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Road racing T-bird


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#1 RShaw

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 14:53

This is a picture of a Thunderbird taken at Meadowdale Raceway near Chicago in May of 1959. T-birds were never common in road racing, but this can't be the only one. I don't know who was driving it, nor anything about the car, but perhaps someone can enlighten me. I saw this car race a couple of time in midwest races and it always seemed to run well. Not particularly competitive, but seemingly well-prepared.
I have seen reference to a '55 T-bird called the "Blunderbird", but the picture I saw of it looked like a white car. Is this the same car repainted?


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Ron Shaw Photo


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#2 David Birchall

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 16:45

In the early nineties a white T'bird was racing on the West Coast-it was reputed to be an original racing car from the fifties and looked like the black car in your photo-I have a photo of it somewhere and will see if I can find it.

#3 kayemod

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 16:54

I'm sure I ought to know this, but what's the car in front?

#4 Jerry Entin

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 20:30

There was only one Thunderbird in the May 1959 USAC race at Meadowdale, although I have the car under number 8, obviously incorrect unless the photo was taken in practice and this was a sister car. The T-Bird that ran the race had Dick Moseley as its driver. It had a 5.1-liter engine and ran in BM. It was the first retirement of the day. The car in front is the Micro-Lube 300S/Chevy driven by Sonny McDaniels.

Additional T-Birds were raced by John Haas in the Midwest and Paul Packard in the Southwest. And then there were the two Pete de Paolo cars built by Chuck Daigh in California, and raced professionally at New Smyrna in 1957 and Daytona in 1959.


Above information: Willem Oosthoek

#5 HistoricMustang

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 20:39

Ron, might I be allowed to expand the thread a bit to another successful campaign of the T-Bird Badge?

Henry :wave:

#6 kayemod

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 21:03

The car in front is the Micro-Lube 300S/Chevy driven by Sonny McDaniels.


Thanks Jerry, knew I could rely on you. All at the same time, that leading car looked both familiar and 'not quite right'.


#7 scags

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Posted 30 August 2009 - 23:10

There's a picture of someone driving a T- Bird in the 57' Mille Miglia, in Lurani's book. Unfortunatly, the driver isn't listed.

#8 RShaw

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 00:51

Ron, might I be allowed to expand the thread a bit to another successful campaign of the T-Bird Badge?

Henry :wave:


Have at it. One never knows where a "thread" may lead.

Jerry's comment puts paid to my impression about the car being well prepared. Maybe it wasn't such a swell buggy after all.
I think it is interesting how huge the T-bird looks compared to the Maser. We (Americans) think of the 'bird as being a small car. The Maserati looks tiny by comparison.
To my recollection, the photo was taken either during the race itself or on the pace lap.
RonS.

Edited by RShaw, 31 August 2009 - 00:55.


#9 antonvrs

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 02:16

The T-Bird in the photo above is either a '55, or a '56 with the "Continental" spare removed.
The Pete De Paolo cars were '57s. IIRC, one of the '57s had a heavily modified Y-block and the other one had a large displacement Lincoln V8. I think, though I'm not positive, that the one running on the west coast in recent years is a replica.
Anton

#10 RA Historian

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 02:40

I have seen reference to a '55 T-bird called the "Blunderbird", but the picture I saw of it looked like a white car.

John Haas had a Thunderbird, a '55 if memory serves, that he raced in the Midwest c1957. It was painted white, and had a Thunderbird with a broken neck painted on the headrest, along with the word, "Blunderbird". He won class BM in the 1957 Road America 500, co-driving with Bob Rolofson. A couple weeks later he finished second overall, first in class BM, at the SCCA Regional at the Milwaukee Mile road course. Off hand, cannot think of any other races, but no doubt there were some more. There was a photo of it in Road & Track in connection with the Milwaukee race. Cannot say if the car in the photo is the same, repainted, but the headrest addition matches my memory.
Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 31 August 2009 - 02:42.


#11 raceannouncer2003

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 05:52

There was only one Thunderbird in the May 1959 USAC race at Meadowdale, although I have the car under number 8, obviously incorrect unless the photo was taken in practice and this was a sister car. The T-Bird that ran the race had Dick Moseley as its driver. It had a 5.1-liter engine and ran in BM. It was the first retirement of the day.


Competition Press had the following:

"...Don Moseley's Thunderbird Special driven by his brother Jim crashed after the Meadowdale 'take-off' bridge with the driver unhurt but the car out of it..."

while Motoracing said:

"...Dick Moseley, Evanston, Ill., in a battered, flapping modified T-Bird, flipped on lap 9 after shearing a right front stub axle, but escaped injury..."

Vince H.



#12 Tuboscocca

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 06:25

To Scags

Mille Miglia 1957:

car Ford Thunderbird racenumber 434 run by F.Smadsa and Anna Raselli, 137. overall in 15h 11min 11 sec.

Regards Michael

#13 Wouter Melissen

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 09:55

There was one at the Monterey Historics earlier this month, racing against a Scarab, several Listers, Devins and Ferraris:

http://www.ultimatec...y.php?num=18138

#14 scags

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 11:15

To Scags

Mille Miglia 1957:

car Ford Thunderbird racenumber 434 run by F.Smadsa and Anna Raselli, 137. overall in 15h 11min 11 sec.

Regards Michael Thanks, Michael.



#15 ZOOOM

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 13:44

http://www.ultimatec...y.php?num=18138

Interesting... The white 'bird at monteray still sports the "Pure Oil" roundell that was given to all compeditors at Meadowdale in exchange for racing fuel.
Couldn't be the same car....could it?
ZOOOM

#16 antonvrs

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 14:58

Once again, the T-bird pictured at Meadowdale is a '55, the car at Monterey is a '57.
There is a photo in Giovanni Canestrini's "Mille Miglia" of the T-bird in the '57 MM; it appears to be a '55.
Anton

#17 hlfuzzball

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 15:21

Saw a white Thunderbird at the INDOOR Race at the Chicago Amphitheatre in 1958. Wasen't handling very well, suffered severe wheel-hop under braking, so much so that it spit out the driveshaft right in front of me, when entering a 90 degree turn on the flat concrete floor.

#18 Ray Bell

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 20:17

This car looks to be chopped about significantly...

The wheel arches are cut right up high to accommodate what appear to be much larger tyres.

I try to avoid looking at what's happened to the true beauty of a 300S.

#19 RA Historian

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 20:29

The Maserati 300-S pictured in the initial post was the subject of a series of posts and photos in another thread here on TNF. It was owned by Eb Rose, sponsored by Micro-Lube, and powered by a Chevy V-8. Later in this season it crashed hard at the September Meadowdale USAC race and was partially burnt out. Earlier in its life it was owned by Briggs Cunningham, Phil Stewart, and Jack Hinkle.
Tom

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#20 Jerry Entin

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Posted 31 August 2009 - 21:56

The "true beauty" of a 1955 short-nose 300S Maserati does not help much when you tried to be competitive in 1958 and beyond. By then it was not even second-hand but fourth-hand, as Tom indicates: Cunningham, Stewart, Hinkle and Carroll Shelby Sports Car Inc, which is where Hinkle used it as a trade in for a new 200SI. When Ebb Rose bought the car, a Chevy was the only way to go. Even with a new 300S engine the car would have been obsolete.

In fact, apart from the hood bulge to accommodate the Chevy V8, the shape of car in the photo does not look much different from when it left the factory in 1955.

above information: Willem Oosthoek

#21 buckaluck

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Posted 02 September 2009 - 00:03

Once again, the T-bird pictured at Meadowdale is a '55, the car at Monterey is a '57.
There is a photo in Giovanni Canestrini's "Mille Miglia" of the T-bird in the '57 MM; it appears to be a '55.
Anton


Not sure but I don't think the year is the question but if the 55-57 era tBirds were raced and how many.
The white one mentioned I have seen but there are at least two others that I may have pictures of just need to dig a bit and see
what i come up with.

Buck


#22 grandprix61

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Posted 03 September 2009 - 11:44

The Maserati 300-S pictured in the initial post was the subject of a series of posts and photos in another thread here on TNF. It was owned by Eb Rose, sponsored by Micro-Lube, and powered by a Chevy V-8. Later in this season it crashed hard at the September Meadowdale USAC race and was partially burnt out. Earlier in its life it was owned by Briggs Cunningham, Phil Stewart, and Jack Hinkle.
Tom

Here is the Maserati bonfire. I recall Lloyd Ruby drove the car. That must have been a Labor Day Race. I think Ricardo Rodriguez was in that race and flipped trying to stay with Jeffords in the Scarab. Eventual winner. I have a good shot of the Thunderbird and will post later in the day. Ron N http://img140.images...serfire9608.jpgPosted Image

#23 RA Historian

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Posted 03 September 2009 - 14:29

Here is the Maserati bonfire. I recall Lloyd Ruby drove the car. That must have been a Labor Day Race. I think Ricardo Rodriguez was in that race and flipped trying to stay with Jeffords in the Scarab. Eventual winner. I have a good shot of the Thunderbird and will post later in the day. Ron N

It was the Labor Day USAC race weekend, Ron, but Lloyd Ruby did not drive this car in the race. Ruby drove the other Eb Rose entry, a Maserati 450-S. This car, a 300-S with a Chevy engine, usually was driven by Rose himself. It was entered by Rose this weekend for Wayne Weiler, but Ruby did drive it in practice.

The Ricardo Rodriguez crash happened at an earlier event in the year. The winner of this race was Augie Pabst in the Meister Brauser Scarab. Jeffords was a DNF this weekend.

See the Lloyd Ruby obit thread for more info on this incident. Also, the Edwards Special thread has a photo by Ron of the 'Blunderbird' at Meadowdale.

Tom

Edited by RA Historian, 03 September 2009 - 14:38.


#24 grandprix61

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Posted 03 September 2009 - 21:49

It was the Labor Day USAC race weekend, Ron, but Lloyd Ruby did not drive this car in the race. Ruby drove the other Eb Rose entry, a Maserati 450-S. This car, a 300-S with a Chevy engine, usually was driven by Rose himself. It was entered by Rose this weekend for Wayne Weiler, but Ruby did drive it in practice.

The Ricardo Rodriguez crash happened at an earlier event in the year. The winner of this race was Augie Pabst in the Meister Brauser Scarab. Jeffords was a DNF this weekend.

See the Lloyd Ruby obit thread for more info on this incident. Also, the Edwards Special thread has a photo by Ron of the 'Blunderbird' at Meadowdale.

Tom

Well, I knew Tom would clear things up. I am not sure who was in the spring pro race and then the following one over Labor Day. If you remember Jim Rathman wiped out a Lister at the end of the main straight. Ray Boldt ( a great racing photographer in the midwest) was at the corner and said the car was end over end at about 20 feet in the air. I think Jim walked away from it but really shaken. Forgot the Thunderbird was posted earlier, but for this thread here it is again. Hope to see you Midwest TNF fellows at the Meadowdale car show and Meister-Bauser 50th reunion at the track on Sept. 19th. Ron
http://img249.images...adthunder72.jpg Posted Image

#25 RShaw

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Posted 03 September 2009 - 23:09

Looks to me like the white T-bird and the black T-bird could be the same car with different paint.
Same rear wheel cut-out, same shape to the windshield (not easily seen on the black one), same leather hood straps in the rear corner of the hood, same headrest shape, same hole in the side behind the front wheel.

Edited by RShaw, 03 September 2009 - 23:11.


#26 ray b

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 00:03

hopelessly nose heavy and over weight cars
with basic untweeked passenger car bits
I am surprised anyone even tryed to race the birds


#27 Jerry Entin

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 01:38

Posted Image
John Haas and his T-Bird
John raced this modified T-Bird around the Midwest.



photo Willem Oosthoek collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 04 September 2009 - 01:41.


#28 Joe Bosworth

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 04:42


Circa 1955/6 there was also at least one stock T-bird that ran in large production class races in the Midwest. I vividly remember it/they running against the first of the Vettes and Jags and MB 300SLs at Road America.

Never quite on pace with Jags and got worse as brakes further faded.

Regards

#29 ZOOOM

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 14:32

Posted Image
John Haas and his T-Bird
John raced this modified T-Bird around the Midwest.



photo Willem Oosthoek collection


Next to the "bird" looks to be Ronny Kaplin (in the pork pie hat) and the famous corvette of Jim Jeffords, the "Purple People Eater".

ZOOOM

#30 HistoricMustang

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Posted 24 September 2009 - 20:32

Any information on this one sitting on the beach (perhaps Daytona)?

Is that the Holman & Moody "Competition Proven" emblem?

http://racersreunion...scarmedium111-1

Henry :wave:

#31 hlfuzzball

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Posted 24 September 2009 - 23:54

That bird was run at the Daytona Beach Pure Oil Speed Trials.
Built by Bill Stroppe in Long Beach, Ca. Danny Eames is pictured with the car.
He drove it then in straight line runs on the sands of the beach. There was a second Thunderbird also
with a big Lincoln engine and Hilborn injection that ran in the modified class.

#32 Sunbeam74

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Posted 08 October 2009 - 13:52

I ran across this website the other day:

http://www.3dog.org/...thunderbird.htm

Steve

#33 ssperka

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Posted 27 January 2011 - 15:56

After reading this interesting thread, I did some nosing around on T'birds racing in period and discovered something that should surprise all on this list. Entered, but Did Not Arrive, for the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hour race, were 2 Ford Thunderbirds, V-8 powered and entered in the S8000 class, and entered by none other than Luigi Chinetti, Sr.! You can find support for this statement at 1957 LeMans Entries. Down near the bottom of the page, entries # 63 and # 64. I find that pretty interesting!! Can anyone expand on this information?? I can't wait!
-Scott