My Christmas present to you guys, a little bit of Cleveland history ... enjoy!
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The text of this 1963 ad reads: The long unchallenged reign of the traditional Indy car is ending. A small quick Lotus - powered by a Ford V8 push-rod engine - cast a long shadow over future 500s by finishing only 14 seconds away from victory in its first try for the big prize. Another Ford powered Lotus finished seventh. Thirty three cars started ... yet only the two Ford powered Lotus cars and 12 others had the stamina to finish.
These special V8s - based on passenger car engine design - burned Pure Firebird racing gasoline instead of alcohol fuels, they were miles closer to a "street" engine than any other powerplant on the track.
Ford's search for total performance - now and in the future - brought it to the Old Brickyard to see what could be expected of its basic V8s in the years to come. The facts uncovered in open competition are influencing Ford passenger car design now and will continue to do so for a long long time. (an example of passenger car total performance in the same week out was Ford's victory in America's longest stock car race ... the Charlotte World 600)
If you haven't checked out a Super Torque Ford lately slip behind the wheel. You'll find ... if its Ford built, its built for performance ... total performance!
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Robert McNamara left his position as general manager of the Ford division in 1960 to take a place in the cabinet of president John Kennedy. Iacocca was promoted into McNamara's vacated position. McNamara had not allowed Ford any involvement in auto racing, adhering to a bogus 1957 ruling by the "Automobile Manufacturer's Association". Iacocca put a quick end to that, he began to trickle funds into drag racing and stock car racing. No sooner had the departure of McNamara been announced then the engine & foundry division hurriedly designed the 360 bhp 352 FE-V8, which was added to the option list in the middle of the 1960 model year. There was a factory hot rod war going on and there was a contingent of employees at Ford that wanted to be involved. There was no 390 FE-V8 in 1960 so the 352 FE-V8 was the first motor to get the hot rod treatment. For 1961 Ford unveiled a 390 FE-V8 rated at 375 BHP, to equal the horsepower rating of Chrysler's 413, then later in the model year introduced the tri-power version with 401 BHP, putting Ford on the top of the heap in the showroom wars. The 401 BHP 390 FE-V8 was the first mass produced domestic motor to exceed 400 BHP. Ford was off and running in super stock drag racing and beginning to catch-up in NASCAR.
Ford introduced the 221 cubic inch "Fairlane V8" for the 1962 model year (Sept. 1961), this is the motor we know today as the Windsor V8. Shortly after its introduction Ford increased the motor's displacement to 260 cubic inches and delivered a high performance version to Carrol Shelby to test fit it in an AC/Bristol sports car chassis (Feb. 1962). The Fairlane V8's pairing with the Shelby Cobra quickly became legendary and its competency in international sports car racing was established.
Henry Ford II (aka the Deuce) began dating an Italian lady named Maria Cristina Vettore in 1962, Miss Vettore was a fan of auto racing. So what did the ol' Deuce do? He told corporate Ford to "dive into auto racing with both feet". Its gotta be nice to have a corporation the size of Ford at your disposal to impress your lady friend. The Deuces directive to dive into racing marked the beginning of the total performance era, for with that directive Iacocca was expected to see to it that domestic and international auto racing championships were conquered with Ford powered vehicles, to win championships quickly, and to win them within a reasonable budget. Ford already had a presence in drag racing, stock car racing and sports car racing (via Shelby). The decision was made to conquer the most prestigious racing event in North America, the Indianapolis 500, and to do so with only 8 months to prepare and with no previous experience. So in October 1962 Bill Gay initiated the Fairlane Special V8 Program to hot rod the Fairlane V8 with the express purpose to win the 1963 Indy 500 (held in May).
In April 1963 Iacocca announced "Performance has been integral in the long history of the Ford Motor Company. We at Ford believe in performance, because the search for performance - total performance - made the automobile the wonderfully efficient, pleasurable machine it is today, and will make it better tomorrow". The world was introduced to the slogan for which the total performance era was named.
1963 was also the year Enzo Ferrari approached Ford with an offer to merge his company with Ford for $18 million and Ford counter offered $10 million. Enzo then specified he wanted to run all of Ford's racing programs. Ford would not accept those terms so Enzo withdrew his offer. The Deuce was displeased, he wanted a GT car so Ford could enter the World Endurance Racing series; after all Miss Vettore liked auto racing. The Deuce's response to Enzo's withdrawal ... he told corporate Ford to build him a GT that could beat Ferrari at LeMans. And so Ford Advanced Vehicles was established in Slough, England next door to Eric Broadley's Lola Cars, Ltd and John Wyer was hired to head up Ford's new division. The Ford GT40 project had begun.
Ford racing gained momentum and achieved dominance during the 4 racing seasons of 1963 through 1966. Ford's Indy effort came very close to winning the Indianapolis 500 on their very first outing in competition. But in their second outing at the 1963 Milwaukee 200, the Ford powered lotus of Jimmy Clark not only won the race … he won with a 31 second lead over the second place car driven by AJ Foyt and he had lapped every other competitor on the track. Ford competitors won numerous championships in NHRA and AHRA drag racing. Ford slowly caught up with its NASCAR competition during the 1961 through 1963 seasons, each season brought more and more victories although a championship eluded them. The dual quad 427 FE-V8 was introduced mid 1963 and with that motor Ford began its domination of NASCAR, winning its first championship in 1964. Jimmy Clark and his Ford powered Lotus finally won the Indy 500 in 1965 leading 190 of the race's 200 laps, and the GT40's began winning endurance races in 1965 although a win at LeMans didn't occur until 1966. The Deuce also scored a win; he divorced his wife of 24 years in Feb 1964 and married Miss Vettore in Feb 1965.
Although the 427 FE-V8 powered vehicles grab most of the attention, the truth is most of Ford's competitive victories during the Total Performance Era, outside of stock car racing and drag racing, were won by vehicles powered by motors derived from the little Fairlane V8. This includes victories by Cobras, Daytonas, Falcons, Mustangs, GT40s, Sunbeam Tigers, Ford powered Lotus Indy cars and Gurney Eagles in road racing, Trans Am racing, Can Am racing, rally racing, World Endurance racing and Indy car racing. There was a pride and enthusiasm amongst the people involved in Ford's racing programs because they were beating everyone, on tracks around the world, in a variety of motor sport competition, using race motors derived from Ford's modest production motor, the little OHV Fairlane V8. That pride and enthusiasm is obvious in the ad above from 1963. That same pride and enthusiasm is found 3 years later in a 1966 paper presented by Bill Barr, an engineer from Bill Gay’s advanced engine group. Writing in regards to the DOHC Indy motor Bill Barr states "this double overhead camshaft engine built for Indianapolis was based on maximum use of a current production passenger car engine". It is about the time Bill Barr presented his paper in 1966 that the 351C was conceived, amongst the pride and enthusiasm of that group of people.