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.
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?
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