Ford Racing – Pulpaddict

’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR

Ford hits the street, drag strips, and the high-speed ovals with a slick new ’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR, and the most powerful single-four-barrel and tri-power big-blocks yet.

By 1961, Henry Ford was coming under pressure internally as well as from dealers to pull out of the restrictive 1957 Automobile Manufacturers Association’s racing ban. Most of Ford’s racing activities, like those at Chrysler and General Motors, were being run out of Dearborn’s “back door,” and successes on the racetrack were not being used to bolster new car sales. That would all change in June of 1962 when Henry Ford announced that he was no longer supporting what had come to be a “wink-wink” ban.

However, high-performance powertrain development and racing support were alive and well at Ford in 1961. A champion of the cause was Dale Evans, who headed up covert racing efforts and worked with engineers Charlie Gray, John Cowley, Don Sullivan, and Don Wahrman. They interfaced with NASCAR-USAC teams, drag racers, and dealers who supported racing.

New for 1961 was a stunning Starliner fastback coupe that could be ordered with a new optional $109.00 performance package. This included an FE-series big-block engine displacing 390 cubic inches and rated at 375 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. With single four-barrel carburetion, high-compression, solid lifters, and a three-speed stick, the ’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR delivered outstanding performance. Four-speed transmissions came later in the model year and were often dealer-installed on earlier cars along with factory tri-power induction.

Tri-power packages were available at Ford dealers for $260 plus installation. This addition with three Holley two-barrel carburetors could increase quarter-mile speeds by three-four mph and lower elapsed times by up to one-half second, and the horsepower increased to 401 at 6,000 rpm. The 390 big-block, bored to 4.05 inches with a 3.78-inch crank, was the latest iteration of the 332-352-inch FE engines introduced in 1958 Fords.

Ford offered the same performance options on base-model two and four-door Fairlane and Galaxie sedans, which traded in the Starliner’s slippery aerodynamics for an inconspicuous boxy look. Stock car racers ordered Starliner coupes for obvious reasons, and, surprisingly, the general public never warmed up to its thin roof pillar fastback styling. In 1961, sales of the traditional Galaxie Victoria coupes hit 75,437 units, while Starliner sales languished at under 30,000. The Starliner was not back in the lineup in 1962, causing grief for NASCAR-USAC racers who relied on its aerodynamic benefits on the Super Speedways.

Ford was determined that the high-performance 390 engine would be ordered only by serious enthusiasts. You could not get the 390/375 engine in a station wagon or with automatic transmission, power steering, or brakes. What you did get was heavy-duty everything: larger brakes, special driveshaft, big rear, beefy suspension, and a wide choice of final drive ratios.

’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR All HP 390 engines came with special blocks with beefed lower ends, larger oiling passages, magnafluxed cranks, pistons, and rods, plus high-rpm valve trains. Heads were factory machined for 10.6 to 11.0-to1 compression. Stock exhaust manifolds were cast iron, tuned like custom tube headers, and similar to those used on the 300-horsepower 352 Special engines, above, Ford released for racing in 1960. Dealers having a high-performance customer base stocked rear end gearsets ranging from 3.10 to 5.83-to-1, tri-power manifolds and Holley carburetors, and Borg-Warner four-speeds.

There was one special-order 390 four-barrel engine that did not appear in the salesman’s customer order book. It was called the 330-horsepower Interceptor and, like the 375-horsepower engine, had the “good” block, solid-lifter valve train, high-lift camshaft, and header-style exhaust manifolds. You could even order it with an automatic transmission in any style body, including a station wagon. The only catch was that it was listed in the Fleet & Police guide with orders restricted to law enforcement agencies!

Mid-year, Ford announced factory installation of four-speed transmissions and received NHRA approval for running in A/Stock and Super/Stock classes at the 1961 NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis over the Labor Day weekend. Prepared NHRA S/S 401-horsepower tri-power Starliners consistently ran trap speeds of 103-105 mph in mid-13s.

Ford test driver Len Richter was very competitive with a ’61 Galaxie two-door base model 302 sedan fitted with dealer-installed Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed. He ordered his ’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR with radio delete and light rubber mats in place of carpeting. While Richter preferred the “plain pipe rack” sedan, popular drag racers like Phil Bonner, Dick Brannan, Les Ritchey, and others who had dealership-sponsor contracts went the high-profile Starliner route. John Vermeersch and Bill Pearson campaigned an A/Stock 390-inch Starliner well into the 1962 season.

Starliners made a great showing on the NASCAR and USAC high-speed ovals and the Daytona Beach Speed Trials. Jim Rathman successfully raced a Zecol-Lubaid-sponsored #43 Starliner. Zecol-Lubaid Racing Team’s Don White, in a stock 375-horsepower Starliner passenger car with a blueprinted engine and roll bar prepped for running top end, clocked 159.32 mph, set a new Flying-Mile record.

Ford’s official representation in stock car racing was Holman & Moody, owned by John Holman and Ralph Moody. They had bought out the old DePaolo Engineering operation that fronted for Ford from 1955 to the signing of the 1957 AMA ban. Fred Lorenzen, running a Holman & Moody Ford, won Martinsville on April 19, Darlington on May 6, and Atlanta on July 9. Fords won seven Grand National races in 1961, including three of the eight super-speedway events. Holman & Moody was also building engines for the Woods Brothers #21 car and grinding camshafts for many of the teams.

Thanks to the ’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR, Dearborn was well on its way to cementing its reputation as a winner on high-speed ovals and quarter-mile drag strips, and in the marketing of high-performance passenger cars. Bragging about it had to wait until 1962, when Henry Ford announced that Ford would no longer abide by the AMA ban.

For more information about the ’61 FORD SHOWROOM SUPERCAR, and the complete Ford lineup for 1961, please visit OVER-DRIVE magazine @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2025/08/10/1961-ford-full-size-cars-fact-sheet/

‘57 FORD Y-BLOCK SUPERCHARGED MUSCLECAR

Ford offered OHV V-8s, dual quads & superchargers; yet it was the worst of times: the AMA racing ban. The ‘57 FORD Y-BLOCK SUPERCHARGED MUSCLECAR, however, represents the prelude to TOTAL PERFORMANCE.

The 1950s ushered in an era of aggressive competition, both on the street and racetracks. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors did whatever it took to lure buyers into showrooms. Detroit’s competitive spirit during the mid-to-late-1950s set the stage for some of the most exciting years in automotive performance history. Ford’s weapon of choice – an all-new, short-stroke, overhead-valve Y-Block V-8, first released in 1952 for Lincoln and then in 1954 by Ford and Mercury. By 1957, Fords could be ordered with optional dual-quad and supercharged 312-cubic-inch Y-Block engines.

The overhead-valve V-8 was introduced in popular-priced ’54 Fords a full model year before Chevrolet revealed its vaunted small-block V-8. The 239-cubic-inch Y-Block was rated at 130 horsepower. The mid-priced Mercury received a 161-horsepower, 256-inch version. Weighing 610-630 pounds including accessories, Ford’s Y-Blocks represented a new generation of lighter, modern V-8 engines. The Y-Block designation came from its deeply skirted block, giving it a “Y” profile.

It was the 160-horsepower, 317-cubic-inch Lincoln V-8 that gave Ford its first OHV engine bragging rights. Lincolns prepared by Bill Stroppe & Associates, Signal Hill, CA, were winners of the grueling road race across Mexico, the Carrera Panamericana. First run in 1950, the race crowned a single winner. It was then expanded in 1952 to multiple classes: Sports Cars and Stock Cars with large and small-displacement engines. The nine-stage, six-day race over approximately 2,100 miles lasted just five years and was cancelled in 1955 for safety reasons. In the mid-early 1950s, Mexican road race Lincolns dominated the field.

Working with DePaolo Engineering in 1956 and 1957, Ford fielded dozens of blueprinted-stock as well as heavily-modified new Fords and T-Birds for Standing and Flying-Mile competition at the Pure Oil Trials and Speed Weeks on the old Daytona Beach course. In 1957 alone, 15 supercharged T-Birds (part of a 100-car NASCAR homologation program) “ran on the sand” during Speed Week.Between 1955 and 1957, Ford OHV V-8 displacement grew from 239 and 256 cubic inches in 1954, to 272 and 292 cubic inches in 1955. Ford increased displacement to 312 cubic inches in 1956. In 1956, Ford offered a dual-quad 225-horsepower engine and a dealer-installed M-260 Performance Kit consisting of a hotter camshaft, new cylinder heads and dual four-barrel carbs, upping horsepower to 260. Large displacement 368-inch Y-Block engines were available for Lincoln in 1956 and in 1957 for Mercury.In 1957, Ford offered high-output engines in passenger cars as well as T-Birds. You could order the hottest dual-quad and supercharged 312-inch engines with three-speed manual (with or without Overdrive) or Ford-O-Matic transmissions in any model, base two-door sedan and station wagon to T-Bird! The lineup consisted of a single-four-barrel 312/245, dual-quad 312/270 and a Paxton-McCulloch supercharged 312/300, the ‘57 FORD Y-BLOCK SUPERCHARGED MUSCLECAR. Law enforcement agencies favored “Police Interceptor” two-door sedans, above, with E-Code 270-horsepower engines. A 300-horsepower F-Code T-Bird could accelerate to 60 mph in the six-second range with a top speed of 125 mph.

McCulloch VR 57 superchargers on 300-horsepower Y-Blocks were manufactured and marketed by Paxton Products, which was acquired in 1958 by Andy and Joe Granatelli. Since the early Flathead days, the Granatelli Brothers had been active in Ford hot rodding with Grancor high-compression heads and multi-carb intake manifolds. The VR 57 centrifugal blower with variable drive ratio delivered a maximum of five-psi boost and was a very pricy $500 option on the ‘57 FORD Y-BLOCK SUPERCHARGED MUSCLECAR.Supercharging was Ford’s answer to Chevrolet’s fuel-injection, optional in 283-horsepower 1957 passenger cars and Corvettes. Chevrolet was racking up wins in NASCAR and USAC until Ford counted with supercharged 312 engines with six-plus-pounds boost and horsepower ratings in excess of 340. Prior to 1957 when NASCAR’s Bill France banned supercharging, multiple carburetion and fuel-injection, Ford’s racing accomplishments were spectacular, with 27 Grand National wins plus 12 USAC firsts. Top Ford drivers included Tim Flock, Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Glen Wood.

In addition to drag and stock car racing, Ford’s participation in competitive events in 1957 was broad-based and countrywide. DePaolo Engineering, Ford’s captive race shop, prepped sedans and T-Birds raced at Bonneville, set Flying and Standing-Mile records on the sand at Daytona Beach and built the Ford that averaged 117 mph for 22 days in the Stephen Trophy Trials at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Ford was aware that, while winning races unquestionably helps sell cars, setting durability/reliability records would give dealers even more to brag about. In 1956, Ford signed off on a program to build “stock” ’57 Fords to run at Bonneville for USAC and FIA National and International records. The mission: To prove how durable Ford’s high-performance cars were.Pete DePaolo, above, built two Fairlane 500s powered by blueprinted stock-spec 270-horsepower dual-four-barrel engines and, with racer Danny Eames, managed the program. After a few weeks on the Salt in September 1956, ’57 Ford Fairlane 500s, driven by Johnny Mantz, Chuck Stevenson and Jerry Unser Jr., averaged 130.94 mph for 100 hours, 120.62 mph for 24 hours, 109.39 mph for 14 days and 108.16 mph for 50,000 miles!

On September 28, 1956, USAC and FIA officials certified that Fairlanes set an incredible 458 records! One car set an International Class B Speed record at106.55 mph over 14 days and 35,800.30 miles, the other set a National Class B Speed record at 107.09 mph over 20 days and 51,403.99 miles, and six American Class B Closed Car Standing-Start Speed records.

Ford celebrated by having its advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, create a three-page advertorial hyping the record-setting event, The Longest Left Turn In History. It was placed in a variety of mass audience publications, including the October 29, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine.

In 1957 the AMA in banned direct factory participation in organized racing and motorsports, encouraging carmakers to play down performance and racing and play up safety in advertising and marketing. All members initially observed the ban, but it turned out to be a short-lived victory for the trade association. Not long after agreeing to the ban and closing their front doors to racers and racing, carmakers’ back doors started opening up!Ford divested itself of racecars as well as the contents of DePaolo Engineering. DePaolo was not interested in continuing without a Ford contract. John Holman and Ralph Moody purchased the inventory, including the legendary Lincoln-powered Battlebirds. It was the end of one era and start of a new one, leading to Ford’s first “Showroom Supercar” in 1961! By 1963, Ford’s “marketing mantra” had become, TOTAL PERFORMANCE.

For more information about the ‘57 FORD Y-BLOCK SUPERCHARGED MUSCLECAR, and the complete 1957 Ford lineup, please visit OVER-DRIVE magazine @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2025/06/01/1957-ford-cars-fact-sheet/

FLATHEADS FOREVER: HISTORY OF HOT RODDING

Henry Ford’s Flathead V-8, introduced in 1932, gave power to the people. It was more than just a bigger engine: FLATHEADS FOREVER: HISTORY OF HOT RODDING, and the rodders & racers responsible for making it happen.

Until the advent of modern OHV V-8 engines in 1949, Ford’s Flathead V-8 was the enthusiast’s engine of choice. It still is for traditional ‘old-school’ hot rodders, and competitors in Pre-War class road racing. It’s truly an “evergreen” story: FLATHEADS FOREVER: HISTORY OF HOT RODDING.

As early as the 1930s, Ford was capitalizing on what would become known in the 1960s as “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” marketing. It all started with the ‘32 Ford side-valve Flathead V-8, the first engine of its kind to be mass produced and available in popular-price vehicles. The 221-inch V-8 was rated at 65 horsepower at 3,400 rpm and, in 1933 and 1934, output increased to 75 and 85 horsepower, respectively.

A major win at the 1933 National Road Race in Elgin, IL established Ford as a feared competitor in road racing. Savvy dealers wasted no time bragging about Ford’ is win in the Nationals in local advertising. This drove customer traffic and V-8 model sales. Almost instantly new V-8 Ford roadsters could be found, less mufflers and fenders, tearing up racetracks. The 1932 Swedish Winter Grand Prix was won by two mechanics driving a Ford V-8 Special.

While modified Model T and A Fords gave birth to hot rodding in the 1920s, it was the Flathead V-8 that took it to the next level in the 1930s. Displacing 221 cubic inches and weighing just 585 pounds, the first V-8 was just 20-percent larger than the Model A Four, yet produced 62-percent more power. It didn’t take long for stripped-down Fords with modified V-8s to become the cars to beat at Southern California’s “dry lakes.” Then came World War II and the military took over many of the high-desert dry lakes.Racing engineer, Henry Miller and partner, Preston Tucker of Miller and Tucker, Inc. had been trying for years to get Henry Ford’s son, Edsel, to commit to racing programs. They finally succeeded in the early-1930s. Edsel signed off on building a team for the 1935 Indy 500. Miller and Tucker built ten front-wheel-drive Miller-Ford Specials, powered by Flatheads for the 1935 race. They were the first front-drive four-wheel independent suspension cars seen at Indy. Unfortunately, it was not a successful venture; none of the cars finished. Years later, Preston Tucker would develop and build in 1948 the highly advanced and controversial Tucker 48 sedan.After World War II, hot-rodding, racing and the speed equipment industry experienced incredible growth. As the dry lakes became less and less available for racing, the popularity of quarter-mile drags surged. One of the pioneers of hot-rodding Flatheads was Vic Edelbrock. Bobby Meeks, left, and Fran Hernandez, above, prepare a Flathead racing engine for dyno-tuning at Edelbrock.

It would not be until 1950 that the first organized track, Santa Ana Drag Strip, would open on a Southern California airfield. In 1951 Wally Parks, then Editor of HOT ROD and founder of the National Hot Rod Association, produced the first official NHRA race at the Los Angeles Fairgrounds in Pomona, California. The Flathead also distinguished itself in NASCAR competition. Jim Roper, driving a Lincoln, won the first NASCAR race on June 19, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway.

For more about FLATHEADS FOREVER: HISTORY OF HOT RODDING, read Preston Lerner’s article, ‘Ford’s Flathead V-8 Gave Power to the People’ which originally appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine @ https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/fords-flathead-v-8-gave-power-to-the-people/?hashed_email=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333&dtm_em=e323c71347790f699ba35a9dc01d49ac3f938885a7df6321087c8c9b4c0dd333

FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAK

Ford’s latest hill climb monster to race to the clouds – FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAK – packs a 1,400-horsepower payload.

FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAK

Known to motorsport fans as “The Race to the Clouds,” the legendary Pikes Peak International Hillclimb sees competitors take on 12.5 miles of twisting mountain road with menacingly-named corners like Bottomless Pit, Ragged Edge and the Devil’s Playground.

Ford has been racing its vehicles to the top of Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains since the first organized event back in 1916 – but for the 101^st running earlier this year, Ford decided to go in a completely new direction.

Ford entered an electric Transit van, dubbed SuperVan 4.2 to challenge the world in the Devil’s Playground. The FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAK racecar blends 1,400 horsepower of high-tech electric power, born from three electric motors; body inspired by Ford Pro’s latest E-Transit Custom van.

Ford’s update of the crowd-wowing Pro Electric SuperVan 4.0 that debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022, but fresh from an 880-pound weight reduction and super-charged with an enhanced battery and electric motors. It’s also had an aerodynamic redesign to create two tons of downforce at approximately 150 miles per hour for maximum cornering grip.

FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAK With racing driver Romain Dumas – holder of the record for the fastest-ever Pikes Peak hillclimb – strapped into the driver’s seat, Ford is ready to race into the sky.

Watch the FORD SuperVan vs. PIKES PEAKvideo to discover how this epic adventure unfolded: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=Ford SuperVan 4.2 video#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0b02ea15,vid:5i6XNPX67tE,st:0