Hot Rods POLL: 4 Speed or Slushbox? 1962 Falcon Futura A/GS "Strange Bird"

It is a real PERIOD A/GS Car that I will use. Any street use will just be to anger my neighbors. This car wont even have headlights.

The jericho is waaaaaay out of my budget.

The 1966 rules allow for the engine to be setback 10 percent of the wheelbase measured from the centerline if the front axle to the first spark plug. Its BARELY legal.

After doing alot of research, very very few A/GS cars had 4 speeds. I have decided I'm goin Switch pitch 400 on this car

That would just be plain GAY. That belongs in vanilla ice's 5.0.

Sold all the trim already.

 

It's Decided. Switch Pitch 400.

 

Have a big block ford close ratio toploader in mine ...
do the stick !!!!!
total cool factor..

 

The only consideration should be 4 speed. PERIOD. If ya can't shift 'em, ya shouldn't be racin... I overheard a super stock camaro driver saying that to a guy who was running and automatic super stock cuda, at the US Nats in Indy many years ago when I was 12...stuck with me bigtime!!! I've had many drag cars over the years, and only 1 of my own was an automatic, and that was my 55 chevy pickup. I originally had a four speed in it, but the shifter handle had to be long enough to reach, and that made it have a long throw, so I opted out for a manually shifted turbo 400. I'm definiatly all for a 4 speed...nothing sweeter than running a drag car through the gears the real way!!!

 

very cool build BTW...

a lot of the clutch-autos put into c/gas and higher cars in the late 60's were torqueflite 727-based clutch-flites...with little regard of the make of engine being used. there were quite a few injected sbc's running in front of clutch-flites in the c/gas cl***. i vote clutch-flite

 

Extend right foot to floor rotate left to the side thusly and START RAMIN THEM GEARS. Four speed most definately , Rob.

 

3 pedals & 4spd is the way to go!

 

All the "pony" cars I've had in the past and present.. All had/have 3 pedals... Not counting the e brake. A/T's are much heavier and cost more.

 

how about a Clutch Turbo???

 

real Hor Rods have 3 pedals

 

Actually, very damned few S/S Mopars came with four speeds! I can think of about two of the AFX cars that ran them. If this were 1963-4-or 5 a four speed would be cool. But this is 2010, and if yu want to have a few bucks in yur pocket so you can afford to race, an automatic is the way to go. Just don't put any stupid transbrakes or that kind of **** in it. Just a decent converter, modified valve body, and go have fun.

 

...... And if you happen to be out west, avoid a certain little old woman driving a faded red 1964 Dodge. That thing is packed with a ma**ed out 426 Wedge motor backed by a 727 Torqflite trans. She'll spot you a length and make you look bad.

 

Yeah...but he's not building a hot rod.
He's going racing...

By the mid sixties, drag racers couldn't get away from the TRUE standard transmission fast enough.

 

I will tell you that I love me some 4 speeds since you can have a lot of fun with them but I also will be one to proudly state how much I love the ST400 that was in my '26. That was either a 300 or 400 but it was ****ing awesome!!!

 

I never saw a compe***ive AA/GS with a manual trans, unless you consider a Lenco manual, and that would have been somewhat after 1966. I am sure there must have been some built, but they never stuck around into the later rounds of compe***ion. In 1966, the TH400 was not a bad choice; if you want to go fast in 2010, go with the glide.

 

in 1966, the TH400 was not yet a thoroughly proven choice, nor was it a common one chosen for building a racing automatic.

 

You are probably correct, now that I consider it more exactly. I think the Hydros were pretty much on the way out by then, though. The transition happened pretty quickly. TorqueFlite maybe? But I still stand by my contention that they were almost all equipped with automatics.

 

definitely torqueflites by 1966, put ahead of various poweplants with adaptors like this one for a chevy that a fellow HAMB'er was selling earlier this year.




clutch-flites were just coming into the scene by 67 or so

 

More pictures pleaseee!!!!

from argentina

y love this falcon g***er

 

Since your not going to run front brakes you might as well use the motor compression to slow you down. I voted for a 4 speed. Plus much better holeshots, especially from a rolling start!!!!

 

I absolutely love this car!. It's getting better and more outragous by the day! A few thoughts on front brakes or the lack thereof. I don't think running the brakeless 12-spoke spindle mounts will be much of an issue, simply because with the skinny front tires, slicks on the back and the rear weight-bias, very little braking power could be applied without locking the front tires up anyway. Back in the day, a lot of gas and altered cl*** cars ran without front brakes for this reason and those that did, usually ran tiny Hurst-Airheart, so-called, 'spot' brakes, originally intended for 1/2 and 3/4 midget racers and for go-karts(!) - so as not to over-power and lock-up the skinny front tires. A couple things I'd do though. Use the biggest rear brakes you can fit on the back - either some large diameter disks or some very big drums. 12-inch finned aluminum Buick front drums come to mind as being an en excellent choice here, both for their stopping power and fade resistance - as well as being very period-correct too. .If you go with Buick front drum brakes on the rear, I'd probably go with the later, more available and somewhat cheaper '90 fin drums' rather than then the earlier '45 fin' drums.The '90 finners' might not be considered as popular as the '45 fin' drums, as far 'looks' go, but they're cheaper and easier to find - and more importantly, in a 'rear wheel brake only' application, the additional fins cool better. Also, make damn sure you've got a got a good, working emergency brake set-up as well - and preferably one that is completely independent of the actual rear brakes. Maybe a disk brake mounted directly on the rearend center-section and attached to the pinion? With a bit of machine work, you might be able to make up an adapter and a bracket to mount a standard 'front disk and caliper' set-up off of something to work here.- and then fabricate an emergency brake lever to actuate it, via it's own master cylinder. One last thing - both for looks and also for a back-up in case you ever need it - (and you just might someday ) -..what about a chute??? They became mandatory once the top-cl*** g***ers started running into the 140-150 mph zone and a lot of lower-gas-cl*** cars running in the 115-120 mph range had them too. Besides looking killer, a chute mounted on the rear panel just above the bumper would be cheap insurance,."just in case".

Mart3406
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