FORD FAIRLANE 427

1966 was a banner year for performance Ford enthusiasts. Prior to this year, the average Ford man had rather limited accessibility to "factory" race prepared drag cars. The 1963-1/2 lightweight Galaxies, the 1964 Thunderbolt Fairlanes and  "cammer" Mustangs, and '64-'65 Comets and Falcons, were among the more popular factory prepped race cars. The one thing all these cars had in common was that the factory made special modifications to permit the installation of the 427's. Not only were the cars expensive, Ford Motor Company wasn't selling them to anybody who walked in off the street. For the average drag racer, these cars were unobtainable. 1966 was the year that turned it all around. The newly designed Fairlane and Comet bodies would now accept the "FE" series engines. Finally the Ford drag racers got the break they needed. Even though the quantities of 427 Fairlanes were to be limited, anybody could put their own 427 into a Fairlane body. The popularity of the new Fairlanes was overwhelming. Drag strips quickly became populated with the new Fairlanes.

Most of the Fairlanes that found their way to the drag strips were powered by the 390 GT engines boasting 335 horsepower. But, 70 lucky Ford fanatics were honored with the privilege of running the factory produced 427 Fairlane. Each 427 Fairlane was equipped with the potent 427 high-riser, rated at 425 hp. at 6,000 rpm. A new cam gave the engine 480 foot/pounds at 3,700 rpm, which made it a natural performer on the street or strip. These cars were also factory equipped with a special heavy duty 9" rear axle with 31 spline shafts and nodular iron differential housing. Production line gearing was 3.89:1. Special handling shocks and springs, and front disc brakes were standard equipment. Rounding off the outer appearance was an all fiberglass hood with a functional scoop that was held in place by four hood pins. And of course, last but not least, the 427 fender emblems which gave the competition only a hint of the trouble they were in.

Ford aimed its new Fairlane at both the strip and the street targets and was a winner at both.
From its introduction in 1966 to the present, these 427 Fairlanes have earned their place among the greatest street/strip cars ever produced.

How about we view some advertisements on the engines & 427 FEs.

FORD 427 and some of the great versions that make these some wicked fast motors that held up great in hard competition.
But before we begin, let's read what the ford VIN tag gots to say about it:

Hi-Riser EFI

58MM Webers

Twin Paxton turbo

Tunnel-port Cross-ram EFI

M/T Hemi heads

1967 Daytona 500 winner
(shown 50 years later at 2017 Daytona)

Holman Moody ass deep in 427s

"Ohio George" Montgomery
Drag Racing's Gasser King and owner of the World's Oldest Speed Shop
(I have an autographed copy of his book, "Drag Racing's Gasser King"...highly recommended reading)

Connie Kalitta

X-Ram induction

Blown SOHC

Howard Blower

Weber Induction

What's umderneath those cool SOHC valve covers

SOHC with gears replacing the chain
How cool is that!

Mickey Thompson's Mach ONE

SOHC "Stampede" Mustang

SOHC power in Coleman's Super Ford

The SOHC's look good dressed in black too.

Let's talk about how the 427 did in boats and Hydroplane and Flatbottom boat racing.

 First off - the factory 427 were also workhorses. The 427 FE also did VERY well in their marine environments like pushing big-ass Cabin Cruisers around. In those instances, there was usually two of them mounted side-by-side with one engine spinning the prop clockwise and the other 427 being a reverse-rotation engine spinning that prop counter-clockwise.

FORD SOHC 427. That boat is a 1964 Sanger. Owned by John Vermeesch (who worked on the Ford motor development team).
Oh….and you can’t just tow this boat with just any car. You’ll need a woodie station wagon.
© F. Peirce Williams – Quake at the Lake 2010.
This photo and other great Mr. Williams photographs are available for purchase

The 427 FE also dominated in the flatbottom inboard marathon endurance race boat classes of the 60s and early 70s.
Click here and read the roster board and look at how many of the boats have Ford 427 FE powering them.
The FEs were well known in this particular boat racing  to be the motor that could outlast all the other makes in the all-day marathon racing events.

Miss O'Neil & Knudson U-14 
Click here to read a story on  one man's attempt to run the SOHCs
against the WWII aircraft engines in unlimited boat racing class.

Fuel Injected 427 SOHC in an inboard hydroplane, His Lordship H-58
These are the only two hydroplanes that I know of that tried SOHC power.

However, many of the 7-Litre, limited-class hydroplanes were quite successful running the 427 FE in the late 60's - late 70s.
Notably  HEAVY HAULER (below next pic) as well as MOONSHINE BABY and LOUISVILLE KID did well in a field
mostly dominated by hydroplanes running the Chrysler Hemi.


MOONSHINE BABY and LOUISVILLE KID II
Both Ford 427 powered 7-Litre inboard hydroplanes battling it out on the Ohio River in Cincinatti, Ohio in 1966.

 Moonshine Baby was sponsored by Ford. This is the only hydroplane that I am aware that Ford sponsored.
They did well running the 390 FE prior (1961-1963) and when Ford introduced the 427, they sent the team (4) free 427 motors.
All the had to do was race them until they failed, then send the 427s back to Ford,
along with a written report on what happened at the time when they failed.

427 Ford Super-Charged Fuel-Injected
This inboard hydroplane campaigning under the name, HEAVY HAULER and won numerous
National Championships in the 7-Litre Inboard Hydroplane class.

The above 3 hydroplane photos are courtesy of my good friend, Mr Phil Kunz,
nationally recognized hydroplane photographer, author and racing historian. His website is here.

Hope you enjoyed your visit & Thanks for looking!

Some of these pics I found on the internet.
If one of these pics are owned by you & copyrighted and you don't want them on this web page,
please let me know and I will immediately remove it.
phil spruit