1964 FORD FAIRLANE FE 427 4sp"REAL" THUNDERBOLT #68/100

[eastsidetorino]

I'm a little surprised he isn't putting it through an auction house like RM Auctions. Ebay will not be the best place to get top dollar for that car.

[Vertnut]

What is the history on what makes that car so special?

All of them are "special".

[78X]

All of them are "special".

wow I am so appreciative for the plethora of information

[Vertnut]

wow I am so appreciative for the plethora of information

Well, production was VERY low, and they were built specifically for racing. Some were ordered by "privateers" (individuals), but dealers used a lot of them as sponsored cars. Over the years, a lot of them have been found, but many just didn't survive.

[Big A]

Well, production was VERY low, and they were built specifically for racing. Some were ordered by "privateers" (individuals), but dealers used a lot of them as sponsored cars. Over the years, a lot of them have been found, but many just didn't survive.

Kinda like the cars-in-barns website, it amazes me to see what people will just let sit and rot. I guess alot of them succumbed to a percieved low value at the time, which is really a shame.

[ozzeran]

Yeah I think you had to sign something from Ford saying you will never drive it on the streets. I could be wrong though.

[Vertnut]

It's a great story on how they started making them. The Galaxy's already had the 427's in them, but they were heavy. So Ford snuck the same motor in the Fairlane, and took it to a local track to see how it would do. #1 was crushed after that weekend, but they started taking orders shortly thereafter.

[scootro]

I have my aunts 64 2 door sedan sitting in my garage that was bought brand new in 64. Original Black with red interior. I purchased it in 79. Have all the Crites stuff ie fenders, hood, valance, bumpers for it. My project when I retire. I'll try to get some pics this weekend and post. As a teaser, here a pic of the other Fairlane in my garage, my oldest son Pat's 63. Originally, we were going to rebuild the 64 for his first car, but upon opening it up, found some serious Pa. rot that had to be addressed. Knowing that it was going to take a while , we dug around and found the 63.. Came from Arkansas as a one Gandma owned car. Original copper with a white top. My good friend Jeff Sundberg painted it for us. No rot, just old lady dings. As you can see we used the Crites hood when we first refinished the car. Later, he got the bug and hung the fenders and bumpers to check the fit. Crites stuff iis worth the price. Now powered by a 347 and backed by a C4.

very nice car but that's NOT a 1964 it's a 63'! the fins are a dead giveaway

[68RR]

If you reread my post you'll see where I did state my son's is a 63. Actually the first T-bolt was a 63. here's one site that has some good info on the bolts:

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/427fairlane/

Bill

[Vertnut]

If you reread my post you'll see where I did state my son's is a 63. Actually the first T-bolt was a 63.

Bill

Right on both counts. That '63 would be even sweeter with dual quad FE in it.

[scootro]

What is the history on what makes that car so special?

The history of the Thunderbolt begins with America's love of competition. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday was the idea at the time, and the big "3" knew customers could identify with cars that they saw at the track and in the showroom. Even if you didn't go out and buy a 427 Galaxie, you sure did want to go check one out at the dealership after you saw it rumble by in the staging lanes. Showroom traffic is worth a lot to dealerships, and Ford knew this and made sure they had a major piece of bait with their new strip machine. This car would put them on the map as far as drag racing goes, with an engine already established as reliable and supremely powerful.

In 1963, an alliance between Ford's special vehicle department and the East Providence, RI dealership Tasca Ford created a mule vehicle which would ultimately be known as the Thunderbolt. Tasca had been running a '62 Fairlane stuffed full of a 406 engine, and had gotten Ford's undivided attention. A test car was built in 1963 to determine if an advantage would be gained by using the unitized body Fairlane in drag racing (versus the full framed Galaxie) This blue '63 Fairlane 500 hardtop was equipped with a 427/425 horse engine and an 4 speed transmission to test the feasibilty of a midsize car and big block engine combo. The car went largely unnoticed at the races it attended. Apparently it was crushed instead of being sold. That's the usual story for Ford prototypes, even today.

It was determined that this combination would give Ford the weight break it needed to run with the Max Wedge MoPars and the soon to be released Hemis. The Dearborn Steel Tubing Co. (DST), was picked to do all of the conversion work on the Fairlanes. The cars were built at the Dearborn plant as Fairlane 500 2 door sedans, minus all sound deadener, sealer and insulation. These cars did not have radios, heaters, or rear window cranking mechanisms. The side windows were plexiglas, and they were optioned with the 289/271 horse engine. This engine choice gave the cars a 9 inch rear end and larger brakes, which they would definitely need in a very short time.

The first run of cars were built in late '63. They were Vintage Burgundy with tan interiors. 11 cars were delivered to Dearborn Steel Tubing, and hand built into full fledged drag monsters. Apparently, 9 were done and presented to the drag teams at the same time. All of these cars were identical, except for one automatic. It was driven by Paul Harvey and sponsored by Bob Ford in Dearborn. This car was the only Vintage Burgundy, automatic transmission combination car built. Tragically, it was destroyed in a crash after being sold in 1965, killing the driver. I feel that this would be a very valuable Thunderbolt if it was around today.

The second and third runs were different creations. These cars were NOT assembled at the factory, but rather transported to DST in pieces and assembled there. The first 11 or so cars were in fact complete cars which were built by FORD, taken to DST, and completely dismantled for the transformation. Since the total number of cars was fairly high for such a special type of machine, the second type of assembly was definately preferable.







The 100 Thunderbolts were built in 3 groups. They are not all identical, and some materials and construction are different on many cars. The front bumper was fiberglas on some early cars, and some received fiberglas doors. The side window material was plexiglass, and some had plexi for the rear window too. All had some type of rocker panel cut for slick clearance, and the rear window retainers were different or missing on some cars.

Group 1
October 1963
Consisted of 11 cars, all burgundy
- 10 Four Speeds, 1 Automatic

Group 2
December 1963 - Feb 1964
Consisted of 39 cars, all white
- 9 Four Speeds, 30 Automatics

Group 3
March - May 1964
Consisted of 50 cars, all white
- 22 Four Speeds, 28 Automatics










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[scootro]

[scootro]

[scootro]

[scootro]

If you reread my post you'll see where I did state my son's is a 63. Actually the first T-bolt was a 63. here's one site that has some good info on the bolts:

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/427fairlane/

Bill

the name "thunderbolt" was used only for the 1964 ford fairlane! everything else was considered A/FX cars because of the class they ran

i have copies of official ford documents to prove it. Group 1 of the thunderbolts came out in October 1963 and they all were 1964 bodies for the new up coming year of fairlane