Of all the interesting exotica that Ford has produced over the years is interesting, but it is the infamous SOHC engine that still leaves us (and many others) spellbound. Initially made to dominate on the high banks of 1960s NASCAR speedways and developed in a mere 90 days at Ford, the engine was essentially banned and then hamstrung in such a way that Ford could not use it in competition. The mill then began its life as a drag strip plant and they went like hell on gas and alcohol. On nitro, assuming that the tuner could keep it alive, the SOHC engine was able to run with all the big dogs of the day. Very limited in production and vastly reduced by racing carnage over the years, SOHC parts are highly sought after these days. It just so happens that Danny Wojtowicz tipped us off to an incredible haul of the pieces that have come up for sale on eBay recently.
For $150,000 there is a lot of equipment here. The seller claims that he has been gathering this collection of stuff for three decades and we have to guess that it is one of the biggest stockpiles in the country. He has all kinds of OEM heads, valvetrain components, timing chains, and even ultra-rare stuff like Mickey Thompson “experimental” heads. Those things need to be repaired, but wow! He’s got multiple intakes, multiple mechanical fuel injection systems, and more parts than you can shake a stick at.
The boxes of parts is what impress us the most. From rocker arms and other hard parts, this dude must have come across some amazing dealer stock and just scooped it up as he found it. We don’t know what he has into this long list (for money) but we do know that there’s likely no one else in the world with as much stuff as he has!
SCROLL DOWN AND HIT THE EBAY LINK FOR THE INCREDIBLE LIST OF PARTS –
I lean towards Chevrolet but I want this stuff (a little light on the wallet though)
This guy has more cool sh!t than the law allows. I can remember seeing 6 or 7 Willys on his sales page at one time. What a great collection. I would love to ramble through it.
Why didn’t Ford put this engine into road cars?
It could have been used in the GT40 and the Daytona Cobra on the track as well.
Reliability issues could have been fixed with a view to production and who knows – it could have even be with us today in a modernised form.
I really think Ford missed a golden opportunity to create on of their greatest ever engines!
The 427 SOHC engine was earmarked for NASCAR. BTW, it is sometimes called the “90 Day Wonder” because that’s all it took from design to first casting – 90 days.
Both the FE 427 and 427 SOHC weigh about the same – 658 pounds.
Once NASCAR stopped Ford from using the 427 SOHC, Ford lost interest in further engine development. It was a radical design change from the standard V8 and at the time, no one was confident of it’s longevity on the track so the FE 427 became Ford’s go to racing engine until the Boss 429.
The timing issues were pretty well sorted out by Ed Pink, who started using better material chains and setting the cams out of time so that when the engine revved and the chains stretched, the timing would walk into where he wanted it. Pete Robinson did one better by building a geardrive system but he got killed in a crash before it really underwent a whole lot of competition use.
The bottom end was another issue, as it was still the 427 Ford bottom end and it didn’t have the strength for drag racing use. Ed Pink said after a weekend of racing they would go to let the pan down on a jack and the crank and main bearing caps would come with it
I think the Cammers biggest problem for going into production would have been fitting it in anything smaller than a Galaxie. These motors are seriously huge and wouldn’t fit in a Mustang without a whole lot of hacking of the front suspension. Not sure about the midsizes but it probably would have been a similar situation
Some WAY COOL stuff and another car guy that has realised that he is not gunna live to 300 to use even half of his stuff.
A shame because we all collect WAAAAAY to much stuff – ME included. LOL
Even if this stuff is sold and a fraction of it see’s the light of day being used would be COOL.
No way he gets close to $150K for that stuff. With the aftermarket parts now available for the SOHC, not a lot of people want original stuff that needs to be repaired. About a year ago I sold a set of cast iron SOHC heads on ebay; they had already been repaired, and only went for $1850. Brand new aluminum heads from Robert Pond are about $5500 for the pair, and they are better than the originals. Pond also sells the 2X4 intakes and front covers. I count about $40K for the stuff in that ad, if the seller gets lucky.