1964 Ford Thunderbolt

Ford was very close to starting the whole muscle car thing. While John DeLorean was focused on putting hot engines into mid-size cars, Ford was stuffing their NASCAR 427 engines into Fairlanes and Comets. They called the Fairlane version the “Thunderbolt.” The Comet version was called the “Cyclone.”

The lightweight setup with the heavy hitter 427 NASCAR engine was a natural for Super Stock class racing with hundreds stepping into the staging lanes. Names like Gas Ronda, Butch Leal, Phill Bonner, Tasca Ford, and Turner Ford were on the sides of winning Thunderbolts drag cars. Some of the Thunderbolts drifted into the ranks of the new A/Factory experimental cars. But after the Mustang arrived, that was the end of the hot Ford Thunderbolts.