Shelby Aluminum

[Mr427]

May I just say this: I take pride in the logos and images on the wrappings and packaging on Ford spare parts as they have been since 1966. It shows a blackened shadow streaking along at breakneck speed ... a Ford GT-40. Sitting in the back seat is one mother- in-law you do not want to get too upset. This is a Shelby, H&M and perhaps some other dvelopment of an engine that has at the time taken over ten years to perfect from the initial drawings that became the 332FE of 1958, with solid lifters, machined combustion chambers and quite a departure in HP from previous Ford engines.

The fact of the matter is that such magic only exists once in a century. I tried in a previous post to describe it as if I had been there and it just can not be duplicated. Today you can go to Wal Mart & Speed and buy a new 700 horsepower Chevy engine and strap it to a lawn mower and go 200 MPH. What is tricky, interesting or even challenging about that?

The Ford victories in the international arena in the sixties are like some of the music that was written during that time. Good vibrations anyone? You can have someone who is new to the sport come up and do some pretty cool stuff, but those of you who were old enough to witness it all, can shrug and say it has been done before, under worse conditions.

I took my SCJ Spoiler out for a spin last night and what can I say. This feeling permeates all the way through. I have been at it for a good number of years and this is my conclusion. It is like having a genuine 1862 Long Rifle, a bona fide front loader. It is from another time. Showing off is nice and a rumbling monster like some of these cars inspires younger people and strikes fear into the heart of some, but I just don´t care.

Took it to the track a couple of weeks ago and took a few runs for practice. Lost to a Honda Civic because I lost all visibility in the tire smoke, then had to stop mid way because after burning both rear tires so furiously for about 200 yards it almost flew off the track, went sideways and I almost wrecked one of 1631 built.

My tribute to the FE will be to build a 427 pwered GT-40 replica. I don´t care if I drive it on my 60th birthday for the first time.

But the argument is long since settled. There never will be anything in this world like an angry 427 Ford, a Jim Morrison (who incidentally owned one of the first 1967 GT-500s built, a James Dean, Sinatra or Kennedy.

Muscle Car review closed the argument many years ago in an article on the greatest engines ever built for any use. I am not going to say it again. They, however, said: "IF in doubt, just ask one of its victims"

The winnings came when and where it counted. When the wailing of the 427 on European superspeedways finally faded in about 1972 it had turned the racing world on its ear and caused the lexicon of motorsport rules to be rewritten completely. The French - dominated FIA banned engines larger than 3.0 litres, so the 289s were outlawed as well.

No other engine has the record to show: Drag racing, NASCAR, SCCA, IHRA, NHRA, FIA and many other bodies. The cost was 100 million dollars in c.a. 1968 currency. When it was all over we saw a very dull time. Yes, the seventies. What came after ..... came after.

But you can still do interesting stuff, dig up some history. It happened at 5500 feet in the center of the Greenland glacier. A shadow in the ice-oscilloscope. It was a pristine P-38 Lightning fighter plane. The White Ghost as it was known to German fighter pilots. They dug it out and it is now probably ready to fly again. It is pure magic and it was the queen of the skies in 1945 along with perhaps the F-4U Corsair. But you will not put one of them aginst a French Mirage, but you will put an F-22 and we know how that works out.

For its time, the question of supremacy is closed. I rest my case.