FORD TOTAL PERFORMANCE – Page 2

FORD 428 COBRA JET & BIG BLOCK HERITAGE!

In February 1968, 1968½ Cobra Jet Mustangs swept Super/Stock Class and Eliminator titles at the NHRA Winternationals. FORD 428 COBRA JET & BIG BLOCK HERITAGE! is showcased here, and in the latest edition of Over-Drive Magazine.

Ford’s primary performance car for 1968 was the mid-year 428 Cobra Jet Mustang, with Toploader four-speed manual or beefed C-6 automatic transmissions. The powertrain option was available in coupe, convertible and fastback SportsRoof models. In 1968 the Mustang was pretty much a carryover vehicle with small trim, suspension and safety updates, and important powertrain changes. Ride and handling was improved and, if you ordered a V-8, you could opt for Michelin radial tires for the first time. Gone was the 289 small-block, including the venerable 271 horsepower solid-lifter version, replaced by a new 302 small-block. You could order a 390/325 big block or wait for the mid-year introduction of the potent 428 CJ engine.

Cars tagged for the new CJ option automatically received special attention at the San Jose, CA and Metuchen, NJ assembly plants. Those cars were given reinforced front shock towers, nine-inch rears with 31-spline axles, and four-speed Mustangs were equipped with stagger-mount rear shocks. All CJ Mustangs were factory fitted with a functional fiberglass hood scoop with ram-air induction capability. Under full throttle acceleration, a vacuum-controlled flapper on the air cleaner assembly opened up, allowing air to go directly to the carburetor. Under normal driving, air was channeled through the air filter.

Before there was a production 428 Cobra Jet, the CJ Mustang was first conceptualized by Bob Tasca, working with John Healey and Bill Lawton, and presented to Ford. Tasca had built his own “Cobra Jet” – a KR-8 “King Of The Road” Mustang powered by a 428 engine with 390 GT cam and valve train, heads from a low-riser 427, 428 Police Interceptor intake manifold with a 735-cfm Holley and 390 GT exhaust manifolds. He felt that Ford didn’t have a suitable Mustang to compete with Chevrolet’s new Camaro that could be optioned with a 396/375 solid-lifter big-block engine. He had built a Mustang that would give any stock Camaro nightmares! Tasca’s KR-8 Concept was well received and became the inspiration for the production 428 Cobra Jet Mustang.

Prior to regular production, Ford built 54 Wimbledon White Mustangs with 428 Cobra Jet engines specified by Domestic Special Order number DSO-892017 at the Dearborn plant. They were ordered specifically for NHRA Stock and Super/Stock competition. Essentially, they were base Sportsroof Mustangs, not GTs, built without radios and heaters and with trunk-mount batteries, Police Interceptor drivetrains and 3.89 limited-slip rears with traction bars. Just 20 were produced without any seam sealers or sound deadening materials. Two different engine packages were employed – one rated at 335 horsepower for C/Stock; the other with horsepower north of 360 for Super Stock/E. Distribution of the first Cobra Jet Mustangs included Ford dealers involved in drag racing programs in the U.S and Canada, with Tasca Ford receiving the most – ten CJs. Approximately ten were assigned to Dick Brannan’s group at Ford Special Vehicles Activity.

Dynamometer testing at Ford revealed that a 335-horsepower CJ engine with headers, open exhausts, maximum tuning specs, and without air cleaner or alternator, produced 411 horsepower. A red ’68 Mustang CJ engineering car was evaluated at the Kingman, AZ proving ground and clocked a best time of 108-plus mph in 13.4 seconds.

A small fleet of Cobra Jet Mustangs was reserved for the model’s California introduction at the AHRA Winternationals at Lions Drag Strip on January 28 and the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona on February 2-4, 1968. Those cars were shipped to Holman-Moody-Stroppe in Long Beach for race prepping. Engines used in the C/Stock Mustangs had “stock” specs and utilized forged 11-to-1 pistons, 427 steel rods and .509-inch-lift, 282-degree-duration hydraulic-lifter cams and valve trains and headers. These cars had 4.44 rears with Detroit Lockers, traction bars and Goodyear slicks. The modified engines permitted in Super/Stock were built with 11.6-to-1 pistons, GT40 forged steel rods, deep oil sumps with windage trays, steel cranks, .600-inch-lift, 380-degree-duration solid-lifter cams and Crane valve trains, lightweight valves and a dual-inlet 735-cfm Holley on a 427-aluminum intake manifold. Rear end gearing on the S/S cars was 4.71 with a Detroit Locker and bigger Goodyear slicks.

The Cobra Jet had a less-than-successful launch at the AHRA Winternationals when Hubert Platt red-lighted in the C/Stock Mustang, clocking a 12.62 in the first round of Top Stock. It was another story at the NHRA Winternationals when five Ford Drag Team drivers – Jerry Harvey, Al Joniec, Don Nicholson, Hubert Platt and Gas Ronda – showed up with six cars for C/SA, SS/E and SS/EA. Dearborn was there in force to showcase the hottest new “production” Ponycar. It would be the first NHRA National meet that Ford dominated. It’s all part of FORD 428 COBRA JET & BIG BLOCK HERITAGE!

It was Al Joniec, right with NHRA’s Wally Parks, driving the Rice-Holman SS/E Cobra Jet, Vin # 5050, that established the new Cobra Jet Mustang as the car to beat. Four of the six CJs made it to their respective class finals and Al Joniec beat teammate Hubert “Georgia Shaker” Platt’s CJ to win SS/E. He ran 120.6 mph in 11.49 seconds. Following that, he beat Dave Wren’s Plymouth for Super/Stock Eliminator.

“My CJ Mustang was capable of running in the low-11s in the 122-mph range, though I didn’t have to run it that hard to win,” said Joniec during a recent interview. “Since it was the official introduction of the Cobra Jet, I didn’t want to lower the record and lose any advantage at future events.”

Bob Gerometta and the folks at Over-Drive Magazine have done an outstanding job covering FORD 428 COBRA JET & BIG BLOCK HERITAGE! in their latest edition. Read the feature @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2024/06/19/fords-cobra-jet-what-took-them-so-long/

427 FAIRLANE (THUNDERBOLT) PROTOTYPE

Before there was a ’64 Super/Stock 427 Thunderbolt, there was ZIMMY-1, the ’63 A/FX 427 FAIRLANE (THUNDERBOLT) PROTOTYPE.

Most Ford fans were really confused when Tasca Ford’s Bill Lawton first staged the Ming Green A/FX ’63 Fairlane coupe at the 1963 NHRA Nationals. They were used to seeing ’63 Fairlanes running in D/Stock, like Li’L Lord Fotus, the Fairlane Milo Coleman drove for the class win at 99.88 mph/ 13.75 seconds. What was a stock-looking Fairlane doing in A/FX? After Lawton made a 12.21-second/118.42 mph pass during Time Trials, it was obvious that ZIMMY-1 was not just a just a modified stocker. Driven by Bill Lawton, ZIMMY-1 fell prey to Don Kimball’s ’63 Z11 Chevy during Eliminations, below. Before shipping the car back to Ford, Lawton did manage to set the NHRA A/FX National Record at 121.29 mph at the Division One Points Meet at Connecticut Dragway,

ZIMMY-1 was powered by a blueprinted 427 big-block, which, at the time, was only available in ’63½ Galaxies.

This unique 427 FAIRLANE (THUNDERBOLT) PROTOTYPE was the result of a joint venture between Ford Engineering (Dan Jones), Ford Special Vehicles (Charlie Gray), Ford Engine & Foundry (Bill Gay), Dearborn Steel Tubing (Andy Hotten) and Tasca Ford (Bob Tasca). The car was named after Frank Zimmerman, Ford Sales Manager who also headed up the Special Vehicles Group, ZIMMY-1 was Ford’s “mule” or prototype for the ’64 Fairlane 427 Thunderbolt.

While covering the NHRA Indy Nationals for CUSTOM RODDER and later at Tasca Ford in East Providence, RI, I spent a lot of time with ZIMMY-1 and driver, Bill Lawton. Over its short lifetime it was powered by three different big-blocks – 406 and two 427s – and fitted with a variety of fiberglass hoods. While at DST, ZIMMY-1 was built with fiberglass front fenders, hood and deck lid and aluminum inner fender panels and bumpers. Ready to race weight was 3,320 pounds.

After being sorted out, it was raced at the Nationals with a 427 High-Riser with Ram-Air induction built by Ford Engineering. They used the latest 427 NASCAR short block which utilized a steel crank, 12.7-to-1 forged pistons and machined and polished heads with 2.197-inch intake and 1.735-inch exhaust valves. A bustle with special baffles was added to the base of the engine’s stock oil pan to increase capacity to ten quarts. They topped off the engine with Holley dual-quads.

Ford engineers crafted tubular steel headers for the 427. Each tube measured 31 inches long and snaked around steering and suspension obstacles, dumping into 14-inch collectors fitted with an equalizer tube. Chassis-to-engine mounts were fabricated from 1/8-inch steel stock and topped with stock 427 rubber pads. As with 427 Galaxie Lightweights, the Fairlane’s engine was bolted to a Hurst-shifted Ford four-speed (2.36 First gear). To aid clutch cooling during repeated runs, the scattershield’s mounting bolts were shimmed for ¼-inch spacing. An HD 427 Galaxie driveshaft, shortened to 54 inches, hooks the powertrain up to a big Ford rear with 31-spline axles and a Detroit Locker with 4.44 gears.

When transplanting a 500-horsepower engine into an under-3, 300-pound car engineered for 271 horsepower, much attention has to be paid to the chassis and suspension. To effectively and safely transfer weight at launch, the chassis was “loaded” using a special (left) front coil spring and shock assembly and two-leaf (right) rear spring. The stock right front spring and shock and left rear three-leaf spring and shock were retained.

Increasing horsepower is relatively easy compared with getting power to the pavement. Completing the chassis “loading” was the fabrication of a pair of boxed steel traction bars, similar in design to the ones used on 427 Galaxie Lightweights and later on Thunderbolts. The traction bars measure 31 inches long and run from the axle housing forward to chassis mounting points which added structural rigidity and aided in weight transfer. A trunk-mounted 95-pound battery sits over the right rear wheel.

ZIMMY-1, the 427 FAIRLANE (THUNDERBOLT) PROTOTYPE was a work-in-progress while at Tasca Ford. Many small changes initiated by Bob Tasca, John Healey and Bill Lawton were incorporated into the final engineering of the ’64 Thunderbolt. They experimented with a variety of fresh air induction packages, the best being a sealed-air box with eight-inch diameter hoses ducting through grille inlets.

In 1964 ZIMMY-1 provided the blueprint for the creation of the limited-production Super/Stock 427 Thunderbolt. Totally illegal for the street (even though sold by Ford to a “straw” buyer and registered in Michigan), the 427 FAIRLANE (THUNDERBOLT) PROTOTYPE most likely went directly to the crusher after being returned to Dearborn. Its legacy lives on in surviving Thunderbolts.

Check REVan Evan’s video of Ray Paquet’s real 1964 Thunderbolt that runs 8s at 150-plus mph @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_kZyMoagk

HOLMAN MOODY CHALLENGER III

Chopped and sectioned, HOLMAN MOODY CHALLENGER III started out as a ’62 Falcon Futura styling study, matured into a lightweight 145-mph racecar.

John Holman and Ralph Moody’s stock car factory in North Carolina turned three Falcon Futura econocars into road racing screamers and the third, featured here, was the most radical, most potent of the series. They had high hopes of building a limited run of Challenger III Falcons and marketing them through Ford dealers. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Like Colin Chapman, they believed in “adding lightness” which accounts for Challenger III’s aluminum doors, and hood and trunk panels. The icing on the cake is its aluminum fastback roof, fabricated by HM’s Lujie Lesovsky, best known for the 1967 Coyote that was driven by A.J. Foyt to an Indy 500 win. Window glass was replaced with flush mounted Plexiglass. Ready to race, the Challenger III weighed in at 2,200 pounds and had a top speed of 145 mph. Under the alloy hood rests a blueprinted 289 small-block rated at 300 horsepower and bolted to an aluminum-cased B-W T-10 four-speed.John Holman, right, and Ralph Moody with one of the Challengers in 1962

My pal and serial blogger, Jim Donnelly, writes about Challenger III, brought back to life for noted collector and historian – Howard Kroplick – by the artisans at Rob Ida Concepts. His feature can be found at https://jimdonnellyonwheels.com/2022/04/10/a-ford-rarity-for-the-race-track/

For more information about the four-wheeled art created by Rob Ida and his team at Rob Ida Concepts, please visit https://robidaconcepts.com/

REMEMBERING BILL KOLB, JR., 1941-2021

Longtime friend Bill Kolb is probably best remembered in the enthusiast community as the 1960s poster boy for Ford’s Total Performance and Win On Sunday; Sell On Monday marketing concepts. His close friends often called him, “Mr. Monday! We bonded after I did a story on him and his Lightweight 427 Galaxie in 1963 and we’ve been friends since. Remembering Bill Kolb, Jr., 1941-2021.

Bill Kolb, Jr. passed away quietly at home in Carefree, AZ, on Friday, December 3, 2021, comforted by his wife, Maryann and family. Bill was 80 years old and spent his entire adult life in the automotive retail business, and building, racing and marketing specialty cars. He was the dealer-principal at White Plains Ford, (White Plains, NY), Bill Kolb, Jr. Ford, (Blauvelt, NY); he and Maryann were dealer principals at Bill Kolb, Jr. Subaru (Orangeburg, NY).

In 1963 he campaigned a factory 427 Lightweight Galaxie; in 1964 a 427 Fairlane Thunderbolt Super/Stock in the Northeast states, both sponsored by Larsen Ford in White Plains, NY where he was employed as High-Performance Sales Director. His next venture was more entertainment than Eliminator!

Enter the Little Yellow Wagon, a raucous 427-powered “billboard” capable of running the entire quarter-mile on its rear wheels. It actually proved to be a more effective sales tool than previous Super/Stock racecars. Kolb and his ’65 Ford Econoline pickup joined the ranks of wheel-standing exhibitionists, headed by Bill “Maverick” Golden who, driving his Dodge Little Red Wagon, pioneered the genre. The Little Yellow Wagon was powered by a Hilborn-injected 427 side-oiler built by Tasca Ford’s John Healey. It was mounted on a sub-frame behind the cab.

Partnered with longtime friend and top Ford tech, John Sachs, Kolb returned to Larsen in 1975, purchased the dealership and renamed it White Plains Ford. Between 1975 and 1981, White Plains Ford was one of the top performing stores in the New York District.

A close friend of Carroll Shelby, and Lee Iacocca when he was Vice-President of Ford’s Car and Truck Group, Kolb, at Iacocca’s direction, set up a unique Shelby dealership within Gotham Ford in New York City. It was the first dealership-within-a-dealership selling and servicing only Shelby automobiles! Kolb became a member of Ford’s Dealer Council for Performance Cars – the only salesman to be part of this group. He then became a key player in Ford’s Shelby marketing programs when Ford hired him to be national spokesperson for the Shelby dealer network.

Between his time at Larsen and Gotham Ford dealerships – 1965 to 1970 – Kolb sold more Shelby Cobras, GT Mustangs and GT40s than anyone else in the country. Documented by SAAC (Shelby American Automobile Club), Kolb’s Shelby sales records, including the most 427 Cobras (18), are legendary.

Martyn Schorr, one of Bill’s oldest friends and, in 1967, editor of Hi-Performance CARS Magazine, recalls the time that he and Bill spent a day test-driving the prototype Mark III GT40 (M/3 1101) around New York City. It had been left in Bill’s care at Gotham Ford after being displayed at the New York Auto Show.

“In April 1967, Bill Kolb called and asked if I wanted to have a little fun test driving a GT40 road car, Ford’s first real Supercar. I thought of taking it to Lime Rock or another track. He had other ideas saying, ‘road testing should be done on the road.’

“We ended up dodging New York City taxis, delivery trucks and the occasional Police car, and frightened woman, children and puppies! It was a glorious day. How Bill and I stayed out of jail that day still mystifies me. Our only real challenge was trying to pay tolls on the Triborough Bridge since the GT40 didn’t have roll-down windows! It ended up being the cover story of the July 1967 issue of Hi-Performance CARS.

In 1984, Kolb enhanced his relationship with Ford as a manufacturer. The company was called Spoilers-Plus and Kolb produced aerodynamic styling and ground-effects kits for slow-selling vehicles like the Ford EXP. The line was expanded to include bolt-on restyling components for Mustangs and Thunderbirds. Spoilers-Plus became the first aftermarket company to sell aero-enhancing body kits to Ford and its dealer network.

Kolb’s Spoilers-Plus front air dam was on Bill Elliott’s 1987 Daytona 500 winning Thunderbird, averaging over 176 mph and setting a record. After the race, Elliott sent Bill a note: ‘Thanks for the air dam, it has the record’, signed Bill Elliott.”

Total Performance has always been a way of life for Bill Kolb, Jr. who parlayed a passion for racing and high-performance cars into a legendary career. Masterful at building and marketing specialty vehicles, he kept his decades-old Ford connection alive with Tungsten Grey and Heritage model ’06 Ford GTs. He drove them as long as possible until being sidelined with health issues.

Bill is survived by his wife, Maryann Kolb, left, sister, Rommy Revson, son, William (Bill) Kolb, III and nephew, Nathanial Hunt. A service will be held on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 10:30 am at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 92 S. Lexington Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606.

REMEMBERING BILL KOLB, JR., 1941-2021: Donations, in lieu of flowers, may be sent to: The Alzheimer’s Association, 340 E. Palm Lane, Suite 230, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Online: https://www.alz.org/ (Search Kolb)