mount and a Lakewood blow proof drilled for a top loader, it was back in business.
As a teenage kid, I got to enjoy a few years of serious A&B/gas class racing with those guys and that car, and could fill a book with memories and stories.
In retrospect; I inherited for scrap prices several of those broken FE parts from Sam so I could use on altered and dragster projects of my own, and if I could have had any knowledge of what those tunnel port and high riser Ford parts that we became disgusted with at the end of factory involvement could be worth at this moment in time, there would be a lot more than just the memories though.
With just the odds & ends that he gave to me, I could put a kid through Vanderbilt.
$Tom S. in Tn.$

P.S. Flashbacks of the opening cut through that original fiberglass tear drop hood for the big block tunnel ram raises my blood pressure.

 

Hey......... After starting from the back (page 112) and going backward, I came across this pic of the 'Prospector'. I can make out Pappy Greenfields A/SR in the background.
This car is gold just like the gasser we ran here in Middle Tn. in the 70's started off.
Ok, maybe I'm not as old as I'm feeling. Somebody older than me expalin, is there a connection, and could Doug's Prospector have become a gasser and moved to Fairview??
I have wondered forever where that car originated.
I'm almost certain it was later sold to a truck driver/Ford collector that I put on to it from Goodletsville in the late 70's.
I have a difficult time keeping up with who is who making the posts.

 

Thank you Dennis

 

Thanks for posting that pic Tom. As far as I know, that is the only picture of the Hagewood Motors car (Little Henry) from when it was purple.

There were 3 cars sold through dealerships in Tennessee.

Clyde Felts-Hippodrome Ford, Nashville Tn
Percy Dowlen-Hagewood Motors, Ashland City Tn
James Greenfield-Jenkins & Wynne Ford, Clarksville Tn

The Hippodrome car is unaccounted for. The Hagewood Motors car (the purple car pictured above) is still around but the Jenkins & Wynne car is most likely scraped. Word has it that it was converted over to a stock driveline, had all of the lightweight items removed and sold on a used car lot as a stock Fairlane.