Hi
Ray,
The real
thunder road car , not the movie car, was supposedly a 57 300C, you know That?
..not a Ford. I remember it being at a long ago 300 meet. White coupe? Silver
(? Stainless) tanks still in it, no back seat. Switches to turn off and on
brake lights. HD back springs / mods to rear suspension. Looked real, and pro
built to me. Debate about that I am sure, but sure looked real. What they had
to outrun , were 57 Fords, “revenoooers” .. pretty easy. Fool them with no
brake lights, off into woods on sharp curve. Odd to not mention that 300, Ray
in this context? Maybe you do know all that? . 300 was Not a “movie
car”! One of the later big name NASCAR guys drove
it.
By the way ,
I had a 57 Ford, about 1960. Total pig of a car, Police Interceptor 312
a pig, burned oil, leaked out of bad design valve covers, then rockers went
dry, kit added to add a copper line to oil the rockers outside engine, slow,
got pounded by 265 55 chev 2 bbl. ; early holley 4 bbl carb a total dog,
needle seats distorted, adjustment changed nothing. . Vacuum wipers , they
stop wiping at half throttle. Had to slam door, it bounced back at you
violently half the time . Or popped open. Was police special , brown plain 2
dr. Bought from mass state police via dealer supplying new police Fords. 125$
about 1960. 57 312 had no advance springs, so no centrifugal advance; two
stage vacuum advance, had to put a Mallory to get ANYWHERE. Still a pig.
Studebakers beat me.
Last
thought..one day dragging it, 1-2 shift, it went right into reverse and second
at same time, locking driveline , causing crash into gas station on side of
road , face into windshield,. ; pulled back shift levers under hood, and drove
away. T85 is tough.
Add severe
wheel hop at take off, tendency to overheat, vapor lock, Bumpers rust right
through.
Kinda nice
looking though, Lot better looking than 58/59.
Y block has a
great sound, w galsspacks. ..especially coasting down a hill in second .
We called that “ backing off” ( good at 2 AM!)
BR----AAAAAAT;
All Y
blocks light red oil light at idle…only about 5 psi oil pressure at 600 rpm;
rebuilt one ,due to all worried, due that light, 57 Ford truck
292, brand new rebuild to spec it did same thing . Oil pump too
small. All this before discovering Dodge D500.
Friend had a
mint green 55 t bird with $ built all chrome 312 in it, tri power ,
---if pushrods did not bend (this time) he would finish quarter, but 265 chev
got him too.
We used yell
at Fords, “you flip your rear spring holders yet?” (to get a rake) ‘ Or , “On
Fords, if it doesn’t go, you can chrome it” …lots of chromed fords
around, ~1960. Chrome acorn nuts and clear plastic red wires ,in chrome “loom”
make you feel better.
Also had 50
Ford flathead V8; steering box broke off frame ( ears on the box break right
off!, no steering if loaded hard in corner=huge surprise) ; in fast corner
almost killed me, went into a reservoir fence. 2nd gear rubber
though. It had three JC whitney exhaust pipes..those spiral flex pipes, one
was on the flathead breather..that one smoked the most.
Ford did not
EVER have a “Better Idea” –till Mustang.
From:
Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Ray Jones 1970hurst@xxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300]
Sent: Sunday,
January 11, 2015 11:33 PM
To: Listsaver 300 Club
Subject:
[Chrysler300] Fwd: Moonshiner's 1957 Ford Fairlane is one of a kind | Fox
News
This is a
great story
about Don
Miller.
Don Miller (I
think) was the Property
Manager for the Penske family and their various businesses.
He retired and
was the unofficial co-Host of the Fall 1999 Spencer, NC meet.
He arranged
the tours of Penske Racing and many of the other places we went.
I'm sure
that he also arranged for Tim Flock
of C300 and
300B Racing fame
to attend and our luncheon in the
Clubhouse at the Charlotte Track.
In any event, a
good story.
Here's an interesting story
--
Ray
Jones. Y'all come on down an see us. Ya
hear?
