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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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I have always been crazy about cars. Before I had one of my own, my buddy had a 1954 Ford 2 door post sedan with a 292 and a three speed manual with a cheap floor shifter. It had faded green paint and the interior was ratty. He jacked up the front end with pieces of wood in the front springs. It had Cadillac rear tires and black painted rims. His car was a piece of crap, but I thought it was the coolest car around. My buddy's car would leave long streaks of rubber on demand. We used to have burn out contests and the Y blocks always won.
When I went to college my parents bought me a little foreign car. College didn't work for me, so I dropped out and went to work. I traded my "nurdy" car for a 1956 Victoria I bought off a car lot. It had a 292 with a three speed manual tranny. Cheap floor shifter and all, I was cruising in style. I also collected traffic tickets like stamps.
Y block engines were cheap back then. You could buy a whole running car for $150. I kept upgrading engines until I found one that ran good. The holy grail was a 312. I never found one of those until much later. The Y block was cheap, reliable, easy to work on and forgiving. You could jerk one out of a 1957 Ford wagon, hose it off, throw on a 4 barrel and go racing.
I had a friend who was in a band. He was always trading stuff for guitars and amps. On day he came by my house with a 1957 Ford Victoria 2 door. I could tell it was something special because the motor was loping big time. He popped the hood and I saw my first triple carb Y block. It had a "full race" 312 with a real Hurst shifter. We drove the car around for a week and it seemed like the fastest car around. Of course he blew up the engine and traded it for another guitar.
Another time I visited a guy who had a 1956 Ford custom Victoria. He was a well known racer and kept the car in the back of his garage. Back then everyone named their cars. This car had "Any Time" painted on the side. The hood was louvered and headers were hanging out under the wheel wells. He popped the hood and I was staring at a six carb YBlock. Nothing I have seen since has been that cool.
Old Fords have always been part of my life. I've had big block Galaxies and Shelby Mustangs. I've bought new Cobra Jets and had lots of hot cars. Y blocks will always have a special place in my heart. They were my first hot rod and they are just cool.
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By MplsMike - 6 Years Ago
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Great story Florida Phil. Your T Bird is awesome, by the way!
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks for the comments. I grew up in Miami Florida in the sixties. Back then cars and my soon to be wife were my main interests. The car hobby got me into an engineering career that has been good to me. I never forgot those days. We spent our Saturdays driving from one hot rodder's shop to the other. There was always something interesting happening. Y blocks were never race track terrors. The 352 came out in 1958. The FE engines quickly moved the Y blocks to the back of the bus. Y blocks were cheap and plentiful. Perfect for a kid with little money to spend.
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By Daniel Jessup - 6 Years Ago
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Phil:
You need to write an article on your stories for the Y block magazine!
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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I have thought about writing a book about my hot rod adventures. Some of the stories are really funny. Others are tragic. I'm not sure if anyone would want to read it.
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By Daniel Jessup - 6 Years Ago
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well, you can start your numbering with the Hot Rod Reverend - I would read them.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 6 Years Ago
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I'll be next in line to read your great book. Nice story Florida Phil - I think our paths in life are very close in time. There probably coudn't be more fun than being a teenager growing up at a time when the bone-yards were full of 50's cars. The Y-block was the most fun and most rewarding, hands down. Picking big valve heads, centrifugal distributors, modern carburetors and all that, but the most coveted item was finding a 57 cam. Didn't matter how "used" it was. Imagine junkyards full of this stuff here in the salty North. Cars didn't last long in those days especially up here in Michigan. My buddies (or anyone) with 55 and 56's were aways looking for the 265/283 guys to race. All for not much money at all. Start writing what comes to mind. You may be amazed how well the memory chip works. JEFF.....................
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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OK, here's one for you.
"The Day the Y Block Won"
Back in the early sixties, Miami had a street racing problem. Racers would meet at night 20 miles west of town on a road called Krome Avenue. These midnight drags were getting pretty big with hundreds of kids lined along the road. Cars would come from all over South Florida to race the local favorites. The cops would try to bust them up, but the kids had a police radio and would always stay one step ahead of them. One night the cops outfoxed us and busted about 100 kids for "Illegal Assembly". We didn't know what that was actually, but our parents weren't very happy about it. After that, they set up legal drags on the runway at the old Amelia Earhart air field. The drags were run on Sunday and very popular. They had tech inspections and wouldn't let you run a stick shift car unless you had a scatter shield.
A buddy of mine had a 55 Ford post sedan with a hot 292. He was the only one in our group that could afford a scatter shield, so he would run at these Sunday races. His car was a real sleeper. It looked like a little old ladies car. He didn't have a racing helmet, so they let him use a hard hat that he tied on his head with a bandana. The races were "run what you brung" without classes. They had a sort of eliminator and gave away a trophy for the final winner.
One Sunday he was knocking off cars left and right. That little Ford wasn't the fastest car, but it was consistent. The traction on that old runway was terrible. The more power you had the worse your tires would spin. A 57 scruby was the fastest car there that day. It had a 409 motor, a 4 speed and sounded strong. The final run of the day was the bad '57 and my buddy's 55 Ford sedan. It was a real David and Goliath race. The flagman started the race and the scruby blew off the tires. Each time the scruby would catch a gear, it would shoot off like a rocket. The little Ford kept running along gaining speed. We were all on our feet cheering for the Ford. Money was flying around as the gamblers were betting on their favorites. That scruby driver missed every gear there was and a few that we didn't know existed. We all jumped for joy as that 55 sedan crossed the finish line a winner.
For a 292 to beat up on a 409 was unbelievable. It's not how much noise you make, it's who gets there first.
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By slumlord444 - 6 Years Ago
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I've lost track of how many small block scruby's I beat with various Y Blocks over the years and all of the good times I had in them with various lady's back in the day. Could write my own book. Got beat sometimes and had lady's who blew me off but had a lot of fun and still have fond memories. Fortunately the statute of limitations has expired on most of this.
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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"Fortunately the statute of limitations has expired on most of this."
That's for sure. 
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By slumlord444 - 6 Years Ago
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My first Y Block was a '58 Ford Custom 300 4 door sedan. My dad bought it for me when I was in college in 1963. My uncle had bought it new and it was well cared for. Bone stock 292 2 barrel Fordomatic. Had a '53 Ford Flathead before that. First night I had it i blew off a 59 ElCamino, 283 stick, 63 Ford Galaxie, 352 2barrel, 4 speed, and a '59 Pontiac 389 2 barrel automatic. A friend of the guy with the Galaxie finaly beat me with a '57 Pontiac 347 4 barrel automatic by less than a car length. Never particularly liked the looks of the '58 but it always ran better than it should have. By the time I traded it off on the '57 T Bird that I still have I had added dual exhausts, a four barrel AFB and intake off of a '57 Mercury, exhaust cutouts, a 3 speed full syncro 3 speed out of a '63 Ford with a Hurst shifter, Sprint tach from my local Ford dealer, and a 3.89 rearend out of a '57 Ford Station Wagon. Had a ball with that car untill I traded it for the T Bird. Kept the 3.89 rear end and eventually ran it in the T Bird for many years. The T Bird is another much longer story. A good friend of mine had a '57 Ford Fairlaine 2 door sedan with a 312 that also was a runner when he didn't break it. Good times.
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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When I was a kid, 58 Fords weren't that common. Guys always wanted the hoods for their 57s because of the scoop in the middle. One day a new kid came by our house with a white and orange 58 Ford hardtop. I didn't think the 58 was as pretty as the '57, but it was different and interesting. This car sounded much different than ours. As was the custom at the time, he laid down a patch of rubber in front of my house. Wow, what a torque monster. Smoke was poring out of the rear fender wells. He popped the hood and I saw my first FE motor. At that moment, we knew there was a new Ford kid on the block. After that my buddy bought a '61 Galaxie with a 401 HP 390 and a 4 speed. He would let my 292 get ahead of him and pass me like I was tied to a stump. The future had come and I switched to FE motors. I love Y blocks because they were my first hot rod engine.
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 6 Years Ago
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Back in about '62 I was driving a '56 two door post with a +.060 312, a somewhat clone of a 260 horse dual quad engine. It had 4.55 gears in a wagon Dana rear and a T-85 OD. It was my daily driver, and it got 22 MPG twice on trips to and from Rockford Illinois from Selma Indiana. On one trip home from Rockford, on a divided 4 lane in northern Indiana, a '56 Buick Century pulled beside me, kept accelerating and decelerating, trying to goad me into a race. He pulled in front of me, and I stayed right behind him. We got over 100mph on my speedometer (actual speed???), and he seemed to quit gaining speed, so I pulled out and PASSED him. I had not been using full throttle to stay behind him. Anyway, he turned off at the next intersection. Boy did I used to be STUPID! But maybe I still am.
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By NoShortcuts - 6 Years Ago
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John. I'm trying to imagine what your '56 sounded like at anything close to 100 mph in overdrive with 4.55 gears in the rear end! BUZZZZZZZ? 
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By MoonShadow - 6 Years Ago
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A high school friend bought a 55 sedan that was supposed to be an old police car. Very plain jane 4 door but with a 4barrell V8. No power anything and radio delete and 3 speed column shift with overdrive. It ran like stink and beat pretty well all comers. Of course there were a few modified cars about that were extra fast for the time but the regular street cars had very little chance. He loved to put down all the scrubs he could find. Over time it developed a roll in the idle that made it sound really tough. We kept up the street racing and winning for a number of weeks but the idle finally seemed too out of whack. One weekend we gathered at his house with a guy that had at least done a real tune up once. Tune up didn't cure it so he pulled the valve covers. The cause of the miss became obvious when we spotted one missing and one bent pushrod. I swear that old Ford was burning up the locals on 7 cylinders! A trip to the junk yard for some pushrods and all was back to normal. All we noticed was the nice quiet little rumble in the exhaust and I swear the car got faster. May have been suffering bent pushrods when he bought it.
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By 1960fordf350 - 6 Years Ago
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Only being born in 65 made my younger years of fast cars around the Smokey and the Bandit age. However, 1st ride in a y powered vehicle, 1956 Ford tandem axle truck tractor pulling a lowboy with an excavator on it. 332 5speed with a 3 speed auxiliary. The operator dug all the basements in my neighborhood. He put my bike up on the trailer and drove me home. You could hear that truck long before he went by school in the warm weather with the windows open. So loading heavy and yanking it down the road's always been more my bag. !st y block owned, 1964 F250 4X4 with a 292 and T98 4 speed. My brother bought it for $1 and restored it. Then I bought it from him. Sold it to buy a semi when I moved. My current y block, my 60 F350. I'll have had it 10yrs in March 2019.
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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When we were young and stupid we did all kinds of things that could have easily killed us. The fact that we are all here is pure luck. On Saturdays we would gather at one of our houses and work on cars. My house had a large oak tree that we used to pull engines. My father somehow tolerated this. At least he knew where we were. Sometimes we would swap engines around just for fun. We weren't rich. We all worked jobs and you could buy a good running engine for $50 bucks back then. We mostly drove '55 to '57 Fords as they were plentiful and cheap.
My buddy that bought the '61 Galaxie with the HiPo 390 was a union electrician. In the sixties construction workers made more money than most anyone I knew. On Saturday, we decided we should put a 3.0 gear in his Galaxie and find out how fast it would go flat out. Keep in mind we were running bias ply tires with lots of miles on them. That night after the gear swap we rode out west of town to Highway 27 where you could run for miles without any traffic. He opened his dumps and off we went. His car had a T-10 and I can still remember the sound of that engine as we went through the gears. We easily got up to 100 with pedal left. He held the pedal to the floor for at least 10 minutes. I don't know how fast we went because I was too scarred to look at the speedometer. If anything had happened we would have gone out in a blaze of glory. Later in life I built cars that ran much faster, but none scared me more than that night.
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By cos - 6 Years Ago
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Hello In my high school years (early 60s) brand X guys were buying fueler cams and stuffing them into stock 265s and 283s But Y-bocks guys, we went to local Ford dealer and bought "special" cams (think they were under 20 dollars) and stuffed them in stock 272,292 with same results. I had a .60 over 292, 5/8 domed Jahns pistons, g-heads mallory dist. tube headers, "special cam" in a two door 55 that was perfect. After probably 10 light duty trans I got hold of a tin top 4 speed. Put a dana 44 with gears from a stude pickup 4.88 and build some thunder bolt lift bars. Back then Standard oil had pump gas over 100 octane it was pink. Could out run most all with same cubic inchs, until high HP 409 396 427 413 became available. It was a fun time, still stuck there. Bill Oregon
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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In Florida we bought Sunoco 260 100 octane gas. Loved the smell of that stuff.
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By MoonShadow - 6 Years Ago
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I think the Sunoco highest octane was 102 or 105 something like that. Had a friend with a BSA motorcycle that was running it. Mechanic told him not too as it was too much octane. I don't know exactly what happened but it only took a couple weeks for the BSA engine to let go.
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By Lord Gaga - 6 Years Ago
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Yup, don't know what it was about Sunoco 260, but it did sure smell good.
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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Lots of great memories. Back in my late teens and early 20s I used to practically live at the local cruise hang out. In Miami, it was the Pizza Palace restaurants. It was exactly like in the movie American Graffiti. Hot rodders would come from all over South Florida cruising between each one. In those days you could cruise from Miami Beach to Ft. Lauderdale in an hour. Muscle cars and hot rods were everywhere. One minute you would see a fuel injected Corvette and the next a GTO or a home built racer. Lots of the kids were hoodlums in training. We just loved cars and going fast.
In the late sixties the cops had a hard time running down the University of Miami kids in their Jaguars, so they had a couple of special pursuit vehicles. The cops who drove those cars were hot rodders as well. I remember one of those cars was an ugly four door brown Plymouth with a street Hemi. A friend of mine had a 413 dual quad Dodge. He wrecked the car and put the engine in an old Ford Sedan. My future wife and I rode in that car and it was quite a thrill.
Around midnight we would all ride out of town to a 1/4 mile we had lined off across the highway. Black, white, rich or poor, it didn't matter to us as long as you were fast. A friend of mine from school built a 1957 Ford Custom with a gasser style straight front axle. His Mom used to drive it to the grocery store, which always cracked us up. I don't know how she could see with the front end jackup up like that.
The kings of the street drags back then were two guys named Murphy and Burkhart. Murphy was a mechanic and Burkhart owned a construction company. At first they built a 1963 Falcon called the Giant Killer. It had a Cobra spec 289 and was unbelievably quick. Later they built a 1964 Falcon with a 427 side-oiler and a straight front axle. When that wasn't fast enough, they built a 65 Mustang gasser with a blown 427 out of an offshore racing boat. All of these cars were street driven. The Mustang gasser flipped in the eyes killing the driver at Miami Dragway. Murphy and Burkhart moved to roundy round racing after that.
I could write three books about my adventures with this group. Something was always happening. Some good and some bad. Today, the neighborhood where we lived is around Dolphin's Stadium. The old drag strip is a shopping mall and the traffic rarely moves over 25 miles and hour. Wish I could go back for a day... 
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