SS/D Thunderbolt in 1969 ?

[FireSale]

64 Fairlane Light Weight was/is allowed fiberglass fenders and hood. Bumpers may be aluminum. They tried fiberglass bumpers and NHRA nixed that. From the 2021 book a 427 HiRise with stock heads and manual trans has a SS hp rating of 466 and a weight of 3206. That works out to a 6.87 lbs/hp. By a 1969 book, that would be just shy of the min 7.00 for SS/D and could be made up with weight. The bracket was 7.00-7.49. 1964's were the oldest cars allowed in SS in 1969.
My references are the current book and this site for the 1969 book:
http://www.superstockamx.com/page82.php

[DeuceCoupe]

Originally Posted by FireSale

64 Fairlane Light Weight was/is allowed fiberglass fenders and hood. Bumpers may be aluminum. They tried fiberglass bumpers and NHRA nixed that. From the 2021 book a 427 HiRise with stock heads and manual trans has a SS hp rating of 466 and a weight of 3206. That works out to a 6.87 lbs/hp. By a 1969 book, that would be just shy of the min 7.00 for SS/D and could be made up with weight. The bracket was 7.00-7.49. 1964's were the oldest cars allowed in SS in 1969.
My references are the current book and this site for the 1969 book:
http://www.superstockamx.com/page82.php

Dale,
Thanks for that.
I only have rule books thru 1968, when you couldn't in general "adjust" the car weight like you can today.
Are you saying the weight could be "adjusted" in 1969?
I tried that link but my Norton says its a known dangerous link so I didn't want to go there. Not that Norton is always right.

If you have time to look at my last post on pg1 see what you think of it - everything seems to make sense if the glass fenders were allowed which it seems they were. I think what i read was that for 1965-up CARS, they had to be all steel (except the hood) so that's why Mopar did the A990 in all steel.

I just wondered why the T-bolts all disappeared in 1965-66-67-68 but I think I got it on my page 1 post here.

I'd sure like to get that 1969 Rule book. I will send you a PM
EDIT: Well PM doesnt seem to work, maybe it's my setup or Norton or something. In any case I got the 69 rule book from that HAMB link so thanks.

[Colesy]

1968, 1969 and 1970.

[Carguy49]

Since this thread is about Thunderbolts, I have a 2 part question about them.

I am not trying to derail this thread just need some questions answered.

1. When introduced in 1964 was the Thunderbolt S/S only?
2. If S/S only then, how are they in Stock Eliminator currently? Or am I way off on this???

Not trying to through anyone under the bus, just curious. Yea, I know curiosity killed the cat.

Just so you know, I love Ford Thunderbolts and have a book all about them by Charles R. Morris. I also love 68 Hemi Darts and Barracudas, too.

[FireSale]

Found a link to 58-69 rule books on HAMB (Hokey *** Message Board) conmanly known as JalopyJournal.com.


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...resent.870742/


I have the pdf for 1969 and will send it by PM to anyone who can't make the link or download work.
EDIT: Wikipedia T-Bolt page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Fairlane_Thunderbolt


Ron- A National Dragster Featured Flyer will answer those questions.
https://www.nhra.com/news/2016/featu...ck-thunderbolt



Hemming.com on the Thunderbolt
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/art...bolt-1964-ford

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by Carguy49

Since this thread is about Thunderbolts, I have a 2 part question about them.

I am not trying to derail this thread just need some questions answered.

1. When introduced in 1964 was the Thunderbolt S/S only?
2. If S/S only then, how are they in Stock Eliminator currently? Or am I way off on this???

1. Yes

2. A number of years back, NHRA started allowing limited production cars in Stock. '67 R0/W0 Mopars, '64/'65 Hemi cars, etc. The '68 L0/B0 A-bodies and the '67 L-88 Corvettes are still not allowed though.

[Carguy49]

Thank you Dale for the post with links to articles. I was kinda looking for more definite answers, but the articles are great.

Steve thanks for the answers, just adds to the NHRA confusion on how cars are allowed. Some have been and some still not allowed. Oh well.

Just so you know, I was positive the Thunderbolts were S/S only before some being made into A/FXer's. A wild time for sure. I was a pre driving teen at that time.

[doglover44]

The Thunderbolts seem like a complicated car/combo

[Ralph A Powell]

Originally Posted by Steve Stasko

1. Yes

2. A number of years back, NHRA started allowing limited production cars in Stock. '67 R0/W0 Mopars, '64/'65 Hemi cars, etc. The '68 L0/B0 A-bodies and the '67 L-88 Corvettes are still not allowed though.

What about the AMC/AMX’s in Stock??

[DeuceCoupe]

Back regarding the original question in the thread:

It looks like the 64 T-Bolt became legal to run in SS/ as of 1968
(Before then it was banned due to being lighter than the 8 lb/CID rule)
But in 1968 it would've had to go up against the 68 Hemi Dart/Cuda.
So, nobody ran it.

But for 1969, it seems that was the year the 427 HiRiser was factored down to 450hp from its previous 490-500hp factoring.

That put the 64 T-Bolt at
3206/450=7.12, right near the top of SS/D=7.00 class.
And voila, there's a T-Bolt or two (the picture of the Ulrey car, and Tom Marsh as R/U in SS/D=7.00 class).

Now, the question:

If the 427HR was factored down to 450hp, that puts the 64 LWG LightWeight Galaxie at
3749/450=8.33
Way down in SS/F=8.00 class, running against flat-hood single-quad Fairlane 427MR's.
Sure the LWG is almost 400 lb heavier, but it also has a HiRiser and cold air thru the grille. Seems it would have been competitive just like the de-factored T-Bolt.

Anybody hear of a 64 LWG running in SS/F=8.00 in 1969?

Of course for 1970 both cars got the boot from SS/ due to being more than 5 years old, and at least back then couldn't run in Junior Stock.