to change the way cars were marketed, and motorsports was one of the beneficiaries.
Ford responded to the market opportunity with high-performance iterations of the 352, then the 390. This was still the era where a production-based engine could be equally successful in both drag racing and NASCAR.
The FE performance program started out as upgrades to passenger car engines, using strategies that had been employed by hot rodders for several years. Higher compression, multiple carburetion, and dual exhaust were initially enough to get attention. But as the rivalry between the Big Three heated up, they quickly evolved into performance-specific engines. The first of these was the 406, blessed with a larger bore than the 390, solid lifter cams, and optional multiple carbs. Within a couple years the 406 was replaced by the 427, with a still larger bore, cross-bolted main caps, and better cylinder heads. The 427 became the lead piece for all of Ford’s big-block race development and remained in that position through the end of direct factory involvement in 1970. When discussing professional racing and FE engines, you are almost always going to be talking about the 427.
The 428 was originally released in 1966 as a torque-oriented cruiser engine, but in the late 1960s somebody at Ford finally realized that the low-production, high-strung 427 was not reaching the masses. Ford had a good race program, but was getting a bad street rep. The more mundane 390-powered cars could not keep up with the big-blocks from GM or Chrysler. The response was to blend the readily available and bigger 428 block with higher-performance parts, including heads, cam, and intake. The 428 Cobra Jet package was available from late 1968 until 1970 and delivered on all points; it was reliable, strong, and still a competitive combination in NHRA-class racing.
Ford achieved incredible success with its FE-powered racing program, winning repeatedly at Le Mans, on the NASCAR circuit, and in the drag racing arena with their 427-powered Ford Thunderbolts, as well as the 1968½ 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs.
The 429-engine family was slated to be the replacement for the FE, but the factory programs surrounding the new engine were short lived, barely making it two years before performance development stopped. Eventually the potential for the “385” family engine was realized, but that is another book.
The Famous Cars
Ford’s initial platform for FE performance and racing was full-sized cars, the most popular being the higher-end Galaxie. Many FE engines were installed in full-size cars, most of them 352s and 390s. But the racers got the 427 cars.
While the 427-powered Galaxie was a good-looking and competitive package, it became quickly apparent that the Chrysler cadre had a distinct weight advantage with their smaller cars. The first response was to develop a lightweight factory drag race version of the 427-powered Galaxie. It included a high-riser version of the 427 engine, along with a variety of weight reduction strategies, including changes to sheet metal, interior parts, and even the frame. Always rare, and quite valuable today, the lightweights were only the opening act.
The next step was a factory authorized dedicated drag race car: the Fairlane Thunderbolt. The T-Bolts were assembled at Dearborn Steel Tubing, a Ford contractor. It took the lighter-weight midsized 1964 Fairlane sedan and installed the high-riser 427 engines into about a hundred of them. This was never intended as a street vehicle, and everything was modified to enhance the car’s chances at the drag strip. Ford included major front-end work to accommodate the large engine, lightweight seats, thin glass, aluminum and fiberglass components, and race-only rear suspension. The Thunderbolt became a Ford racing icon, and the combination remains near the top of NHRA Super Stock racing 54 years later.
Ford did not install the 427 in a production Fairlane until 1966. The production 427 Fairlanes from 1966 and 1967 were rare, very cool cars with a solid racing history. But, like the lightweight Galaxie that preceded them, they never received the adulation reserved for the Thunderbolt.
Something about the almost absurd combination of small car and huge engine makes anything else seem normal in comparison. The ultimate expression of small car/huge engine is also FE-powered: the 427 Cobra. The Cobra started out as the well-documented combination of a British sports car and a Ford small-block V-8 for road racing. Competing with well-funded efforts from both domestic and foreign racers, the need for more power was satisfied by grabbing an existing race engine, the 427 FE. What had already been an attractive sports car morphed into a beauty born of necessity, with broadened and flared fenders for larger tires, side exhausts, and a scooped hood. Brutal in both potential and execution, another automotive icon was born. Today there are many, many more inspired iterations of the car than were ever originally made. The 427 Cobra was and is the automotive definition of “badass.”
Carroll Shelby first plucked the 428 Police Interceptor engines off the assembly line for use in the Shelby GT500 Mustangs in 1967. In 1968, the PI engine was replaced mid-year by the 428 Cobra Jet variant, and the car became known as the GT500KR. The 428 CJ continued through to the end of the Shelby production run in 1970. By 1969, the Shelbys were slow sellers, many unsold 1969 models were retagged as 1970 models. The cars are considerably more popular today.
NASCAR racing was the primary development test bed for Ford’s FE race program throughout the 1960s. The 427 was upgraded and altered every year as needed to remain competitive. But while NASCAR served as the engine technology source, the cars themselves were not inspiration for many production performance offerings. Street enthusiasts looked to NASCAR for entertainment, but to the drags for inspiration. So, while we’ll use parts that were designed for the high banks, we don’t often emulate the cars themselves. Street cars have the big tires on the rear, scoops on the hood, but no numbers on the doors, a tradition that holds true today.
Throughout the late 1960s, professional drag race programs evolved, and the cars got further from a production basis. The hard-core drag racers moved into AFX cars, with radical modifications to wheelbases and engines. These in turn evolved into Funny Cars with tube chassis and nitromethane. The SOHC FE engine remained a common powerplant in these, but far removed from the engines available at the local dealer. These cars and engines are certainly worthy of discussion, impressive by any measure, but outside the context of this book.
The most famous of the FE-powered cars were never really sold to the public. Ford made a very public, concerted effort to get an outright win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in the mid-1960s. The first cars they produced were powered by the small-block engine. In subsequent years, the need for more power became apparent. In a situation similar to that of the Cobra, Ford looked to the already well-developed 427 FE as a power upgrade to the GT racing program. And the engine delivered, powering the winning cars in 1966 and 1967.
So here we have the FE engine legacy. The engine that was in the most famed Ford racing vehicles of the time in each form of motorsports, NASCAR, the Cobra, the GT40, and the Thunderbolt. This should be the backdrop for comparable fame and dominance on the streets of America. But it never happened. What went wrong?
The Normal Cars: Mustangs, Galaxies, Fairlanes, and Trucks
As a dedicated Ford fan and a Detroit-area FE racer since the 1970s, it hurts to say this, but it needs to be said. What went wrong is that Ford put everything into the low volume racing efforts and comparatively little into the everyday cars that made up the volume of production.
The FE was factory installed or available in numerous car and truck platforms. The full-sized Galaxie (and sister models) was the recipient of most FE production, from the early 1960s right up to the end. Most popular among enthusiasts are the 1963–1967
