Ride Along In A Period Perfect Road Racing Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt


Ride Along In A Period Perfect Road Racing Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt

I’d rank the Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt near the top of the coolest cars of the 1960s. These things opened the floodgates for factory drag racing specials (we know they existed before but the escalation with the T-bolt was insane) and with their 427ci FE high riser big block, they are still iconic (and competitive!) today. Most everyone in the world, including us, associates these cars with the drag strip and that’s only logical but did you know that Holman-Moody built at least one to go circle track and road racing? Yes, that’s right. Like Pontiac did in the 1960s, Ford had one of their favorite shops build them a car to attack the NASCAR Continental 250 at Daytona. Fireball Roberts drove it and despite a spin during the race, he still managed to finish second! He would have walked off with it had the event gone clean.

The car that ran the NASCAR race was then bought over to England and converted for road racing where it romped and stomped over most everything in its path. It was a mighty beast that may not have had the cornering prowess of a Mini Cooper but once that road straightened out a little, the 427ci engine could make the car accelerate like lightning.

The car that we are going to ride in below is a nut and bolt perfect recreation of the machine that went to England in the 1960s. The engine, the chrome bumpers, the chassis, roll cage, etc is all the way it should be to match the look and performance of the old car. Henry Mann is driving here and you need to pay close attention to his feet and the unique technique used to heel and toe the car though the gears and around the course. This ain’t modern tech on display, this is a historical thrash around the Goodwood road course. Awesome!

Press play below to ride along with Alan Man in a road racing Thunderbolt!


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