Jump to content

11 of Greatest American Race Cars of All Time


Travis In Austin

Recommended Posts

I settled on paying $3,000 for a 1967 390 GT fastback mustang with a 427 lowriser dual 4 bbl and hooker headers with 4 speed

 

I wonder what that car (restored) would cost today?

Carl,

If you only knew of some of the deals I have missed out on:

Orriginal 1968 & 1/2 428 cobra jet that was rolled. I could have had the shell and title for hauling it away. Know what that title would be worth to a fake now??

Orriginal 1968 & 1/2 GT 500 KR with 40,056 original miles on it. It had been storred for the past 11 years and had some nice options. The guy was going to loose his house and his HHarley. He drove 1.5 hours to see my 1967 390 GT fastback and agreed on taking my car, my Pioneer SX-3900 and my Realistic Mach 1 speakers plus $5,000. My mom talked me out of it because my dads contract was up for renewal.

Orriginal two 1968 GT 500 Shelby Mustangs and a 1969 Boss 429 all 3 for $40,000. The cars had cragers and such that needed to be brought back to original, but you could have restored all 3, sold the two shelbys and kept the restored Boss 429 for free. Mom wouldn't Co-sign the loan.

Roger

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have many favorites.  But, my all time favorite, the McLaren MP4/8.  It was the car that Ayrton Senna won his last F1 race.  Also, the Audi R18 eTron.

F1 cars don't count, or the list would be full of them :D

 

That is correct!   :lol:   Notice I did include the Audi.  I could also include my old racecar.

image_zpsdc0sncst.jpg 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

 

 

I remember sitting in a superbird at the Plymouth dealer. My mom and dad were buying a car. The car was on the showroom floor...I was saying "get this one dad".....we left the dealer with a Fury III....oh well..

MKP :-)

 

I remember shopping for my first car when I was 15. I was looking at a $3,000 pistol grip shifter 426 Hemi Super Bird.

My buddies talked me out of it, said it was too heavy to drag race. I think that they were jealous.

I settled on paying $3,000 for a 1967 390 GT fastback mustang with a 427 lowriser dual 4 bbl and hooker headers with 4 speed because of the potential of it's optional fold down rear seat and it's application to my cruising for girls.

Roger

 

 

 

Roger,

 

So that is the same car you still have today?  Did they say how how it came to have the 427 lowriser in it (I assume the 390 GT all originally came with the 390??).

 

I would love to hear the history of how you cam across the cammer.  I was at a car show a few years ago and a guy had a motor for sale, he "only" wanted 65,000 for it, I have no idea what they are going for now.  They never came stock in a production vehicle right?  Just sold by the Ford Parts department?

 

How long is the timing chain/belt on that thing.  From you avatar it looks like it would take a long snake to wrap around all of that, plus if it is a chain, that it could be a tuning nightmare to get that all lined up properly.

 

Travis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember sitting in a superbird at the Plymouth dealer. My mom and dad were buying a car. The car was on the showroom floor...I was saying "get this one dad".....we left the dealer with a Fury III....oh well..

MKP :-)

 

I remember shopping for my first car when I was 15. I was looking at a $3,000 pistol grip shifter 426 Hemi Super Bird.

My buddies talked me out of it, said it was too heavy to drag race. I think that they were jealous.

I settled on paying $3,000 for a 1967 390 GT fastback mustang with a 427 lowriser dual 4 bbl and hooker headers with 4 speed because of the potential of it's optional fold down rear seat and it's application to my cruising for girls.

Roger

 

 

Roger,

 

So that is the same car you still have today?  Did they say how how it came to have the 427 lowriser in it (I assume the 390 GT all originally came with the 390??).

 

I would love to hear the history of how you cam across the cammer.  I was at a car show a few years ago and a guy had a motor for sale, he "only" wanted 65,000 for it, I have no idea what they are going for now.  They never came stock in a production vehicle right?  Just sold by the Ford Parts department?

 

How long is the timing chain/belt on that thing.  From you avatar it looks like it would take a long snake to wrap around all of that, plus if it is a chain, that it could be a tuning nightmare to get that all lined up properly.

 

Travis

Hey Travis,

Love to answer questions about the Cammer!

You are correct, the Mustang came with a 390, the only Mustang Big Block offered in a Mustang in 1967, except for the 428 police interceptor offered in the 1967 GT 500 Shelby mustang. The 1968 GT 500 Shelby Mustang also had the 428 Police interceptor as the 428 Cobra Jet didn't come out till mid year, hence the 1968 & 1/2 Mustang and the 1968 & 1/2 Shelby GT 500 KR edition.

The 390 is in the FE engine family. FEs include the 352, 390, 410, 427 Low Riser, 427 Medium Riser, 427 Hi-Riser, 427 Tunnel Port, 427 SOHC, and 428.

I my 1967 Mustang with the 390 Block in it, because they are in the same family, it had 428 Cobra Jet heads which have the same intake port as the 427 Low Rizer Dual 4 BBL intake. It had 10.5 /1 compression, a hydraulic cam, Hooker Headers, a Mallory Dual Point Distributor and Accel Super Coil which I added later.

I over revved that motor, getting on it outside a barber shop to let my buddy know I was there, and a piece of the valve keeper broke and locked up the oil pump, spinning a Rod bearing.

Next, I bought and rebuilt a 428 Cobra Jet. I sold that engine when the opportunity to buy a dual 4 BBL 427 Hi-Rizer with a pair of Holley 660 cfm center squirters came along. I had done all of this by the time I was 18.

I paid off the Hi-Rizer, kept it, and popped a $6,500 loan to buy the Cammer by the time I was 21.

Eventually, I owned two 1967 S code 390 GT Fastbacks and a 1969 & 1/2 Boss 302 all at the same time. There were 7,056 1970 Boss 302 Mustangs made, but since the Boss 302 came out in mid year 1969 & 1/2, mine was one of only 1,628 made.

An older guy that lived 12 miles from me growing up, had a dual 4 BBL 427 Low Rizer in a truck, a single 4 BBL 427 Hi-Rizer in his wife's car, a tunnel rammed, Bird Cage injected 427 Tunnel Port on Alcohol in his 1968 Mustang Fastback Race Car, and his brother owned a 1968 GT 500 KR and a 1969 Mach 1 with a Cammer in it. That brother owned a 427 Hi Rizer and a total of four Cammers, and that is how I got started in all of this.

$65,000 is high unless it was still in it's original crate.

There are presently 4 companies either producing new iron or aluminum Blocks for these engines. The best Aluminum block is made by Shelby and I paid $7,000 for my bare block. There are three companies making new aluminum Cammer heads and I own two sets. You can buy almost all of the parts to build a new aluminum Cammer.

The engine has two double roller timing chains. The Engine uses a standard push rod block, so there is a normal legth double roller timing chain that goes to a "stub" cam in the stock cam location. From there, there is a second sprocket that runs a second double roller timing chain that is 6 feet long if opened up. The big chain runs both cams, one on each head.

Google "The Woodward Dream Cruise", it is in Detroit, there will be thousands of every kind of car you can imagine and a guy I know has rented a parking lot just for Cammer Powered cars. There are supposed to be between 30 and 50 Cammer powered cars show up. I have invites from two different friends to come.

Let me know if you are interested.....

Roger

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I over revved that motor, getting on it outside a barber shop to let my buddy know I was there, and a piece of the valve keeper broke and locked up the oil pump, spinning a Rod bearing.

 

LOL.  Live and learn.

They didn't have MSDs with rev limiter chips back then, and a wedge won't rev to 10,000 RPMs like a Cammer will.

The 426 Hemis never went 10,000 RPM back in the day, when they were talking about 10,000 RPM Top Fuel Engines back then, they were talking Cammers.

Roger

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...