Ford Galaxie 500 - 427 Cammer 1964

[Sick Cylinder]

The Ford Galaxie was raced in NASCAR and on road courses with Jack Sears winning the British Saloon Car Championship in 1963 (he used a Lotus Cortina for some rounds).

In 1964 Ford developed the “Cammer” motor in order to beat the Hemi motors of the Mopar teams in NASCAR racing. Unfortunately, NASCAR President, Bill France increased the number of units that had to be manufactured to homologate engines with the result that the new Ford engine was declared illegal for NASCAR. With Dual 4 Barrel carburetion the cammer produced in excess of 650 bhp out of the crate.

Only about 200 “Cammer” motors were built and most found their way into Drag racing, where they were very successful in the F/X Mustangs. Had this extraordinary engine not been banned from NASCAR Racing it would have undoubtedly ended up in the 1964 Ford Galaxie. This car was built to show what that car would have been like when prepared for racing.

NB The timing chain was so long that the cams had to be separately timed to account for chain stretch at peak power RPM.

Gran Turismo sometimes gives us the chance to drive cars that never quite made it to the track such as the Jaguar XJ13 - the Galaxie 500-427 Cammer was just such a car that never was, but I would love to drive it on road circuits and ovals and sample that 650hp!

 

[Aero2000]

Nice car and historic but to get my vote, it's need to be a roadversion. Sorry, I don't like the scoop on the hood.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

That shape of bonnet bulge is very common on the Fairlane 500 - I presume it was necessary to give clearance for the 427 SOHC motor - you also see that bulge on cars fitted with the 427 FE motor - presumably when they are using a higher rise inlet manifold. Bear in mind that the FE motor has 200bhp less than the SOHC (Cammer)

This link shows a perfect condition Ford Fairlane 500 with standard 427 FE motor. The 427 SOHC (Cammer) motor was very expensive - nearly twice the price of the complete standard car in the link. Personally I like the race car because of the unique story behind the engine - they were only sold for race use, but it is possible some of the 200 engines made may have been used on the street.There are a lot of fake / reproduction Cammer motors around today as it is easy to convert the 427 FE block and fit reproduction SOHC heads.

http://www.packautomotivemuseum.com/c99.html

 

[Aero2000]

That shape of bonnet bulge is very common on the Fairlane 500 - I presume it was necessary to give clearance for the 427 SOHC motor - you also see that bulge on cars fitted with the 427 FE motor - presumably when they are using a higher rise inlet manifold. Bear in mind that the FE motor has 200bhp less than the SOHC (Cammer)

This link shows a perfect condition Ford Fairlane 500 with standard 427 FE motor. The 427 SOHC (Cammer) motor was very expensive - nearly twice the price of the complete standard car in the link. Personally I like the race car because of the unique story behind the engine - they were only sold for race use, but it is possible some of the 200 engines made may have been used on the street.There are a lot of fake / reproduction Cammer motors around today as it is easy to convert the 427 FE block and fit reproduction SOHC heads.

http://www.packautomotivemuseum.com/c99.html

The car in the link is so beautiful

 

[Sick Cylinder]

Agreed, the black car is great, but the motor is the star of this thread!

 

[Aero2000]

Agreed, the black car is great, but the motor is the star of this thread!

View attachment 122099

Haha put some Wheels on the Engine joke

 

[Slash]

Nice car and historic but to get my vote, it's need to be a roadversion. Sorry, I don't like the scoop on the hood.

There is no road version with this engine. This was a factory produced drag racing car and only 50 were built.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

There is no road version with this engine. This was a factory produced drag racing car and only 50 were built.

As Slash says, there is no road version because the engine was banned by the NASCAR authorities, however it would almost certainly have been an option in the 1964 Galaxie if the change in homologation numbers hadn't made the project too expensive. If the Ford motor had been allowed in NASCAR the other factories would have fought back with their own cammer motors (they already had designs ready).

My understanding is that one Galaxie was manufactured with the Cammer motor for NASCAR use and was briefly track tested, but never raced because the engine was banned. A few of the motors were fitted to and drag raced in the F/X Mustangs.

The motor wasn't originally intended for drag use - it was designed for NASCAR using the existing FE 427 NASCAR block and a cylinder head design based on the Ford Indy engine. The motor was only available as a crate engine.

The following link is an example of an original Cobra retro-fitted by Shelby with a 427 Cammer motor - must be a real handful to drive!

http://cobracountry.com/cobra4salefolder/malone-CSX4786/home.html

 

[Slash]

Because of its banning Ford fired back with the Boss 429 and then the Torino King Cobra which subsequently also got banned for the same reason the 427 Cammer did...it was simply too fast.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

Because of its banning Ford fired back with the Boss 429 and then the Torino King Cobra which subsequently also got banned for the same reason the 427 Cammer did...it was simply too fast.

This link says the Torino King Cobra was cancelled because of Ford's budget cuts and the body produced rear lift making it unstable at high speeds. Interesting car though.

 

[Slash]

This link says the Torino King Cobra was cancelled because of Ford's budget cuts and the body produced rear lift making it unstable at high speeds. Interesting car though.

I read from the registry that NASCAR banned it because it was too aerodynamic.

Could have been a combination of both?

 

[Aero2000]

There is no road version with this engine. This was a factory produced drag racing car and only 50 were built.

I didnt say that just this car needs to be a road version, I was saying that Ford Galaxie 500 needs to be a road verson if I would lay a vote on the car