Some info on the HAMB as well, see these threads and also the big long Junior Stock thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...tions.1065910/
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https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...please.671622/
As far as when they ran in NHRA, usually it was the F-code blown 312/300hp, wins all thru the 1960s in NHRA. But the 312/245hp 4bbl won now & then too, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Late 1950s it would run in the 12.60 Wt/HP class, usually the Custom Business Coupe which you could build from your body I guess, which today would be the 12.50 class. With the 2-door sedan body, other Customs could run in the 13.00 class, and Fairlanes in the W/P=14.00 class. Near as I can figure, the auto trans added about 65 lb in the old NHRA guide (which I dont have, just kinda reverse-engineered it from the cars that ran in the 1960s).
Do you have a 1957 Shop Manual? Good info in there, even cam durations & events at .100 lobe of all things. We all think of the .050 lobe standard but Ford was using the .100 lobe standard as early as the 1950s. 176-178 duration at .100 lobe, which is ABOUT 206-208 duration at .050 lobe for the 312/245hp cam.
It looks like Ford used THREE styles of 4bbls back then:
Ford aka Autolite 4100 4bbl, early version with the long-nose accelerator pump on the front
Holley 390cfm (the 1st 4150 Holley!), early variant without the external adjustable floats
Carter AFB but with VACUUM secondary pot, not the mechanical floppenvalve.
The original 312/245 I drove had the Holley, not sure how many left the factory with the vacuum AFB carb.