1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt 4-speed

This 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt is finished in Wimbledon White over a fawn vinyl interior and is powered by a Hi-Riser 427ci V8 paired with a Borg-Warner 4-speed manual transmission.  The car is one of 100 produced in a limited number as factory lightweight racecars and was one of 49 equipped with a manual transmission.  This car was originally delivered to Emhrae Ford in Virginia Beach, Virginia and it was raced by Frank Beamon, a dealership employee. The car was then sold in mid-1965 to Ed Kladde, who raced it for several more seasons before the car was retired. Having traded hands several times since then, the seller acquired the car in 2004 out of Vancouver, Canada, and commissioned a restoration to its as raced livery based on photos of the car from 1965. Currently located just outside of Seattle, Washington, the car has been featured in Car Craft magazine and is now offered for sale with supporting documentation and restoration records on a clean Washington title in the seller's name.

Finished in Wimbledon White from the factory, the car was refinished to its original color by Mosslander's Rod and Custom in Monroe, WA.  The Emrhae Ford livery was recreated as close to original as possible, based on an original photograph of the car from 1965, including Emrhae Ford lettering, "Quarter Hoss" script on the quarter panels, an engine displacement call out on the sail panel, and the name of the original driver, Frank “Speedo” Beamon, on the door.  While the Thunderbolt was based on a Fairlane two-door post sedan, Ford contracted Dearborn Steel Tubing to make numerous modifications to reduce the overall weight. These modifications included replacing the steel hood and front fenders with fiberglass pieces, installing an aluminum front bumper, relocating the battery to the trunk, and replacing all windows, with the exception of the windshield, with plexiglass pieces. The Fiberglass hood featured a distinctive teardrop raised dome to allow for clearance for the air intake box, while the high-beam headlights were removed and the openings converted to air inlets fed directly into the air cleaner.

The car rides on correct style 15” steel wheels finished in black and are mounted to Mickey Thompson ET Street tires measuring 26 x 7.50 size upfront and 28 x 11.50 in the rear.  To accommodate the larger engine, numerous modifications in the engine bay had to be made, including relocating various front suspension components and strengthening the mounting points. The rear suspension was modified using heavy-duty traction bars along with asymmetrical leaf springs to reduce axle wrap caused by the high-torque engine. Built specifically for the purpose of drag racing, the braking system was unmodified utilizing manual drums on all four corners.

The Fawn Beige interior was restored to its original condition and features lightweight bucket seats in the front and bench seat in the rear.  In continuing with the effort to save weight, many traditional Fairlane feature content such as carpets, a radio, heater, armrests, and sound-deadening materials were eliminated.  Additional items removed include the passenger side windshield wiper, sun visors, mirrors, and spare tire. A shifter for the 4-speed transmission is mounted directly to the floor, surrounded by a polished trim plate, while the rear window cranks and mechanisms were removed. Being a purpose-built racecar with many specialty and one-off parts, a glove box-mounted placard was affixed to all Thunderbolts disclaiming that fit & finish were secondary to competition race readiness as the true intent of the vehicle. 

Instrumentation is dominated by a large factory-installed Rotunda 8k-rpm tachometer mounted atop the dash, along with a traditional Fairlane gauge cluster which includes a fuel gauge, 120-mph speedometer, and coolant temperature gauge while an oil pressure gauge is mounted at the lower left of the dash. Though true mileage is unknown, the five-digit odometer reads 1,200 miles.

The 427ci V8 engine, though not original to the car, is a correct FE block and retains all the factory components like the Hi-Riser heads, aluminum intake manifold with dual four-barrel carbs, and specially designed air cleaner with dual intake hoses.  When new, the Thunderbolt was conservatively rated at 425 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque, though it was rumored actual output was closer to 500 horsepower. Special multi-piece race headers were fabricated to fit the engine bay and flowed into a single outlet exhaust to meet NHRA stock requirements, however, a fitted dual exhaust is included in the sale. Only two transmission options were available, a heavy-duty automatic sourced from Lincoln or a Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed manual. This particular car is equipped with a 4-speed, which is what it came from the factory with. All Thunderbolts used a 9" Ford rear end with 31-spline axles and a Detroit locker 4.56:1 differential.  The car has been actively maintained by the seller throughout their ownership.

The underside has been fully restored, with the frame and floorplan finished in black. All other components have been repainted or replated as well to return the car to factory condition. Additional photos showing the underside are provided in the gallery.

The car was featured in the December 2014 issue of Car Craft magazine. Included in the sale delivery paperwork from the car’s original allocation to Emhrae Ford, documentation supporting the restoration, and vintage photographs.