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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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What class would a '57 T-Bird with the 285 Horse Dual Quad 312 have run in in 1957? The oldesd NHRA Rule Book I have is for 1964. It only shows 2 Sprots Car classes, A and B Sports and I think the Bird would be below the weight to horsepower ratio for B Sports. It would go in F Stock as near as I can figure. Any idea where they would have been in 1957. Want to do car shows and cruises's in 1957 drag race trim including class markings.
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By PF Arcand - 13 Years Ago
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The NHRA was a fledgling outfit in 1957. Many tracks were still independant. So, classes varied a great deal. You might want to see if you can find copies somewhere of the Drag News of that time, for more info..
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By pegleg - 13 Years Ago
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Slum, In '57 F stock at Ohio tracks would have been for flatheads and inlines. I ran F in 58 & 59 with a (1952) straight Eight Pontiac. Advertised at 107 hp and had to weigh 4000 lbs.
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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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F Stock was from the '64 NHRA Rule book based on advertised horsepower to weight ratio. Still looking for the '57 class for the 285 horse T-Bird.
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 13 Years Ago
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I haven't looked in my old Hot Rods for classification, but wasn't the 285 a low production or dealer installed option? If so, NHRA would not have accepted it for a stock class and would delegate it to a gas class. To get a "stock configuration" for your car, you may have to claim 270 hp. Hot Rod used to publish class breakdowns, I'll check as soon as I get a chance.
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By Dennis K. - 13 Years Ago
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In my never ending search for clear and accurate information on the 312 285 hp engine, a year or so ago I contacted a Ford knowledgable Div 3 NHRA Tech Man. According to his information NHRA never listed the 285 hp engine, only the 245, 270, and 300 hp engines. BTW, to date no hard evidence has ever surfaced relative to a camshaft part number or grind data for the 285 hp engine. Regards, Dennis
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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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Have no idea on the details of the 285 Horse engine either. Read all the previous posts on it with great interest. I have seen Ford advertising from '57 refering to the 285 Horsepower engine. So what class would the 270 Horse Dual Quad have been in in 1957? The info has to be out there somewhere!
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By PF Arcand - 13 Years Ago
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From what I've read in a reprint issued in YBM, it's likely a T.Bird, with the 270 HP engine, would have been in "A" Sports, or "B" at the lowest, in 1957. The 285 HP engine seems to be even more of a mystery than the Supercharged engine. I've also got a newspaper reprint of 1957 Ford cars, which has a footnote reference to the 285 engine, but no other details. Basically it was Ford's race version of the 270. Years ago we got info indicating that instead of it having the regular 256 degree (advertised) cam, that Ford ordered Isky E-2s for those engines.. but I can't confirm this.. Oh! and another thing with reference to your efforts to ascertain NHRA's listing for the 285 engine. Ford's factory backed efforts in 1956 & early 1957 was focused on NASCAR & to a lesser extent, USAC stock car racing. There was no factory support for the Drags, which likely explains why you can't find the info your are looking for..
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 13 Years Ago
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Looked in my old Hot Rods last evening. Found an article about the '57 Stock class cars for which the manufactureres had supplied NHRA with horsepower and weight figures. No Ford products were listed, probably no figures supplied at that time. There were listings for '56 "factory" hot rods, and the Ford and Merc dual quad cars were relegated to C/Gas class. There were no sports car classes mentioned, but like Paul, I would guess your car would fall into A or B sports. Make up a class and put it on your windows, who would know the difference?
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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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Think I will go with B Sports. The 300 horse Supercharged car would have been A if you go with logic. If anybody says I am wrong, I will see if they can prove to me what it should be. Thanks for all the input.
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By ecode ragtop - 13 Years Ago
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Slum, I just stumbled across a 1956 Drag Race Pictorial. It show a 56 T-Bird in race trim with A/SP on the side, this is what is written under the picture. sports cars are segregated for drag strip competion by the same method used throught out the world to divide up sport car entries for main events-over and under 1500 cubic-centimeters piston displacement. As no restriction regarding wieght is in effect, the builders make a concerted effort to reduce this factor in thier favor. saftey regulations pertaing to street roadsters apply in both of these sports car divisions. I am sure your Bird would have run A/SP. I hope this helps Tom
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By gekko13 - 13 Years Ago
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This is just a guess on my part and should be seen as such but I would say that the 285 hp. motor was a still born victim of the Automobile Manufacturers Association ban on factory racing activities which took effect in the spring of 1957. This action kicked the legs out from under most of the Ford teams in Nascar and to a lesser extent, Chev and Pontiac. For what ever reason, Ford was the strongest adherent to the ban. GM claimed to go along too but were know to leave the back door open for their teams to obtain "favors". Ford did well in spite of themselves in '57 but because of the ban many programs were canceled, literally over night. Concurrently, Nascar banned the superchargers AND GM's fuel injection and mandated single 4 barrel carburetors- goodbye dual carbs. I don't know what the rules were in USAC but their stock car division was much smaller than Nascar and probably couldn't justify the continued manufacture of specialized parts. Eventually Ford realized that they were being scammed and came back with high performance iterations of the new FE engine but it took another few years to get back into serious competition.
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By ecode ragtop - 13 Years Ago
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U.S.A.C. Allowed the use of multible carbs or superchargers in 1957 with Ford winning 12 and Mercury winning 4 races, of the total of 16 races won. Chevy_Pontiac_Olds_Plymouth- never won a race. Ralph Moody driving the #22 Holman Moody supercharged Ford won all 3 races at the Milwaukee mile.
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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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Think I will go with A Sports. Sounds better than B and maybe somone will come up with more info by trying to prove me wrong.
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By yalincoln - 13 Years Ago
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could the 285 hp setup have been the EDB-S intake found at smokey eunic's sale with twin linc. tea pots, a isky RPM 300 cam, and g heads milled .060 from the factory.
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By Oldmics - 13 Years Ago
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The Isky RPM 300 camshaft was not availiable until sometime in the 1960s. Therefore that camshaft would not have been an availiable inside an engine built at the Ford factory late 1956 and/or early 1957. Oldmics
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By yalincoln - 13 Years Ago
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 found this on ebay?
looks like they thought about this one before they settled on the late 56-57 intake with the kidney shaped ports. linkage mounts and vacumm port look like edelbrock?
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