MY FEEDLY

Ford Thunderbird Phase One D/F Supercharged – The Fastest American-Built Production Car Of Its Day

In mid-20th century American car collector circles there are few vehicles more desirable than the car you see here. It’s one of just 15 hand-built, supercharged Thunderbirds developed for NASCAR and other competition purposes under the direct authority of Ford Division General Manager Robert S. McNamara.

If you’re thinking that the name Robert S. McNamara sounds familiar, it may be because he was later tapped by President John F. Kennedy to be the Secretary of Defense in 1961 and would remain in the role until 1968.

Years before he started working in the White House, McNamara had helped revolutionize Ford in the years after WW2. When he saw the Chevrolet Corvette unveiled at the 1953 Motorama display at the New York Auto Show he knew Ford needed a competitor, and work began immediately.

Corvette v. Thunderbird

Whereas the Corvette had been developed to compete with the sleek, fast sports cars coming out of Europe, the Thunderbird took a slightly different route – becoming the “personal luxury car” or essentially the American version of the European grand tourer.

This focus on luxury rather than all-out sporting ability was popular with many Americans, so much so that the new Thunderbird outsold the Corvette 23-to-1 for 1955, 16,155 Thunderbirds sold versus just 700 Corvettes.

Due in no small part to the Chevrolet fuel-injection development program McNamara set the wheels in motion to develop a special version of the Thunderbird to ensure that Ford would remain out in front.

When describing the program to the Ford Executive Committee he wrote:

“The installation on the 312 CI 4V carburetor engine of a new design McCulloch supercharger for use on the Ford car and Thunderbird … which would provide operational characteristics equal to or better than any fuel injection system at present day development. The supercharger option would carry a rating of 300 hp.”

Above Image: The engine bay of the Phase One D/F Supercharged Thunderbird is dominated by that unusual side-mounted supercharger.

At this time there was no plan to build a production version of the supercharged Thunderbird, however they would eventually be built due to the success of the original 15 skunkworks cars.

Each of these high-performance prototypes was fitted with a 312 cu. in. single-carburetor V8 engine mated with a McCulloch VR57 Phase 1 supercharger. Power was sent back to the rear wheels via a race-prepared heavy-duty BorgWarner 3-speed manual transmission, the cars were all given seat belts for safety and a fiberglass hard top for better high-speed aerodynamics.

The Fastest American Made Car

Just a year earlier a specially prepared Corvette had set the new American production sports car record and it was this achievement that Ford wanted to beat – the marketing potential of having the fastest production car made in America is clear as day.

At Daytona in 1957 one of these Phase 1 Thunderbirds beat the Corvette record by 6 mph, setting a new American production sports car record with a speed of 138.755 mph. To celebrate this feat Ford built 195 examples of the 1957 Thunderbird with the F-Code Paxton-supercharged four-barrel V8, now among the most collectible Thunderbirds ever made.

Of the 15 prototypes that were built for racing and speed records just eight are known to survive, and the car you see here is one of the most original of them. This car was professionally restored by Amos Minter using original components, it retains the original factory drivetrain, and it scored a perfect 300 points at the Classic Thunderbird Club International’s National Concours in 2014.

In some respects these supercharged Thunderbirds were the last hurrah for the first generation of the model. 1958 would see the release of a new Thunderbird which was considerably bigger and heavier than the original, now with four seats instead of just two.

This decision to expand the model and widen the potential customer base to include people with children has long been controversial. On one hand the more sporting Thunderbird was no more, but on the other hand the sales of the newer car skyrocketed to 37,892 – outselling the smaller 1957 model by 16,000 units.

If you’d like to read more about this vehicle or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Mecum. It’s due to roll across the auction block in mid-May and there’s no reserve set.

Images: David Newhardt, courtesy of Mecum Auctions

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/ford-thunderbird-phase-one-d-f-supercharged/
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A Toyota Land Cruiser FJ43 Restored By FJ Company

This Toyota Land Cruiser FJ43 has been comprehensively restored and upgraded by the marque experts over at FJ Company, a venture founded in Nelson and Juan Diego Calle back in 2010.

The FJ Company

In the 11 years since the FJ Company was founded they’ve become globally recognized experts in the restoration of classic J Series Land Cruisers, they’ve also established a package of sympathetic upgrades that improve the original vehicle’s on/off road abilities and comfort for daily driving.

Nelson and Juan grew up in Colombia being driven around in the two FJ40s that belonged to their grandparents. They calculated that they spent over 30,000 hours bouncing around in the back of these South American Land Cruisers and they began learning about vehicle repairs by fixing them when they broke down.

When their grandfather passed away the two brothers united to restore his much loved 1982 FJ40, they enjoyed it so much they started the company and have since restored and upgraded a staggering number of Land Cruisers which have been shipped to owners around the world.

The 1981 Land Cruiser FJ43 Shown Here

The Land Cruiser you see here is a 1981 FJ43, the J Series Land Cruisers were built in a variety of wheelbase lengths to suit a multitude of roles. The FJ43 was a medium-length wheelbase option that offered more internal space than the short wheelbase FJ40 without losing its agility off road.

Most of the J Series Land Cruisers we see getting the restoration treatment are the FJ40 and BJ40 models, the key difference between them being that the “F” denotes a gasoline engine and the “B” denotes a diesel engine.

In recent years more attention has been given to the longer wheelbase versions of the venerable Toyota 4×4 and we’re starting to see more and more of them getting rescued and restored.

Above Image: The FJ43 is the slightly longer wheelbase version of the J40 series, though still not as long as the J45 and J47 models.

This rebuild started with a 1981 FJ43 in need of saving, the team at FJ Company stripped it back to the chassis and began their well-choreographed series of upgrades. Once the chassis had been repainted and prepared it was fitted with new Old Man Emu suspension front and back for improved handling on and off road.

A completely rebuilt Toyota 1FZ 4.5 liter inline-six was then fitted, now upgraded with a more reliable programmable fuel injection system, and it was mated to a highway-friendly 5-speed manual transmission. The entire four wheel drive drivetrain was rebuilt front and back, power steering was also fitted for easier low speed steering, and original 15 inch Toyota steel wheels were fitted wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain K02 tires.

Front disc brakes were installed to notably improve stopping power and the Land Cruiser keeps its original locking front hubs. During the rebuild each body panel is individually inspected, refurbished where needed, then repainted – in this case in a shade of Medium Blue with a white hardtop for to help keep cabin temperatures down.

Inside the truck is where most people immediately notice the upgrades, this FJ43 received a full re-trim in weather-resistant saddle vinyl, it also benefits from a new digital instrument cluster, a Vintage Air climate control system, and a new stereo with new speakers and bluetooth connectivity.

Back on the outside you’ll note that the headlights have been discreetly replaced with modern LED units, these provide far more lumens and use considerably less power than the originals. The steel front bumper is fitted with a Warn 8274 winch, more than capable of pulling the vehicle out of whatever trouble you may get it into.

The truck has now covered just 1,900 miles since its rebuild, leaving it in essentially new condition throughout.

If you’d like to read more about this FJ43 or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing, it’s due to cross the auction block on the 22nd of May with RM Sotheby’s, with a price guide of $110,000 to $140,000 USD.

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/toyota-land-cruiser-fj43-4x4/
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Dodge Hellephant 1,000 HP Crate Engine – MSRP $29,995 USD

When the Dodge Hellephant crate engine was first announced at SEMA in 2018 it took the automotive world by storm. For the first time ever a major automaker was offering a 1,000 hp crate engine with 950 lb ft of torque, and it achieved those figures on 93 octane pump gas, not race fuel.

The Hellephant acquired its unusual name from the old Chrysler Hemi Elephant 426 engine from 1964, an engine that got its nickname due to its sheer size and weight – it was so big very few cars had the space under the hood to accommodate it.

The original Elephant 426 engine produced 425 bhp which was a remarkable figure for the mid-1960s, just 11,000 of these engines were ever built and today the cars fitted with them are highly sought after by collectors for very obvious reasons.

The name of new Hellephant engine is a portmanteau of Hellcrate and Elephant, just like its forefather the engine has a swept capacity of 426 cu. in., though it weighs far less thanks to the use of aluminum alloy for the block, heads, and pistons.

As you may have guessed, the engine isn’t naturally aspirated, it makes use of a prodigious 3.0 litre supercharger which sends 15 pounds of boost down the intake, all managed by modern electronic engine management systems.

Only a limited number of Hellephant engines were offered to the public and the $29,995 USD asking price held back all but the most well heeled of engine swappers. An additional $2,265 USD was needed for the electronic integration kit that made the engine plug and play, an essential purchase for most buyers.

Over the years since it was introduced we’ve seen the engine fitted to all manner of vehicles, but there are still some out there that remain untouched and ready to use, like the example you see here. This is engine #80 and it’s being supplied with that above mentioned wiring kit to ensure it can be used properly in whatever car it’s ultimately installed into.

If you’d like to read more about this engine or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing, it’s due to roll across the auction block with Mecum and at the time of writing there’s no price guide.

Images courtesy of Mecum

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/dodge-hellephant-crate-engine/
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For Sale: An Original Camel Trophy Veteran: 1998 Land Rover Defender 110

It’s not that often that we see authentic Camel Trophy veterans come up for sale, there are a slew of replicas of course but many of the original Trophy Land Rovers seem to change hands very infrequently. It’s also worth noting that many didn’t survive to the modern day due to the rigors of the Camel Trophy event, which was famously one of the most challenging 4×4 competitions in the world.

The vehicle you see here took part in the 1998 Tierra Del Fuego Camel Trophy, it was built by the Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations team specifically for the event and it remained in service for years afterwards as an expedition vehicle around Africa and Europe before arriving back in Britain where it was put to work in a support role with the Marine Life Conservation group.

In more recent years the Defender 110 has undergone a full rebuild with genuine Land Rover parts, bringing it up to an excellent useable condition throughout but carefully keeping its Camel Trophy livery in place.

The Camel Trophy

The Camel Trophy is now best known for its use of Land Rover vehicles but it isn’t widely known that the first event actually included three teams of Germans exploring the Amazon rainforest in Jeeps in 1980.

Land Rover became the sole vehicle supplier in 1981 and would remain in this role until the final running of the event in the year 2000. After the year 2000 cigarette advertising bans in sport killed off the Camel Trophy and cigarette brandnames began quickly disappearing from race cars and circuits around the world.

Over the course of its 20 years the Camel Trophy was run in a remarkable variety of locations across wild terrain in countries like Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Siberia, Sulawesi, Zaire, and many others.

Above Video: This is the documentary about the 1998 Tierra Del Fuego Camel Trophy, keep your eye out and see if you can spot the vehicle we have listed here.

After each event some of the competitors would purchase their own vehicles, a significant number were left in the host country, and many that were brought back to the UK were stripped of their special parts – making it exceedingly challenging to find original vehicles today.

The majority of Land Rovers and Range Rovers that took part in the event were heavily modified by the specialist team Land Rover Special Vehicles. These modifications tended to vary year to year however they typically included things like full roll cages, winches, snorkels, upgraded suspension and transmission components, Brownchurch Bull bars and bush wires, tow hitches and recovery points, under body protection, and steering guards.

The Camel Trophy Land Rover Defender Shown Here

As mentioned above, the vehicle you see here is a veteran of the 1998 Tierra Del Fuego Camel Trophy. It’s been well preserved over the intervening 23 years and benefits from a mechanical rebuild and the fitment of a new OEM galvanised Marsland chassis.

During the rebuilt the entire braking system was replaced, along with the gearbox, clutch and running gear. all chassis components have been replaced, including the nuts, bolts and washers, and it now has new shock absorbers, springs, and helper springs.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual Land Rover or register to bid you can click here, it’s currently being offered for sale on Collecting Cars. At the time of writing there are three bids with the highest sitting at £10,000 which is approximately $14,100 USD.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/camel-trophy-land-rover-defender-110/
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1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 – The Model That Won The SCCA Trans Am Championship

This is an original 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302, this was the final year of production that the Trans Am homologation model was offered and Ford sold just 7,014 of them nationwide.

Ford developed this car specifically to compete with the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 in the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Trans-Am racing series. The Mustang had been the first “pony car” of course, even lending its name to the genre, but other American automakers hadn’t been idle – many of them developed their own Mustang competitors which were quickly climbing in popularity.

The Pony Car Arms Race

This pony car arms race kept Ford busy and the Boss 302 was to be the Blue Oval’s shot across the bow of Chevrolet and their still-new Camaro which had been introduced in 1967. Trans Am racing was hugely popular in the USA in the late 1960s, the maximum engine size allowed was 5.0 litres (305 cubic inches) which forced American automakers to leave their “there’s no replacement for displacement” philosophy at the door and delve into making the most powerful 5.0 litre engines they could.

Ford engineers threw everything they could into the development of the Boss 302 V8. It features a block with a thin-wall, high nickel content casting which is notably different from regular Ford 302s. The engine also has four bolt mains, screw in freeze plugs, and special heads developed from the Ford 351 Cleveland V8 with larger canted valves and larger ports for better flow.

The street-legal version of the Boss 302 V8 was capable of 290 hp and could send the car from 0 to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds, with a 1/4 mile time of 14.6 seconds, and a top speed of 137 mph.

The Boss’s (Secret) Car

A slew of changes were also applied to the rest of the car which was styled by the great Larry Shinoda who had been brought over by Semon “Bunkie” Knudson, President of Ford who had brought in Shinoda from GM’s Chevrolet Division.

It was Shinoda who developed the distinctive look of the Boss 302, he also gave it its name. The project was being kept top secret when it was first launched in 1968 and so whenever someone asked Shinoda what he was working on, he would jokingly reply “the Boss’s car!”

Above Image: The Boss 302 V8 was a significantly reworked engine capable of 290 hp in street-trim.

This nickname stuck and both versions of the car were officially named the Boss 302 and the Boss 429, the former car was intended for Trans Am and the latter for NASCAR.

A slew of performance changes were made to the car for the track, and Ford had to build a minimum of 6,500 of them for sale to customers to meet homologation requirements. Some of these changes included front disc brakes, larger sway bars, tougher spindles, reinforced shock towers, and a 4-speed manual transmission that could handle the power output from the new Boss 302 V8.

The cars went toe to toe with the Camaros in 1969 and narrowly lost the Trans Am Championship. It was later realized that a number of races had been lost in the pits as the Camaros were being run by Roger Penske who was famous for his impeccable organization and efficiency.

Lessons were learned and the Boss 302 won the 1970 championship with Parnelli Jones at the wheel. Sadly Ford executives would cancel the Boss 302 program after this win and so the model was only produced for two years, 1969 and 1970. Years later in 2012 Ford would release a new line of Boss 302 Mustangs influenced by their earlier forefathers.

The 1970 Boss 302 Mustang Shown Here

The car you see here is from the second and final year of production. According to its Marti Report, this car was built on the 29th of December 1969. Its base price was $3,720 USD, this car includes the optional “shaker” hood scoop, trademark rear window slats, rear spoiler, AM radio, Traction-Lok differential, and Goodyear Polyglas white letter tires on Magnum 500 wheels. All options included it cost its first owner $4,321.50 USD.

At some point in its history this car has had a full rotisserie restoration, it’s still in excellent shape throughout with good panel fit and a nicely detailed engine bay with proper wiring and hoses.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It’s due to roll across the auction block on the 22nd of May and the price guide is $75,000 to $85,000 USD.

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/1970-ford-mustang-boss-302-muscle-car/
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The Amazing Story Of Johnny Dark And The Woodill Wildfire

This article was written by Geoff Hacker, the founder of Undiscovered Classics and a leading global authority on low-volume, mid-century American sports cars like the Woodill Wildfire.

Geoff will be debuting their Woodill Wildfire from the 1954 movie Johnny Dark this Sunday (May 23rd, 2021) at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, he’s also created a 130+ page book on the subject that you can read here for free.

Introduction – Johnny Dark And The Woodill Wildfire

Johnny Dark was filmed in 1953 and debuted in June, 1954. It is an emblematic film which perfectly captured early post-war American handcrafted sports cars at their best. In the Universal Studios “Production Notes” released in early 1954 (shown in their entirety later in the book) reference is given to one of the most “vigorous movements” in the automotive field, “sports-type vehicles … which are fast beginning to revolutionize Detroit”.

The “Production Notes” elaborated “Because most of Detroit’s contemplated domestic sports cars are as yet in blueprint state, the studio made arrangements with a dozen top car designers” for sports cars for the film. Further, “these vehicles in many respects are years ahead of their time and expected to be of great influence in the design of commercial cars”.

The key point of emphasis in reading this book about the movie Johnny Dark is that the cars in the movies were viewed as “state of the art” and reflective of post-war American sports cars. Period. Retroactively, we may categorize these cars as American Specials and/or handcrafted sports cars. But in the era of the early 1950’s, such nomenclature was not accurate.

Above Film: Watch the full Johnny Dark movie courtesy of Undiscovered Classics.

Eight sports cars were introduced in the movie. These included the Woodill Wildfire, Victress, Glasspar G2, Grantham Stardust, Lancer, Bohman Special, Tatum Special, and Kurtis Sports Car. The oldest of the bunch was the Kurtis Sports Car having been built in 1949-1950. The remaining cars were built in 1952 and 1953—spot on for the golden years of designing, building and racing such cars.

The movie and the history of American sports cars shown in Johnny Dark reflects the excitement of the times, the design creativity of the individual and the entrepreneurial spirit of those in the postwar years. And what makes this even more interesting is that the cars, their history and the achievement of those who did so much back then has largely been forgotten—including the full legacy of the postwar American sports cars.

This was a time when American road racing had yet become commercialized. Where the achievement of an individual in building and racing their own car could level the playing field such as Max Balchowsky did in his Old Yeller race cars. So much was accomplished back then and so much has been forgotten now. We hope to change that fact.

But the story gets better when you jump from the reality of the movie to the real-world. Back when the Corvette debuted in 1953 (the same year that Johnny Dark was filmed), there were nearly 50 American Sports cars you could buy, build, and drive.

Universal Studios took the “best of the best” of the handbuilt sports cars that were built in and around Los Angeles, California in 1953. As for the cars featured, the aluminum cars shown were either one-offs or out of production, but the remaining five cars could be bought or built by the public at that time. These were the Woodill Wildfire, Glasspar G2, Victress S1A, Lancer and Grantham Stardust.

Above Image: A scene from the Film Johnny Dark as contestants prepare for a grueling endurance race from the Canadian border across the United States to the Mexican border.

The actors in the movie were top-notch “A” listers. Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie and Don Taylor—these were major movie stars when this was filmed, and while some think of this as a simple car film for its time, it’s far from that point. Some of the stunt drivers used were famous race car drivers and/or stuntmen in their own right.

Phil Hill (road racing), Louis Tomei (Indianapolis 500), Don Freeland (Indianapolis 500) and Chuck Tatum (road racing) were the famous drivers. Stunt drivers included Carey Loftin who later was the stunt coordinator for the movie “Bullit,” Johnny Daheim and H. Haile Chace – were all accomplished stuntmen well-known in Hollywood.

In researching this film, Chuck Tatum, Phil Hill and Universal Studios historians were personally interviewed. We also spoke with many of the families who were involved with the individuals who built and/or raced the cars. In writing this book, we did our best to give you a window into the past—one that gets more distant with each passing year.

You can view the full-length movie in excellent resolution by visiting YouTube and searching for Johnny Dark. No doubt you’ll have great fun watching the movie. You’ll also find the Johnny Dark movie trailer which is fun to watch as an introduction before viewing the movie.

So make some popcorn and lookout for these special cars when you watch Johnny Dark. Think of it as the old “Automobile Bingo” game we used to play when traveling by car during vacation.

And while you’re watching the movie…..perhaps……just perhaps you just might get hooked on these low volume handcrafted sports cars built at a time when anything was possible. Collectively, we call this part of American postwar sports car history as “The Greatest Story Never Told.”

Be sure to visit our website Undiscovered Classics for further information on the Johnny Dark movie.