COLLECTOR CLASSICS
Ford with ‘cammer’ engine will be monster at the Crescent Beach Concours d’Elegance
Flexing muscle at Crescent Beach
It was the car Ford built to beat the Plymouth Hemi. The Plymouth stock cars introduced in 1964 with 425 horsepower under their hoods were beating the Fords in every race at a time Ford had dominated NASCAR events up until the end of 1963. But Ford launched a surprise attack.
They crammed a single overhead cam (SOHC) 427 cubic-inch engine into a 1964 Galaxie for competition. Up to that time, valves in V8 engines were opened with a power robbing push rod system. Ford’s new high-revving SOHC engine in stock, single car bureted guise, put out a staggering 616 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 515 foot pounds of torque at 3,800 rpm. But NASCAR boss Bill France turned thumbs down on allowing Ford’s new SOHC engine, calling it a special racing engine. He believed overhead cams were European sports car exotica and not a fit with his “down-home” vision of NASCAR.
Undeterred, Ford continued to develop the engine and parked their ‘Monster’ Galaxie in Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Speedway so racing writers could see it. Ford would continue with the ‘cammer’ but only providing it to record-setting drag racers.
Wynn Hollingshead has been a NASCAR nut and racing history buff since his days street racing in Prince Rupert. The co-owner of a New Westminster-based wear-resistant metals production company was attending a car show in Phoenix when he heard the thundering noise of an engine starting. It turned out to be a loud and mean SOHC engine in a ratty 1961 Ford Starliner. He couldn’t stop thinking about this historic Ford racing engine and its connection to NASCAR.
“It’s an awesome story that is now racing folklore,” he says.
He had connection to Elliott Racing in Dawsonville, Georgia — home of the former NASCAR Winston Cup Racing Team owned by George Elliott.
It took a year to source an aluminum block 427-cubic-inch SOHC engine block and all the parts to build it.
Ernie Elliott put the massive engine together which uses a 482 aluminum block producing 660 horsepower and 500 foot pounds of torque from 3500 to 6700 rpm. That’s a lot of power.
Hollingshead began the search for a restored 1964 Galaxie in Canada and the U.S. to carry the monster engine. Luck was on his side when the family of a retired auto body shop owner who had passed away in the Vancouver area put his frame-off restored XL model up for sale. Hollingshead quickly snapped it up. The massive SOHC barely fits in the engine compartment and is hooked to a Ford C6 automatic transmission to handle all that torque.
What has emerged is a tribute car dedicated to the effort Ford made to get back into NASCAR racing to beat Chrysler’s hemipowered Plymouth stock cars that was getting all the checkered flags.
“This is the car that Ford should have fielded for the 1964 and 1965 NASCAR seasons,” Hollingshead says. “I just love it. This is the NASCAR Ford that should have been.”
His car looks like a nicely restored original 1964 Ford in the correct Guardsman Blue colour until the hood is lifted or the engine is started. Then it’s a monster. Ironically, the family car when Hollingshead was growing up was a 1964 Ford Country Squire station wagon that was used for daily transportation and family holidays.
In a very special way, Wynn Hollingshead’s recreation of the SOHC-powered 1964 Galaxie XL is an homage to his late father, a mechanic who loved his Fords.
“It’s a very historically-important car,” says John Carlson, chief judge of tomorrow’s Crescent Beach Concours d’Elegance at which the car will be featured.
“This recreation of history should get a lot of attention from those who know about the roots of NASCAR racing.”
The 8th Annual Crescent Beach Concours d’Elegance runs tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 1) at Blackie Spit Park in Surrey with the display of 100 hand-picked special interest automobiles and motorcycles.
This year, as in the past, entrants will come from all over the west coast of Canada and the United States displaying a broad span of makes and years including vehicles that are often rare and seldom seen by the public.
The presenting sponsor has been Pelling Insurance since the event began. For more info visit crescentbeachconcours.com