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.

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.

"Fortunately the statute of limitations has expired on most of this."

That's for sure. 

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.

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.

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.....................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

well, you can start your numbering with the Hot Rod Reverend - I would read them.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

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. 

Phil:
You need to write an article on your stories for the Y block magazine!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

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.