Ford’s so-called Total Performance campaign of the 1960s was probably the most ambitious and widespread motorsports and competition effort of any automaker in the 1960s and possibly ever. From the Indy 500 to the 24 Hours of LeMans, Nascar, drag racing, Trans Am, and more, the company literally heaped untold sums of cash into racing and high performance activity. Legends were born during this era with Jimmy Clark winning the Indy 500 in 1965 with Ford power, Carroll Shelby developed the Cobra with assistance from FoMoCo, Sneaky Pete Robinson and others were running Cammer engines in Top Fuel and winning while setting new records.

This film, narrated by NASCAR great Curtis Turner at points was probably directed at dealers or suppliers or some entity, just judging by the verbiage used in the script. It talks a lot about how engineers use racing to improve cars and make them more efficient and safer. What we really love is the tail end of the video when the narrator talks about all this neat stuff that they’re doing with engines to make them better and they used a dual quad 427FE as the cutaway. When he talks about the cross bolted mains being added for longer life at “turnpike speeds” we almost had a drink shoot out of our nose and when the air cleaner is removed to show the two four barrel carbs and the narrator mentions, “better passing” we were grinning from ear to ear. This is a great three minutes, especially if you are a blue oval devotee!

Press play below to travel on back to 1964 and the middle of Ford’s Total Performance campaign!