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4-years before the original Mustang V8
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Posted by: Mr. P

Motor Trend

August 1960

Compacts With Go-Packs

"Money is a secondary consideration for the lucky owners of these cars. If they wanted economy, they would have left their compact, six-cylinder engines alone!"

Bill Stroppe shoehorning a V8 into a 1960 fordor sedan. Spring housings and firewall brackets reshaped. Floor tunnel enlarged to fit Cruise-O-Matic. 1959 3.10 rear axle. "Except for stiffer coil springs in front, both the suspension and braking systems are stock, ample for extra load."

Merc 312 V8, bored .060" over stock, displaces 320 cubic inches. Compression raised to 10 to 1, four barrel carb added. Street cam by Racer Brown.

Falcon equipped with Mercury 312 V8 and Cruise-O-Matic transmission. Owner William Clay.

Ford inline 6 equipped with Paxton supercharger(#SN-60). Unit delivered 10 pounds of boost and retailed for $299.50. It reportedly cut 0-60 times by "six to eight" seconds and quarter mile times by 3 seconds.

Bill Stroppe, by the way, became pretty notorious for running Ford products, including the Pikes Peak run and NASCAR.

Odd, Ford eventually developed the Falcon body/frame unit into the Fairlane, and then into the original Mustang. When they offered the first Mustang V8, I guess they knew exactly what they were getting, because 4 years earlier people were dogging it around in V8 powered Falcons, and I’ll bet those were a blast.

Mr. P

Posted by: Mr. P

"Ford inline 6 equipped with Paxton supercharger(#SN-60). Unit delivered 10 pounds of boost and retailed for $299.50. It reportedly cut 0-60 times by "six to eight" seconds and quarter mile times by 3 seconds."

Somehow these numbers don't look right. The 0-60 on a stock Falcon must have been what, something like 15 seconds, and the quarter would be probably in the half minute range, ha ha./

Mr. P

Posted by: Grape Ape

I'd think it should read: cut 0-60mph times TO 6 to 8 seconds.

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