Amt 65 fairlane 500 “ Thunderbolt “ what if

[GoodbuildNY]

I wasn’t going to do a build thread for this project but decided why not. It’s based on a 1965 annual that was unbuilt but the body was painted. The paint stripped off well and that’s the starting point. A previously built 64 thunderbolt is used for all the mockups and fabrication figuring. A new unbuilt thunderbolt will be used for final assembly. The premise is what if ford did decide to continue on with the Thunderbolt package ( either Ford/deerborn tubing or over the parts counter). So this is my rendition. It will be Vintage burgundy with a tan interior with all the Thunderbolt goodies. I couldn’t decide on which hood/air cleaner set up to run so I will be doing both. Chrome steelies in back and keystones up front. I found my original notes on this kit which I picked up for $60 which at the time seemed like a lot lol. So far nipped the lower rockers ahead of rear wheels,thinned the edges, added engine compartment from 64, clearanced a bunch of things ( all minor) and built out the 2 hoods and induction systems. 

[Maindrian Pace]

I like it, very rare kit being built into something awesome. Don't see that every day.

[chris chabre]

Ford commissioned 1 65 "thunderbolt to be built. I believe Dearborn Steel Tubing was the shop to build it

[espo]

Glad to see this model getting built and the Thunderbolt theme especially. Personal favorite has always been the "teardrop" style hood on Ford drag cars. I recall the drag optioned Fairlanes of '66 vintage had a single center mounted hood scoop with the opening at the leading edge. There was a '66 Fairlane kit at one time with that style hood offered and that might be something to consider.  The dual hood scoops found mostly on Mercury drag cars could be another thought. Build it the way that looks best to you and what you're wanting it to look like. 

[Ragtop Man]

It wasn't really an "if" - there was one built by DST that was soon to get the 427 SOHC, campaigned by Darrell Droke. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/futuresonics55chev/posts/3929428190659830/

Attached is the RFQ from Ford to what I presume would be DST to build a '65 Thunderbolt. Good working blueprint for a replica.

This is what popped up on the HAMB in regard to the '65...  "In 65 NHRA changed the rules from 100 cars to meet homologation to 500 production cars to meet the rule, and that ended the Thunderbolt program. But - In 1965 the Ford Experimental garage made one Fairlane with a pushrod 427. The car was given to and raced by Darrell Droke of Downey California with success under the name "The Wonder Colt." sponsored by Downey Ford. After a few months the car was switched over to 427 SOHC power. In 1966 the car was repainted and some changes were made. The car was then driven by Jerry Harvey and sponsored by Paul Harvey Ford in Indy (still with the SOHC). Droke was now driving Mustang Funnies for Ford. Again the car was successful. By 1967 the car was supposed to be given to Ed Schmidt from Michigan. His father, Harry, owned Ubly Dragway and Ford wanted them to get the car. It never happened. Ford did a 180 and decided to go with the '67 body style. Dick Brannan believes the car was taken back to Dearborn and scrapped but is not 100% sure. Cars have been known to get out the back door. It should be noted that on a 1/29/65 Ford memo it lists two Fairlanes for drag development but nobody ever saw or knows about the second car. It may have never left Dearborn but there is one person who says Les Ritchey ('64 T-Bolt driver) got the car. So , one '65 T-Bolt was made but it became a SOHC car rather quickly so it wasn't really a T Bolt any more.

[GoodbuildNY]

I was aware of the wonder pony car ( albeit limited information) so all the additional information is a big help so thank you for that!

[mchook]

I'll be watching for sure. My first car was a 65 Fairlane. I wish these kits weren't so expensive, I have 2 old glue bombs but they're really rough. I can't wait to see more!

[FoMoCo66]

Looks like a cool concept, even though the 65 is my least favorite fairlane I am looking forward to what you will do with this! I actually just finished up 64 tbolt build this weekend, a wonderful kit and an excellent one for kitbashing. This will be an awesome "What If?".

I will remove pic if you want.

[GoodbuildNY]

6 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Looks like a cool concept, even though the 65 is my least favorite fairlane I am looking forward to what you will do with this! I actually just finished up 64 tbolt build this weekend, a wonderful kit and an excellent one for kitbashing. This will be an awesome "What If?".

I will remove pic if you want.

No need to remove the pic. Your 64 looks sharp and I used to feel the same way about the 65’s but they’ve really grown on me over the years. I feel it’ll lend itself well to the thunderbolt treatment.

[GoodbuildNY]

9 hours ago, mchook said:

I'll be watching for sure. My first car was a 65 Fairlane. I wish these kits weren't so expensive, I have 2 old glue bombs but they're really rough. I can't wait to see more!

It took me a long time and patience to score a lot of the vintage kits I have but every once in a while you get lucky. I’m trying my best to do this one justice. When I’m done with this build I will see what I’ve got left from the kit and maybe I can help you out with some parts you might need for yours, but it might be a little while ,I don’t build at the pace I once did. Lol

[GoodbuildNY]

Does anyone know if someone makes a decal set for the tasca ford thunderbolt, more specifically I’m looking for the small gold “ thunderbolt “ that was on the upper rear quarter panel above the trim. I’ve looked around but not finding anything 

[Zen]

The Revell kit has Tasca decals.....

[GoodbuildNY]

2 hours ago, Zen said:

The Revell kit has Tasca decals.....

Yes those are the decals I’m looking for. I don’t really want to spend $40+ on that kit though just for the 2 thunderbolt decals. I’m really surprised that Slixx didn’t have a set for this car . They don’t really have many at all for the thunderbolt kit. If anyone has a set they’re willing to part with or trade away that’d be great. 

[Khils]

Oops... sorry 😔 

Edited April 29 by Khils

[magicmustang]

Will be following.

Did a similar "What If" of a Butch Leal '65 Thunderbolt. https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/166012-what-if-butch-leal-65-ford-thunderbolt-ss/?do=findComment&comment=2479670

 

[GoodbuildNY]

1 hour ago, magicmustang said:

Will be following.

Did a similar "What If" of a Butch Leal '65 Thunderbolt. https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/166012-what-if-butch-leal-65-ford-thunderbolt-ss/?do=findComment&comment=2479670

 

Before I saw your post I was on the Slixx website again and noticed the Butch Leal Tbolt set and ordered them since they had pretty much what I was looking for. I swear I’m not ripping your idea off lol . I did just check out your build and it’s definitely sharp. I especially love the stance! 

[GoodbuildNY]

I just read the order sheet more thoroughly that Ragtop posted above and wow ! Quite the modification to front suspension… no coil springs or shock towers, 2 quarter elliptical springs instead , fabbed upper and lower arms and so on. I’m now deciding how deep I want to go down the rabbit hole with this build.

[Ragtop Man]

23 hours ago, GoodbuildNY said:

I just read the order sheet more thoroughly that Ragtop posted above and wow ! Quite the modification to front suspension… no coil springs or shock towers, 2 quarter elliptical springs instead , fabbed upper and lower arms and so on. I’m now deciding how deep I want to go down the rabbit hole with this build.

The quarter elliptic was a 1965 innovation of sorts - first documented in the 2% Mustang SOHC builds. Thinking that they may have been used in the '65 Comet as well. '64 427 Special Vehicles practice was to keep the towers and springs - although DST relocated the towers in comets to the outside of the apron, which I think is correctly replicated in the Moby Cyclone drag car. But the old memory could be playing tricks, too... would not be the first t ime!

[GoodbuildNY]

57 minutes ago, Ragtop Man said:

The quarter elliptic was a 1965 innovation of sorts - first documented in the 2% Mustang SOHC builds. Thinking that they may have been used in the '65 Comet as well. '64 427 Special Vehicles practice was to keep the towers and springs - although DST relocated the towers in comets to the outside of the apron, which I think is correctly replicated in the Moby Cyclone drag car. But the old memory could be playing tricks, too... would not be the first t ime!

I’m right there with you on the memory thing. I’m glad you’ve chimed in here because I’m learning alot about these cars. If I were to go the proper route with the front suspension what do you think would be the best source for parts? By chance do you have any pics of the quarter elip setup? I’d love to get the ride height up in the front and that setup might do it. 

[Ragtop Man]

IMHO the go to for this - assuming you have the '65 Fairlane already - would be the Revell T-Bolt, followed by the Moby "Dyno Don" Comet.

Let me dig around for reference pics, I am sure they are out there. 

 

[chris chabre]

16 hours ago, Ragtop Man said:

The quarter elliptic was a 1965 innovation of sorts - first documented in the 2% Mustang SOHC builds. Thinking that they may have been used in the '65 Comet as well. '64 427 Special Vehicles practice was to keep the towers and springs - although DST relocated the towers in comets to the outside of the apron, which I think is correctly replicated in the Moby Cyclone drag car. But the old memory could be playing tricks, too... would not be the first t ime!

The eliptical springs were mustang only (i mistyped, as it didnt click after seeing the fairlane build sheet posted haha) Comets had the shock tower removed/flipped to the outside of the engine compartment. If you look up Dynos 65 you can find the photos of it that were in Hot Rod before the car got the altered wheelbase, injection and straight axle. Thanks to my father, its my favorite era of racing. My fathers hobby for close to 40s years has been researching 60s-early 70s Ford and mercury drag cars.

Edited May 1 by chris chabre

[Ragtop Man]

9 hours ago, chris chabre said:

The eliptical springs were mustang only. Comets had the shock tower removed/flipped to the outside of the engine compartment. If you look up Dynos 65 you can find the photos of it that were in Hot Rod before the car got the altered wheelbase, injection and straight axle. Thanks to my father, its my favorite era of racing. My fathers hobby for close to 40s years has been researching 60s-early 70s Ford and mercury drag cars.

I would have thought the same, but the spec for the '65 Fairlane calls for fabrication of a quarter elliptic in #s 5 and 6 above. Keep thinking there was at least one magazine story on the Droke Fairlane - the industry was pretty good about sniffing out those stories. 

[chris chabre]

7 minutes ago, Ragtop Man said:

I would have thought the same, but the spec for the '65 Fairlane calls for fabrication of a quarter elliptic in #s 5 and 6 above. Keep thinking there was at least one magazine story on the Droke Fairlane - the industry was pretty good about sniffing out those stories. 

Since the fairlane was a one off build, it makes sense that they would use what worked on the Mustangs. I wouldnt argue that point as you posted the build sheet and I honestly can't remember. I did mistype when I said it was Mustang only. I do know Mercury ran the factory style suspension until they went to the tube chassis cars in 66. My father's favorite car is the 65 Comet and we both own examples of them. he's owned both of his for over 40 years and I've had mine for 30. Unfortunately my father's binders of research material now live 600 miles away from me so I can't dig into them. 

 

If you find anything, please let me know as I can't recall seeing the suspension in the Droke car,  The mustang photos are very common though as you know.  Now I'm gonna get lost in researching my library haha

[GoodbuildNY]

2 hours ago, chris chabre said:

Since the fairlane was a one off build, it makes sense that they would use what worked on the Mustangs. I wouldnt argue that point as you posted the build sheet and I honestly can't remember. I did mistype when I said it was Mustang only. I do know Mercury ran the factory style suspension until they went to the tube chassis cars in 66. My father's favorite car is the 65 Comet and we both own examples of them. he's owned both of his for over 40 years and I've had mine for 30. Unfortunately my father's binders of research material now live 600 miles away from me so I can't dig into them. 

 

If you find anything, please let me know as I can't recall seeing the suspension in the Droke car,  The mustang photos are very common though as you know.  Now I'm gonna get lost in researching my library haha

This topic just keeps getting more interesting. It’s one of the reasons I love modeling is the research and learning history of these cars. Thank you guys for the input it’s been an eye opener. I think I’m going to hold off on the front suspension build until I see where this conversation ends up. 

[chris chabre]

1 hour ago, GoodbuildNY said:

This topic just keeps getting more interesting. It’s one of the reasons I love modeling is the research and learning history of these cars. Thank you guys for the input it’s been an eye opener. I think I’m going to hold off on the front suspension build until I see where this conversation ends up. 

they usually ended up gutted with a straight axle under them match racing as the money was better haha

 

always a viable option haha

Edited May 1 by chris chabre