Rusty Gillis started racing in 1969 with a 428 Cobra Jet Fairlane Cobra in F/S. Projects like his current 1967 Fairlane Super Stocker is nothing new to Rusty. He was building model cars when he was a young boy in the early 60’s, winning a first place trophy in only his second build. After meeting Hubert Platt in the late 60’s at the Springnationals in Dallas Texas, he started working for Hubert’s east coast Ford Drag Team. He also traveled with the Ford Drag Team and the performance clinics held at Ford dealerships. Hubert offered to sell Rusty his 1968 SS/FA Mustang, and after purchasing it in November of 1969, Rusty head west to the Winternationals in Pomona California in 1970. Rusty won class beating the factory backed Mopars and Mustangs. Setting many records in the early seventies with his 68 and 69 Mustang he also bought from Hubert Platt and still owns today.

Fast forward to today and Rusty is still building cars, his latest project, a 1967 Fairlane Super Stocker. Rusty learned his craft painting cars for his dad’s used car lot and a classic car dealer in the 70’s. He also managed a body shop for a Toyota dealership in the 80’s, but was always a hands on manager keeping his painting skills sharp. Rusty in 2004 opened up a classic Mustang restoration shop with his son Brian, Gillis Performance Restorations in Port Richey FL – www.gillisrestorations.com. Rusty along with Brian performed all the rust repair, fabrication and paint work on the Fairlane. Rusty tells me “Mustangs are what we work on the most, but I always liked the 66-67 Fairlane’s, and I can’t wait to start racing it later this season”.

The Fairlane has taken on many changes, starting out as just a street car project many years ago with not much progress, and then in 2013 it was resurrected and destined for Super Stocker. Rusty started the build with the Fairlane needing lots of help. His plan was to go with the 390 auto combo for Super Stock. The build has come along way with many man hours. Modified Mustangs & Ford magazine featured many tech articles on the build. As of today Rusty decided to switch engine combos. Studying the classification guide, Rusty found a combo that would not only be competitive, but more economical to build. The 302 combo he chose is from a 1968 Cougar and is rated at 230hp, fitting into GT/LA. Although Rusty’s experience is with the FE engine, there is no doubt that the 302 will be an easy learning curve for the experienced veteran. Rusty’s project is still on going, but you can read all about the progress from start to is current state on the Class Racer Forum Build section. 1967 Fairlane Super Stock Build