427 cammer

[bmalone]

Does anyone know how many were produced?

I know they were manufactured in '64 and made available to teams and drag racers -- not put in production cars.

Is this the only year they were built and what is the total number of units produced? I have heard the number 50 mentioned. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Bill

[Toivo]

it's way more than 50 but probably less than 2500, a number I've also heard.

Most of them were sold for drag racing purposes after being banned for use in NASCAR.

[webebob]

Old Cars Weekly had a full page article on the cammer a month or two ago. I know absolutely nothing about the engine myself, but I can relay some highlights from the article.

Came about in 1966 Because Ford knew the "outlawed" Hemi would come back to eat their lunch.

616hp @7,000rpm

Original 6 foot long timing chain usually replaced by aftermarket Gilmore belt system.

NONE came in production cars. No production cammers. Period. Strictly overthecounter engine. 50 car myth probably came from records showing cars shipped minus engine from Ford. Cammers were installed by dealer or race teams.

Cammer cost $2,500. (What is that today? $20,000?)

Engine turned out to be restricted in racing just like the Hemi because of inadaquate production numbers to be called a production engine. Died on the vine. Drag racers were the beneficiaries.

[bmalone]

Whew, took two days of research to find it. Here is an excerpt from an FE history site: http://people.we.mediaone.net/fenatic/

In the rush to victory Ford obliged the new seven liter displacement cap of NASCAR with the 427 production motor, introduced in 1963. Had NASCAR raised this limit or made no such restriction, Ford would have produced a larger animal, having raced stroked motors on the salt flats upwards of 483 cid. This behavior was exactly the engineering aggression that catapulted Ford's reputation and competitiveness. As would always be the case through the 60's, competition restrictions dictated 427 production designs. With the 427 cross bolted foundation and a (relatively) consistent displacement requirement, Ford set about improving the horsepower potential through head designs that incorporated increasingly larger valves, ports and intake designs that performed better than the competitions factory equipment ever would. It holds true that Ford's factory equipment for this motor was superior to any GM efforts no matter how covert or blatant, and Chryco had to rely on crossram technology to make the torque they needed, even with the Hemi engine. Tug of war with NASCAR approval over Hemi and SOHC motors in competition led to 1965's boycott by Chryco and GM's reticence incensed France who wanted diversity in the field. The eventual "acceptance" of the 427 SOHC motor by NASCAR came too late and with provisos that made it untenable, particularly since the 427 wedge was so inherently competitive. As a result of Bill France's faint heartedness, the SOHC was built in limited quantities of around a 1000, all for drag racing and non NASCAR competition use by factory backed name racers. It was the most powerful motor ever built in this fashion (by a major manufacturer for competition use). The race hemi has to take a backseat by quite a few horsepower. At the time of greatest effort by the big 3, Chevrolet produced it's greatest big block, the L-88 which produced 565 horsepower as built, and the race hemi in NASCAR trim made 600 horses in full regalia. The SOHC made 615 horsepower with a single carb. 660 or so with dual Holleys. Out of the crate, so to speak.

Bill