When we were prowling the pits at Beech Bend Raceway looking for feature cars during the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, one of the first cars we needed to find was this 1965 Ford Falcon owned by Gary Harris. The car is immaculate and reeked of ultra-quality on the strip. We were blown away when we actually got up close to it. This is one of the most well thought out race cars we’ve ever seen.
Lots of guys talk about “we” when referring to the build of their car. “We” did this, “we” decided to do that. In most cases the “we” is the owner who wrote the check and the chassis shop or fabrication people who did the work. In this case, the “we” is Gary and Scott Young. The guys did virtually everything on this car aside from shooting the paint. We don’t mean they bolted stuff on, we mean they did everything. Hell, they even designed and built their own parts for stuff. The hand built hood hinges were a 40 hour project from start to finish.
Everywhere you look on this car there’s something else bitchin’ to see. Construction was a three year odyssey of nights and weekends. The slow, measured pace is totally evident in details like a front end that pulls off with the removal of a couple pins, the air bottle for the shifter which was made by milling down a fire extinguisher, the helmet rest that has the same pattern on it that the gas and brake pedals do, the air cleaner housing that they machined themselves and magically attaches without stud and nut combo, to the wheel tubs that Gary made himself, from scratch, lining them with plastic to prevent denting. Yes, he’s a stickler for details.
Ingenuity? Not lost on Gary and Scott. They made a rotisserie from engine stands to put the chassis on and rotate around for ease of access. That same chassis was built to such exacting tolerances that the bars fit as though they were put there when the car was built at the Ford factory.
Currently the car sports a 450hp, 358ci Ford mill that breathes through a single four barrel carb. It’s a healthy little motor that can push the car down into the high 10-second zone but it is really just a test piece to make sure the chassis works. The real motor that is being assembled as we write this is a twin-turbocharged 408ci Ford stroker mill that will see two 72-millimeter hairdryers forcing air through a set of modified R-Series Trickflow heads. The goal will be to put the car solidly into the 8s and in the 150-160mph range. We’re not thinking that is going to be a problem.
Another note on the whole “planning ahead” thing applies to the headers. Knowing that the engine in the car is just a baby-mill, and that headers are not easy to make (yes they made the headers too) Scott and Gary decided to use 1-7/8 inch tube and make the flange with the Trickflow head bolt pattern. Obviously that’s not going to work on the ported ’69 heads that are on the engine now, so Gary machined up some adaptor plates to make them work. We have trouble thinking ahead about what to make for lunch, and these dudes were already planning on the next motor!
The paint is freaking perfection and was laid on by Scott Fetcho at Precision Auto Body in Lebanon, Tennessee. There isn’t an imperfection that we could find in the car and the work is further validated by lots of car show accolades that piled up previous to the Falcon hitting the track.
Bowling Green was the first race that Gary had the car out on the track and it was the first race Gary was driving in. He’s been everyone else’s helper, right hand man, crew dude, and worker. It’s his turn now. After three years of hard work, he’s clearly done it the right way. This Falcon is a true show stopper and we can’t wait to see it when the twin-turbo monster mill is done.
Gary wanted to thank his son Trent, wife Jo, and of course Scott Young for all their help and support with the car. A show piece built on nights and weekends in a basement shop by a couple of dedicated hot rodders? That’s 100% BangShift.com approved!
