Roush offers a 427 FE crate engine. It is built from an aftermarket Genesis block. As far as the number of Thunderbolts built. I thought the number was 111 for quite a long time but, it appears it is 100 even. Research by some very knowledgeble people has turned up Ford paperwork that indicate 100 cars were built at Dearborn Steel Tubing. This includes the 11 vintage burgandy cars (1 automatic, 10 4-speeds). The remaining 89 were all white and a mix of 4-speeds and automatics. My opinion is you cannot call a '64 Fairlane with a non-FE engine a Thunderbolt. Part of the Thunderbolt legend is the 427 FE engine. In order to be a "Thunderbolt " clone it should be a '64 Fairlane,2dr. SEDAN with a FE. Everything else is just a '64 Fairlane with a big engine.
The "Warbucks" car was a replacement car built for my good friend Phil Bonner. Phil's original 'bolt was wrecked by a mechanic of Al Means Ford while Phil was out of town racing the "Georgia Peach" Falcon. The mechanic had the car without Phil's permission and has never been heard from since!!! The hardtop replacement was built out of a body in white from Holman Moody. It was not included in the original 100 total. The car is now restored and owned by Don Snyder in OH. Phil now owns his original restored/repaired Thunderbolt.
Cool! thanks for the info...I saw a pic of this car, in black and white...it looked like it was a dark color, I guessed it to be maroon, on account of it looked darker than white, but, it must have been the picture... I had a H/T car, at one time, and LOVED the way the super stock treatment looked on it...
Yeah, totally true. I liked how they expected to get 70K out of a fake race car with vinyl graphics. Can anybody really say for sure if the build cost includes the hourly rate? If it doesn't, those guys are losing their ass.
There was a 63 F-100XL found and restored in the Wilmington, DE area. I understand someone ( a writer I think ) was looking for information on it. One of the members of the Mid-Atlantic slicks did some detective work and found it. Some members of the club helped the owner restore it. There was a magazine article on it but I can't remember the name. I have seen the pictures of it and it is like it came out of the factory, 427 and all. I think only one was built and run by a factory team. The rest is a long story, and how a dealer ended up selling it and losing his dealership. I have a copy of the article around somewhere but can't locate it now.
Dirty Thirty.The 65 Thunderbolt was driven by Darrell Droke out of Downey Ca. Sponsored by Downy Ford with help from Ford also ( built as the 64's were done ). It was called Thunderbolt the Wondercolt .Troublemaker has a pic I know. Cool car a One of One and very successful in Nascar, AHRA and NHRA. In 66 Darrell went racing with a 66 long Nose Mustang and the T-Bolt went to Jerry Harvey in Indy. There aslo was another 65 Fairlane done by ford that went out west to Perfromance Associates that was a Hi-po 289.
those guys blow! those strokes ruined a low mileage 70' torino by painting it "blowjob blue" and rolling it on 20's! the pontiac was even worse. they should be painting "rainbows" on their cars, here is a prime example of someone that bring down the hobby,did someone say "yea,bingo sounds like a good idea!"
also cool, I would like to check that out, too...though the name of the car rings a bell, now that you mention it......Ford in the 60's was an exciting, and daring prospect...I have had a few Fairlanes, in my day...I had a little 289 '65 sedan, a '64 Sport Coupe, a '64 straight axle sedan...I love these cars...and their racing heritage. Thanks, again...
Even though the FEs have thier problems squirting gravy esp. at the crank and top end, I love the tourque.
You got that right! That's the replica of the one they tried to get into NASCAR right? Didn't it have a special cast aluminum dash?
I've seen this car in person. Bad A$$!!! Holman Moody built a limited number of these for vintage road racing. They are based off of original prints from 1964 when Holman Moody and NASCAR toyed with running intermediates. I talked to Lee Holman about the car in GA. when he was displaying it. Hot Rod also ran a feature on it. FE powered too!!!
ya that things got a cast dash he still had the mold to cast it. its got a sideoiler in it and from what i understand he races it and is running in the class with cobras! ya someone needs to start a series of an old school nascar type races none of the bullshit of today but cars you can actually tell what they are and have fe's racing hemis racing chevies.
The Jalopy Journal
