Welcome to installment one of Project Fat Lane, a 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt look-a-like that is being constructed to compete in the Heavy Street class at races like the Shakedown at E-Town and The World Street Nationals in Orlando. This car will be visually close to an actual T-Bolt, but will sport a billet-block, solid-headed, F-3 ProCharged big block Chevy motor that would make the 427 in an original T-Bolt like like an Iron Duke four banger.
In terms of performance, to be ultra competitive in Heavy Street, you need a car that can run in the bottom 7s, and into the 6s consistently. The catch is that the mother will weigh well over 3,000 pounds in competition trim due to the rules. Depending on the race and the specific rules this car will be tipping the scales from 3,400 to 3,600 pouds. The body is steel from the cowl back with the exception of the trunk lid. The front will be ‘glass, but will use the factory grill and it will have working headlights.
Construction is underway at Tube Chassis Designz, the chassis shop operated by Jon Sandahl in Hanson, Massachusetts. This car will be on the track in the Spring and we are going to follow its builsup week by week.
One very cool thing? The owner of this car, actually has one of the 50 original Thunderbolts. He bleeds Ford blue, although this monster will have a billet block Dart Chevy motor in it. The car is a very cool piece and will be bitchin’ to follow from it’s early stages right on through to completion.
Stay tuned, this is going to be fun!
Click Here to see the BangShift.com Project Fat Lane photo gallery