Thought I would throw this up on the racing forum to remind us all of the name and reputation a Y block has among the general public who are realistic when it comes to our great engine's place in history (then and now).

I went to Carlisle, PA, today for their annual Ford show - lots of rain, so I hung out at all of the swap spaces that took about 3-4 hours of time to peruse. Wouldn't you know it...I spotted 2 mcculloch blowers. One was a demo "cutaway" version for a sales man I guess, and the other was one that had been rebuilt.

The owner and I began discussing VS57's because I was talking to him about Y blocks, needing a carb bonnet, etc. This eventually led to Ford and Paxton's work on the VR blower. Well, this fella was a Korean War vet, did some time as an NHRA official in the 50's etc.

He said there was a guy with a 57 Ford passenger car, blown 312 (VR57), back in the late 50's that ran at a drag race in Detroit, MI. He said this fella was eating up chevy's left and right. He also said that this Y blocker had put 4 speed gears in a 3 speed transmission case, and the NHRA allowed it because the rules were not specific enough...He mentioned John??? Hoosier could that have been you by any chance?

Anyway, it was good to spend some time with him benchracing the Y!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Daniel:

I was in another state yesterday, just got back.  The guy in Michingan with the 4 speed '57 was Paul Stefansky.  I saw him run the car at the US Nationals in about '61, heard him shift it 3 times, and wondered how he ever got that overdrive to kick in that fast.  Some years later I got the story.  When Warner Gear was starting their T-10 program, they took the T-85 case, bored the back of the case for the two piece reverse gear, cast an aluminum tail housing, and put 4 speeds in the T-85 case and reverse in the tail housing for their prototypes.  I don't know if Paul built his own, or if he got ahold of one of the WG units.  He was sponsored by Andy Hotton, who did a lot of development work and special projects for Ford back then.

The NHRA rules at the time stated that the transmission had to have the original case and at least as many forward gears as the original.  After Paul proved the trans was legal according to the rules, NHRA changed the rules.  The unfair part of that rule change was that '57 scrubs could run 4 speeds because they were offered as an option in corvettes in '57, but it was general knowledge that gm didn't offer them in '57 passenger cars.  And then there were the scrub sedan deliveries with fuel injection (engine swaps within the division was allowed) and 4 speed Hydromatic transmissions, because the SD was considered a truck, and gm offered HMs in their trucks.  If you wanted to get the late Richard Gaston fired up, mention that scenerio to him.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"