Hi Martin - have sent you a private message
Cheers Mike
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I don't do the motor in the Comet but it it goes well. I like racing it though!
Dug up something interesting in my archives today, a program from a brands hatch short track meet on october 31, 1965. Never realized that Howard Mardsen (of GTHO fame, one of Alan Manns first employees) actually drove in some races...(car 131) and I also have a pic of the car he raced, one of the left over Monte cars... Its amazing, the more you think you know, the more you learn!
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5cc9a30d.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps65be38c5.jpg
Oh wow, that is really cool Pauly. I wonder how the Fairlane went against the small block V8s. Interesting looking at the final results, with Anglia finishing first ahead of the Mini Cooper and another Anglia. I wonder what happened to the V8s? Maybe it was raining.
Yeah thats what I reckon Steve...
Pauly, what happened to that Fairlane? Does it still exist?
I started a thread on ten-tenths yonks ago and from what came forth, It is now claimed to be owned by a Martin thomas in the UK... No pics or any info provided, apart from that It may be restored... Interestingly, it is also claimed now that TWO 64 427 race fairlanes were built by Holman Moody, one was the Daytona car that went to AMR, the one we are talking about, and another one was built for NASCAR as a study to see if a unibody car would work in NASCAR, as they were planning to downsize the cars (which they did, in 1966). It obviuosly didn't work out as the 66 fairlanes were converted from a unibody to a modified Galaxie chassis..
I remember the good looking young man that did some work on bobs car????
And two more Fairlanes were built circa 2005 at Holman Moody in Charlotte, North Carolina. I saw both cars in the closing stages of the build, one car was ordered by a customer in Germany for historic racing in Europe, I don't know where the second car ended up.
The Fairlane was a real rocket, Lee Holman tested one at my local track in Virginia, 180mph through the kink on the front straight...
The German Fairlane is a winning car and although FIA specced, some of the mods are a bit of a stretch! However, the Germans did supply Lee with a list of "homologated" parts approved by FIA before the build began.
I found this photo from my albums of Laurie at Lakeside.
http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t...151e929953.jpg
Yes it was raining.
The Autosport report of the meeting starts out with this.
A sharp shower of rain turned Brands Hatch into a skating rink last Sunday...
As seen on television news later in the day , spectacular accidents were the order of the day.
The report on the saloon car race begins with this.
The bigger saloons promised more excitement, but the weather put paid to any chances of the Mustangs and the V8 Cortina being up with the faster Anglias and Minis.
sorry I am a bit confused regarding the falcon sprints.some years ago while talking to david meeks I noticed his sprint fitted with front drums.he told me that no falcon sprint of that era were fitted with front discs.we now have nb sprints using front discs.when did cams allow them to run front discs?could somebody please set me straight regarding this matter.
Cams regs since July 1997 have permitted disc front on Sprints...
Originally Cams only issued 4 permits for Nb Sprints in Oz as they didnt run here in period.
After one of the 4 was sold to England and another built to take its place it appears they have permitted more to be run than the original 4.
They WERE Homologated with front disc brakes, in fact TWO disc options were offered. The girlings were the same as what they fitted to the TDF Galaxies IIRC... Of course you could not get these on any showroom floor falcon in 1964... Heres a pic from the rallye sprint owners manual supliment..
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2160ad3c.jpg
Great info guys!
Here is the superb Pete Cordts Falcon Sprint that contested a couple of very early Trans-Am races, and won a couple of SCCA A/Sedan championships. Now owned by Mike Eddy, it races with Historic Trans-Am, and looks beautiful! I think these cars look great with the bumpers removed.
Attachment 26851
More info here: http://www.historictransam.com/Drive...4Falcon17.html
Again another thread revival.
Unfortunately Jim Cutler has passed but thankfully a few his old race buddies came to show respects. Laurie was one of them and we got to talking so I asked what happened to the Iso.
Seems CAMS in all their wisdom decided that after allowing the car to run for a couple of years they would reclass it as a sports sedan only, rightly so Laurie declined and sold the car detuned to a "collector/developer in the Parramatta area. the car was repainted blue and then the new owner went bellyup and everything disappeared. So no-one know where it is or what has happened to it.
Talk of a Appendix J gossip, Mike Dyer, Lindsey (muff) Dyer and Laurie and many a lap.
:cool:Great article in the latest (USA) Vintage Motorsport mag July/Aug issue about a 1963 Falcon Sprint built in England by a guy called Robin Ward. The Falcon complies with FIA regs which he says are more restrictive than US historic specs i.e. "No additional locating links,relocated pivot points or suspension tweaks and trickery as were commonly employed on our domestic Trans-Am, IMSA and even SCCA amateur series. The car also sits high and narrow by American "vintage" standards and runs a 320 but engine. Despite these disadvantages Ward shipped his car to east coast USA and raced at a major Road Atlanta historic series event,drove the " living snot" out of the Falcon and ran 1st in class/2nd overall in wet conditions. Reminded me of watching Gary Sprague running a much later model production class Falcon at Manfeild in the rain (back in I guess the '80s) on tippie toes, very smooth but certainly on the limit and of course at the front of the field. Like JR, a rain-master.
Grant,
Here are a couple of photos I took of Mike Eddy in the 1964 Ford Falcon Sprint at Sonoma Raceway. June 3rd 2017.
Attachment 44275
Attachment 44276
( Ken H photos )
Wow, great post! Thanks. This is a car that has always fascinated me. In fact, I first saw a photo of the car when owned by Laurie in the 1980s and it was the first time I'd ever seen an Iso Rivolta. Too bad CAMS effectively outlawed it. I really don't understand that. At the very least they should have classified it as a GT, which is the category these cars run in European historic racing. Sports Sedan is just crazy. What a shame the car has vanished.
Thanks Bruce,
I have 2 copies of FIA Homologation #1250 papers,
1 copy from the FIA historic data base.
1 copy that was sent back to Ford by FIA that was stamped with FIA as acceptance.
The Rallye Sprint supplement owners manual is something I have not seen and very rare. Could have some more useful information, likely the same as the homologation papers.
Cheers
Lest we forget.
Paul, This could be you. Never give up on your tremendous restoration.
Attachment 45908
Frank Gardner at speed in 1967.
(Ken H)
Thats ^^ an awesome photo Ken. Thats one of the Group 5 Falcon Sprints that dominated the British Saloon Car Championship. A fair bit more modified than Paul is allowed with his car being built to Group 2 specs, but most definitely many similarities.
Thanks very much Ken! I wish!!!
Frank Gardner was a legend in that car in Group 5.
I am still banging away in the workshop, working on the rear suspension and diff set up.
I was drooling at the mouth at the Mk4 GT40 pics you posted. Oh to see that in the flesh!
I love looking at all your pics.
My wife and I will go over to Sonoma after the Sprint is done.
Cheers
Paul
I found these on facebook, posted by Larry Fulhorst. Amazing unrestored time-warp:
Attachment 46861
Attachment 46862
Attachment 46863
Attachment 46864
There is nothing like an unrestored original car. They are only original once. That is so cool.
Holman Moody say they built 15 Falcon Sprints for racing, 8 went to Allan Mann for the Monte Carlo Rally so the other 7 cars have been a bit of a mystery.
I wonder if this was one of the 7 cars.
This is another interesting link I found, an unrestored 64 Falcon AFX drag car, 427 FE big block, super quick machines... in the day
http://ssamx.com/afx_falcon.htm
Agree, its so much more interesting and cooler in its original build form, warts and all. I only hope they rebuild the motor & trans and just preserve everything else. Unrestored cars in the US are sort after now and values are still climbing, so hopefully they mat see the light.
Hopefully Paul. They're only original once. Looks like they're replaced the lower rear quarters. The wheel openings are much reduced compared to the period racing photos.
Yes, back then they used to clean cut out the rear fenders and mostly leave them. All of the fiberglass drag race panels were only about 5lb - 7lb each.
I do have another link somewhere on 60s AFX drag car parts and how they were made.
In the early (ish) 2000's a friend called me from Ohio ( I was living in Baltimore) and asked if I was up for a trip to visit Lee Holman at his facility on the south side of the Charlotte Airport. Apparently an offer to purchase the site had been accepted and in preparation to moving premises, savings were possible in the purchase of parts and cars.
So off we went, met with Lee and one of his staff and had a great time looking, buying and talking.
ISTR amongst several cars, there were several Falcon Sprints.......Lee mentioned that these were "Monte Carlo" equipped. At the time, I THOUGHT that these were 'continuation' versions, rather like the MK-4 continuations that were under construction at that time....BUT my friend assures me that at least 2 of these were originals. They had ben stripped of most of their specialized mechanical parts and the shells sent to a local junk-yard.......where Lee was able to repurchase them some time later.....luckily they had not been crushed.
When Hank the Duece decided to end (temporarily, as it turned out) Ford's racing efforts, he ceded a ton of parts and all rights to various trade names, not the least being "GT-40"....to Holman Moody......similar deals occurred with other major Ford sub-contractors.
Anyway, these were the Falcon Sprints that I saw in the hanger that was then the base for H/M.......goodness knows where they are now...but i'm sure they wouldn't be hard to find
Wow, Thanks for your post Neville, now that would be a find and on half! I only know of 1 real Monte Carlo Sprint left in the world that I believe (hear say) is in Sweden. I have heard that there could also be 1 survivor also in the UK.
The word (or as I understand it, happy to be corrected) was back in 66 or 67 that the Sprints were doing very well has a well developed race car and Ford or Shelby told Alan Mann to scrap them as the focus was on selling Mustangs. That was when Alan Mann Racing sold off the the Experimental big block Fairlane, 427 Galaxie and I think 2 Falcons all from earlier race programs.
I will ask Lee Holman if he knows of these cars.
Hi Neville, I visited HM in 2005 (might have that date wrong) and saw a couple of Falcons prepped for racing in Europe, posted comments in page 5, #90 of this thread. Also visited again after Lee moved to the new premises in Charlotte, heck of a difference between the old and new buildings! Cheers, Grant
I'm sure that Lee Holman's memory will be rather better than that of 2 old fogies, trying to recall details of a road-trip some 15 years, or so, ago. In any event...he should be able to flesh out the details of those cars