Gearhead Thread

[Diomedes]

And the new 'Hemi' is just a marketing spin job. The motor is basically an older Mercedes power plant. Any engine that has a hemispherical combustion chamber could be considered a "Hemi" including oh, Porsche, Toyota, and BMW to name a few.

I been preaching this to my annoyed friends since they started going "HEMI" in all the commercials.  Jesus  farg, it's nothing special.  It's better than a flat head, but flat heads are from the ice age.  A hemispherical head is about as innovative in the 21st century as the ball point pen.

[Diomedes]

Obviously, you'd get it modified as a hybrid or a veggiemobile, right?

No way.  I run it as open as I like, and I duck accusations of hypocrisy by fools like you like so:

a.) it's a hobby car, not a daily runner
b.) it's recycling, insofar as I'm making use of old capital rather than new capital

suck it, money lover.

[mussa]

Speaking of the Acura TL, I also would love to have a Nissan300z and the Mazada RX-8.  I rode in an RX-8 and holy crap, I never was so scared in my life, going around 90 degree turns at 80mph! Both cars are pretty badass. 


Nissan



mazda

[Diomedes]

The RX-8 has a Wankel powerplant, right?

[mussa]

They are made in america.  They also have an awesome engine that won awards when it came out.

[Tomahawk]

As far as I'm concerned, the '71 Buick Riviera is the coolest car ever:

[Diomedes]

I don't agree, but at the same time, I can't argue it.  Fine, fine car.

[Susquehanna Birder]

Gawd...that was a heavy mofo. It's nothing without curb feelers.

I'd love an RX-8, or maybe even a Honda S-2000. But they are made for much shorter people. I have no hope of fitting in either one.

I agree about the whole hemi thing. The original 426 was nasty. The current flavor is just marketing hype. If I was going for new American muscle, I'd buy either a Z06 Corvette or a Shelby GT500 (if that's even possible).

[PhillyPhanInDC]

The RX-8 has a Wankel powerplant, right?

Sure do. If you ever want to see some grassroots engineering produce something bad ass go down to 61st and Passyunk real late on a Sunday night. You'll lots of these:


Yep, that's a late 70s early 80s Toyota Starlet.

Guys take them and put these in them:

(Rotary Engine)

Then you have this:

This one runs the 1/4 mile in 7.520 @ 177MPH.
It's fun (and extremely loud) to hear them flat-shift at 13,000 RPM.

[Diomedes]

I'd LOVE to see that.  Cool as hell.

[Susquehanna Birder]

Recently though, cops used breathed on Mustang "Interceptors" to chase down Vettes, Ferraris and the like during high speed highway chases.

There used to be a Mustang Police Interceptor model, but it hasn't been produced since the late 80's. The PI car the cops used these days are all Crown Vics.

[Susquehanna Birder]

Funny to see people swap the rotary engines into their cars. My next door neighbor took the engine out of his RX7 when it died, and he's now working on a 302 conversion.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

If I could have any car from any period, money no object, it'd be this:


Pretty "Plain Jane" right?


Dual four barrel, ram-air 427


Pretty much says it all....

In 1964, exactly 100 Fairlane 2 door sedans were partially built by the Ford Motor Company and shipped to Dearborn Steel Tubing for completion. These cars were finished as drag race-only machines for Super Stock, Super Stock Automatic, and A/FX class competition. Many had glamorous careers, while some had accidents with tragic results.

Today, Thunderbolts are highly valued collector and nostalgic racers. Many are still known to exist, and most that aren't around are known to have been wrecked.

Fans Celebrate 40 Years of Thunderbolt

By: Mike Thomas | Ford Communications Network

DEARBORN, June 16, 2004 -- Pop quiz: 2004 is the 40th anniversary of what significant Ford?
Well, yes there's that Pony car, but 2004 also marks the 40th anniversary of the Ford Thunderbolt. A special high-performance version of the Fairlane 500, the Thunderbolt was the first and only complete drag racer built for and sold to the general public.

"Before 1963, the Ford drag racer was the Galaxie 500," said Dennis Kolodziej, Ford division process engineer in Powertrain Operations and Thunderbolt enthusiast and historian. "It wasn't that competitive because of its weight. Ford looked at the possibility of converting the smaller Fairlane and once that proved feasible, the company took the next step of building a limited number of the cars and selling them to the public."

Developed by Ford's Special Vehicle Department, the Thunderbolt was eventually built at the Dearborn Steel Tubing Company (DST). Initially, the first eleven vehicles were production cars assembled at the Rouge and sent to DST for disassembly and conversion. After the initial run, however, the process shifted gears and the remaining 89 Fairlanes were shipped to DST as incomplete vehicles for modification and final assembly.

The Thunderbolt was a Fairlane 500 two-door sedan without sound deadener, sealer and insulation and minus the unnecessary frills of radio, heater, rear-window cranking mechanism, carpeting and one front windshield wiper. The side windows were made of Plexiglas. Hoods, fenders, doors and the front bumper were fiberglass. Special traction bar eliminated body roll. Beneath the hood, the Thunderbolt came with a 427-center oiler High Riser engine and dual 4 barrel carburetors.

"The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) stipulated that a company had to make at least 50 units of a vehicle for the car to be eligible in the Super Stock class," Kolodziej said. "So Ford made 50 in late 1963 and 50 more in 1964. The Thunderbolt was so successful that in 1965, the NHRA changed the rule, raising the number to 500. Unfortunately, it was economically impossible for Ford to make that many of such a specialized vehicle. The Company was already loosing $1500 to $2000 on each car. Ford had no option but to cancel the project."

By successful, Kolodziej means the Thunderbolt broke both elapsed time and mile per hour records in 1964, took the NHRA Super Stock title and won the Manufacturer's Cup. "At first, the Thunderbolt almost did not qualify," Kolodziej said. "The cars had to weigh at least 3200 pounds and the Thunderbolt couldn't make the limit. Finally, it had to be raced with a full tank of gas which allowed it to just meet the weight restrictions. In addition, Ford was then required to use a 'metal' front bumper, so aluminum bumpers were manufactured and shipped to vehicle owners to convert cars already delivered."

The Thunderbolt may be gone, but it certainly is not forgotten. On the weekend of June 25–27, The Thunderbolt Owners Association in conjunction with the Fairlane Club of America will hold a reunion at the Holiday Inn Fairlane in Dearborn to commemorate the car's 40th anniversary. Along with a car show featuring the Thunderbolt, the event features an awards dinner, ceremonies, guest speakers and a special dinner and social event.

"Just as important is the chance to talk to some of the original special vehicles' team," Kolodziej said. "For fans of the Thunderbolt, these people have a wealth of information and history to share on the thunderbolt as well as the other cars they developed over the years."

Kolodziej will jump at the chance to quiz the special vehicles' engineers on his two Thunderbolts. He has restored the cars and since 1977 has raced his pride and joys. "Other guys are going faster than I am," he said. "Mostly this is nostalgia racing run by enthusiasts. Even so, I can do a quarter mile in 10.6 seconds. That's about 126 miles per hour."

When Kolodziej first purchased the car, his curiosity over the car's history peaked and led him on a search for information that included networking with Thunderbolt fans across the country. Eventually, he traced one of his cars' lineage back to an original car sponsored by Dearborn's Bob Ford, Inc. In the Thunderbolt's day, dealerships often sponsored cars as a way of enticing customers into showrooms. Indeed, it was a partnership between the Ford Special Vehicles Department and East Providence, RI dealership Tasca Ford that led to the initial development of the Thunderbolt.

Of the original 100 Thunderbolts, there are approximately 60 still in existence. Of the 60, just over 20 will be featured at the June reunion in Dearborn. For more information on the Thunderbolt and the reunion, go to Craig Sutton's 1964 Ford Thunderbolt website.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Forgot this was a Gearhead thread and not a car guy thread. Since we're in the "If I could have any..." mode:

My dream motorcycle:

the 1940 Indian Chief:

[Susquehanna Birder]

I'll see your Indian and raise you a Black Shadow.



If it was street legal, a Black Lightning would be even better.