Peter Palmer: Automoblog Book Garage: Ford Total Performance

Book Garage

During the 1960s, the United States faced unprecedented change and cultural revolution. Ford Motor Company, one of America’s great manufacturing names, would also enter a period of significant change.

At the time, baby boomers were a driving force in the automotive industry.

And they were hungry for horsepower.

New Era

Lee Iacocca convinced then Chairman Henry Ford II (Hank the Deuce) to initiate Total Performance, a challenging and risky move to capture this new market of car buyers.

Ford Total Performance details Ford’s racing program from 1961 through 1971, from purpose-built race cars and production performance cars, to some of the most outstanding concepts. In the pages are the likes of the 427 Fairlane Thunderbolt, Mercury Comet, and other V-8 Falcons that competed in the 1963 and 1964 Monte Carlo Rallies.

And who could forget the Boss 302 and 429 Mustangs for drag racing?

This is what a typical Southern California ’32 Ford hot rod looked like back in the day. This one was photographed in 1962 at fifth-mile drags in Virginia Beach, Virginia, running 79.53 miles per hour in the 14s. Owned by Joe Montgomery, its power came from a 100-horsepower, 292-inch flathead with a single carb. Photo by Martyn L. Schorr.

One of the many DePaolo-built ’56 T-Birds that ran at Daytona Beach Speed Weeks on the sand in 1956 and 1957. Note the Moon discs, streamlined headlight covers, and small Plexi screen replacing the full windshield. Ford Motor Company

The radical Mustang I Experimental Sports Car, with body by Troutman & Barnes and a 109-horsepower German Ford V-4, was built in just a few months and shown to the public with Dan Gurney driving at the US Grand Prix, Watkins Glen. Ford Motor Company

Author

Martyn L. Schorr has dedicated his life to performance cars, working with many top names in racing over the course of fifty years. He rode with Carroll Shelby and was at the press conference in New York for the Lola-built Ford GT that became the GT40. Schorr later drove the GT40 on streets of New York City and accompanied Mickey Thompson in 1969 to Bonneville, where a host of new records were set.

Schorr is also the author of Motion Performance.

The foreward is penned by Lee Holman, son of John Holman, President of Holman & Moody.

Dan Gurney in Lotus-Ford No. 93, testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Looking on are Jim Clark, Colin Chapman, and Ford Special Vehicles executives. Gurney qualified to start in twelfth position at 149.019 miles per hour. He finished seventh. Ford Motor Company

At speed on the road course at Ford Proving Ground. Even with patches of snow and ice, I found the Falcon handled more like a well-sorted-out competition sports car than a beefed-up sedan. Quick steering with 2.25 turns lock to lock was really appreciated. Ford Motor Company

Nobody sat down at the 1964 NHRA Indy Nationals when Jack Chrisman staged his B/FD 427 Comet. They knew there was going to be plenty of smoke when Chrisman launched his 1,000-horsepower, supercharged, fuel-burning Comet. The only class it fit into in NHRA was for fuel dragsters! Best runs were in the high 6s at over 155 miles per hour. Photo by Martyn L. Schorr.

Hitting the Road

Ford Total Performance takes us back in time with unpublished period photographs and artwork from Ford designers. The book is revealing in a number of ways: it shows us not just automotive history but a cultural significance. It details not just where we have been but why we went there in the first place.

The pages capture an entire generation but in doing so, makes me wonder, in the next fifty years, if we will have a book of the same magnitude? And if so, what things would those pages say about our automobiles of today? Would they capture a culture as bold and brave as the one in Ford Total Performance?

Ford Total Performance is available through Amazon and Motorbooks.

*Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan.