Thunderbolts were designed for high-profile Factory Experimental and Super Stock classes; Galaxie Lightweights targeted regional Stock-class competition In March 1963, General Motors dropped a bombshell by banning factory support of auto racing. Ironically, just one month later, Ford Vice President Lee Iacocca issued a press release that read, in part:"Our attitude...

In the days following WWII, man’s “need for speed” manifested itself in many different ways. If your name was Kimberly or Cunningham, you wrote a $10,000 check for a red European sports car. This wonderful obsession for performance had nothing to do with family fortunes, however, and was just as...

Flames, Flatheads, Fenders, Fatboys: the American hot rod has many manifestations. Each is the personal expression of its creator, which is both the charm and the attraction of the street rods. Some take T-buckets, some favor '40 Fords, others prefer Plymouths or choose Chevys. The permutations and combinations are endless...

Created by Troy Trepanier, Intruder came out of the box in San Bernardino, California, with three miles showing on the odometer. Six days and 2,900 cross-country miles later, on the Hot Rod Power Tour, Intruder had performed flawlessly, and even returned 20 miles per gallon.The goal for Rad Rides, the...

This is the real thing, in a sea of fiberglass-bodied imitators with their ubiquitous 350 Chevy V8s and TH400 transmissions If this channeled '32 roadster looks familiar to nostalgia-prone baby boomers, it is because it's the same car that David and Ricky Nelson drove in a memorable episode of the Ozzie...

A determined, wealthy collector slugged it out with Ford family representatives, resulting in the $1.76 million price   As president of Ford Motor Company from 1925 until his untimely death in 1943, from cancer and undulant fever, Edsel Bryant Ford had a considerable influence on Ford styling, first with Lincoln, then with...

Opportunities to buy beautifully restored, award-winning, authentic dry lakes-racing '32 Ford roadsters with unquestioned provenance are rare Ford's classic 1932 roadster, better known as "the Deuce," is the quintessential hot rod. Great-looking, with timeless lines, light weight, especially when shorn of its fenders, equipped with a souped-up Ford flathead developing three...

Even if the Commies had beaten us in space exploration, we had both the hideaway hard top and the Edsel The Ford Fairlane Skyliner can claim to be America's first production convertible to feature a retractable hard top. Introduced as Ford's top-of-the-range model in 1955, the Fairlane was rival to Chevrolet's...

In 1959, Ford kept its Blue Oval models relatively devoid of chrome, mile-high fins, and many of the other excesses that were common to the era New for 1959, the Galaxie began life as a variant of the highly successful Fairlane. The year is considered by many to be a high...

When Thunderbird designer Frank Hershey set out to design a sports car with “banker appeal,” he unknowingly created a legendary automobile that was so popular in its first year, it outsold the Chevrolet Corvette four to one. When Hershey left Ford for General Motors in 1960, the Thunderbird had sold...