Article: Ford Falcon Sprint

[Paul B]

Hi Neville, I visited HM in 2005 (might have that date wrong) and saw a couple of Falcons prepped for racing in Europe, posted comments in page 5, #90 of this thread. Also visited again after Lee moved to the new premises in Charlotte, heck of a difference between the old and new buildings! Cheers, Grant

Hi Grant, Were the 2 cars you saw possibly Big block 427 64 Fairlanes, I have seen (on line) the one in Germany and it is a rocket ship for sure.
Its hard to beat the sound of a big block at 6500+ rpm. Certainly gets my blood pumping.

This Falcon trail is very interesting, I mentioned in an earlier post, Lee H said 15 were built, 8 went to UK for MC rally. So the other 7 is still a mystery, The orange falcon in the earlier post could be 1 of the 7.

It would also be very interesting to find the original experimental 427 64 Fairlane that went to Alan Mann racing and was sold off in late 60s, (pic of add in prior post #84 from Zombie289) I believe this car had independent suspension all round and heavily modified

[Grant Ellwood]

Hi Grant, Were the 2 cars you saw possibly Big block 427 64 Fairlanes, I have seen (on line) the one in Germany and it is a rocket ship for sure.
Its hard to beat the sound of a big block at 6500+ rpm. Certainly gets my blood pumping.

This Falcon trail is very interesting, I mentioned in an earlier post, Lee H said 15 were built, 8 went to UK for MC rally. So the other 7 is still a mystery, The orange falcon in the earlier post could be 1 of the 7.

It would also be very interesting to find the original experimental 427 64 Fairlane that went to Alan Mann racing and was sold off in late 60s, (pic of add in prior post #84 from Zombie289) I believe this car had independent suspension all round and heavily modified

Yes Paul, you are correct, they were Fairlanes. The one that went to a German customer was painted an olive green, almost military color.
It certainly blitzed the opposition in Europe!

[Steve Holmes]

This one?

[khyndart in CA]

What a mean machine. Magnificent !
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/art...litre-goodwood


From "Classic Driver Magazine " 2012.
"While Alan Mann’s car (later owned and raced by Martin Birrane) is now lost to posterity, this faithful recreation was constructed by Holman Moody in 2002-2003. The famous North Carolina-based race shop built the originals, so it was logical to choose them to build up another, using all their expertise and comprehensive record-keeping to produce a correct facsimile of the 1964 original. "


(Ken H )

[Paul B]

Yes that ^^ is the Beastie. Great pics Ken & Steve!
The then, experimental machine was sent to Alan Mann in UK for testing (away from USA likely a well kept secret then) for Ford to move into uni-body cars for NASCAR to save weight over the heavy Galaxie full chassis.
I dont believe they had the 427 high riser engine as there would be a raised teardrop front hood to accommodate the 2 x 4bbl carbs on the very tall intake manifold.
I think this car likely had the 427 tunnel port engine producing 500+hp .... in the day. The High riser engine was banned by NASCAR I think in 65 due the the teardrop hood, so the tunnel port was born to keep it all under the factory hood.

Grant, If I had to pick the colour name, I would call it Battleship Gray - A destroyer of a car, I believe it cleaned up everything at Goodwood... very impressive.

[Steve Holmes]

So is this the same car as the grey one pictured above Paul?

[Paul B]

I think the above ^^ could possibly be the 2nd car that H-M recreated. Or its been repainted?
The original 1964 experimental 427 Fairlane actually was NOT a 1964 Fairlane 427 high riser Thunderbolt and very far from it.
Note the roof line on the above car, The roof looks nothing like a Fairlane roof. It looks more like a 1963 T bird roof which were lower. It also looks like its had a 2 inch roof chop to probably improve wind drag.
Also looks like the front & rear fender wheel arch has been made much larger also.

The 64 Fairlane Thunderbolt was part of the Ford AFX drag race program which most people will know about. Very quick cars

The 1964 experimental 427 Fairlane was built for NASCAR racing (experimental) so a completely different construction for this car. This car was real and was a track car and probably should not have been banned at Goodwood.... well in my view. Maybe they had another reason?
But, I completely understand the AFX drag cars being banned from Goodwood - and the AFX Thunderbolt certainly falls into that category
Pic of the Thunderbird Drag car

Factory slicks on the back and skinnys on the front, and the Teardrop Fiber hood, Also had forced induction through the inside headlights into an oval aluminum sealed intake

[Steve Holmes]

The historic circuit racing 427 Fairlane's pictured above (the grey car and the white car) are Sports Coupe models, whereas the Thunderbolt drag cars were two door sedans with (b-pillar). The roofline is quite different. The most notable difference is the curvature of the of the c-pillar around the top of the window. They're really good looking cars.

The original Holman Moody 427 Fairlane that ran Daytona in 1964 was also a Sports Coupe, as was the car advertised by Allan Mann (is this car one and the same?).

[Steve Holmes]

The 1964 experimental 427 Fairlane was built for NASCAR racing (experimental) so a completely different construction for this car. This car was real and was a track car and probably should not have been banned at Goodwood.... well in my view. Maybe they had another reason?
But, I completely understand the AFX drag cars being banned from Goodwood - and the AFX Thunderbolt certainly falls into that category

I think the issues with the circuit racing 427 Fairlane competing in historics is that in period it never raced in a British Saloon Car Championship race. The Allan Mann Fairlane only raced as an open formula sedan, for want of a better term? I guess its what we'd refer to as a Sports Sedan. I don't believe there is a homologation sheet for the 427 Faorlane. So its legality creates some issues in UK/European historic racing.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the grey car pictured above actually races in the sports prototype division, rather than in the touring car division.

[Paul B]

Thanks for pointing that out about the roof lines, I never noticed that until now.
Yes, I heard the the battleship Grey 427 Fairlane was only racing in the European continent

[khyndart in CA]

Some "Alan Mann Racing" Falcons racing in the Sixties.
I think the ZE1051 car is a 1964 Rallye Monte Carlo Falcon.











( Ken H )

[Bruce302]

[Paul B]

Nice shots Ken, I think the last pic (post #131) was Frank Gardner in 1967 in the British Saloon car Champs
if so this would be the Alan Mann racing car

[khyndart in CA]

Not sure when this Falcon was for sale but site has some good photos plus a great racing history. Where is this car now ?

http://www.vrmotors.com/ford_falcon_1964.html




(Ken H)

[Paul B]

Great post Ken, what a find!
Very interesting. As it turns out this car is the surviving Graham Hill car (that I did not even know existed) and was also the Pierpoint car as shown 2 posts above. It was in Washington state, now sold.
It has some very interesting group 5 Information
Alan Mann racing rebuilt into a Group 5 BSCC (British Saloon Car Championship) racer and sold to Roy Pierpoint.
Pierpoint drove this car ( race history on file) sold car to Martin Birrane in 1969.
Birrane races car in late 1969. Somewhere in here a 500hp 351ci gets added in that was also raced at BSCC
Birrane sells car to Martin Thomas in 1970s. Thomas then has it comprehensively rebuilt by Cambridge Motorsports in the UK in 1990's
Thomas sold the car to Ken McBride, Seattle WA, who imported the car into the US.
Now sold to a new US owner


A race report is on file that shows the car entered as running a 5.7-liter capacity in the British Saloon Car Championship.
Alan Mann rebuilt the car for Pierpoint (BSCC Group 5, 1966-69), the car said to have had a 289 with dual quads and Weslake heads.
Front suspension is control arm and coil over as OEM, the rear suspension is Ford 9-inch with four link and watts link.
Discs brakes fitted all round.

[kiwi285]

Here is one of the You Tube clips of Bill,s Falcon Sprint in action at Barbargallo in October 2013.



and here is the other one at a V8 Supercar meeting in Perth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWl5MpTBYfw

[Bruce302]

Great post Ken, what a find!
Very interesting. As it turns out this car is the surviving Graham Hill car (that I did not even know existed) and was also the Pierpoint car as shown 2 posts above. It was in Washington state, now sold.
It has some very interesting group 5 Information
Alan Mann racing rebuilt into a Group 5 BSCC (British Saloon Car Championship) racer and sold to Roy Pierpoint.
Pierpoint drove this car ( race history on file) sold car to Martin Birrane in 1969.
Birrane races car in late 1969. Somewhere in here a 500hp 351ci gets added in that was also raced at BSCC
Birrane sells car to Martin Thomas in 1970s. Thomas then has it comprehensively rebuilt by Cambridge Motorsports in the UK in 1990's
Thomas sold the car to Ken McBride, Seattle WA, who imported the car into the US.
Now sold to a new US owner


A race report is on file that shows the car entered as running a 5.7-liter capacity in the British Saloon Car Championship.
Alan Mann rebuilt the car for Pierpoint (BSCC Group 5, 1966-69), the car said to have had a 289 with dual quads and Weslake heads.
Front suspension is control arm and coil over as OEM, the rear suspension is Ford 9-inch with four link and watts link.
Discs brakes fitted all round.

Seriously cool car and exceptional history. Indeed a very neat find.

Bruce.

[Bruce302]

Just because it is a cool looking car, I have no history on this one.

B.

[Paul B]

Nice pic Bruce this is - from American Hot rod Foundation
Picture of Don Pike in the Hayward Motors ‘64 Falcon Futura originally powered by a 260” V8. A little back story is in order on this shot. Driver Don and his brother Gary just happened to work for a guy named Carroll Shelby. Since a Falcon running gear etc was the basis of the new Mustang, lots of Shelby’s GT350 parts bolted right on and could be used as an undercover testbed. Needless to say it was hard to beat Don. My gut says they even might of had a 289” under the hood.....

Definitely a 289 under the hood I would say.
Cheers
see you on Saturday

[Bruce302]

Thanks Paul, They are a great looking car and with the Shelby parts bolted on they must have been pretty competitive.
It is so neat to have the background the the cars and the pics.

Indeed see you Saturday, though we will hit town before midday Friday.

Bruce.