Quote:
Originally Posted by 427FE
Why? The minimum of 100 cars were built. The fenders and hood were glass and very few received glass doors.
|
Well I thought I'd heard fiberglass body parts other than hoods were banned after 1964, which made sense since both Ford and Mopar stopped running their 1964 S/S cars. Maybe not then.
So Ford probably just stopped running the T-bolt after 1964 because it wasnt competitive any more?
And then, if the 427 HiRiser WAS factored down to 450hp for 1969, that moved the T-Bolt down into SS/D=7.00 class
3206/450=7.12
So it appeared after a long hiatus from 1965-66-67-68?
This would have put the 64 Gal LWG into SS/F=8.00 class at
3749/450=8.33
But, I dont see any there, at least no winners.
So if fiberglass was legal all those years, what happened to the 64 Hemi Mopars? They were lighter than the 65 A990 Hemi's but the 64's just disappeared, like the 64 T-Bolts.
I was a little young back then so dont remember this stuff!
EDIT:
Ok I re-discovered a partial answer.
In 1965 & 1966, S/S had to be at least 8 lb per CID, meaning the 1964 Race Hemi's and T-bolts were banned. Too light.
That's why the 1965 A990 weighed *exactly* 3408 - to meet that 3408/426=8.00 NHRA requirement.
In 1967, the same rule applied but only to SS/A.
But the 64 Race Hemi and 64 T-Bolt fell into SS/A, so they were banned for that year too.
In 1968, same rule, SS/A minimum 8 lb/CID, but the 64 Race Hemi and T-Bolt fell into SS/B=6.00-6.99, so I guess they could've legally run?
Sure, but they'd both be up against the new Race Hemi Dart/Cuda, so no point.
For 1969, SS/C=6.50 which let the 64 Race Hemi's avoid the 68 Dart/Cuda but still run, and they did.
And, with the T-bolt 427 HiRiser factored down to 450hp (apparently), they could run in SS/D=7.00 so they did.
Just to complete the narrative:
Prior to 1969, I believe the 427 HiRiser had to be factored to 490-500hp.
Why?
Well it didnt affect anything in 1964. The T-bolt ran in S/S and the LWG ran in AA/S=7.00 as long as the 427HR was factored at 460hp to 500hp.
But the May 1967 NHRA records show Mike Schmitt's LWG holding both ends of SS/BA=7.00-7.69 with 11.66 and 121.78.
To be all the way up into SS/BA, the 427HR had to be factored to at least 490hp so then 3749/490=7.65. Any factoring below that will drop the LWG into SS/CA=7.70-8.69 class.
So I'm concluding the 427HR was factored at 490-500hp up thru 1968, then down to 450hp for 1969 which is why the T-Bolt re-appeared for one last year. The 64 LWG could compete in 1967-68 in the SS/7.00 class but would be up against the Ro23/Wo23 Mopars and 427MR T-Wedge Fairlanes and just wasn't up to that. So they disappeared.
OK well if THAT all makes sense, thanks for helping with my thought process.
"It was my understanding, that there would be no math"
- - Chevy Chase as Gerald R Ford, 1976 presidential debate on SNL