The primary 1962 Ford Fairlanes, initially offered solely in two- and 4-door sedan guise, had been aimed on the everyday-transportation end of the market spectrum. Lee lacocca, named normal supervisor of Ford Division in 1960, had some bold ideas in mind for the company’s future, however they weren’t yet underneath approach in 1962. Two trim ranges went on sale: the basic line and an upscale Fairlane 500. A gussied-up two-door sedan, CharLynn the Fairlane 5UU Sports Coupe joined the group somewhat later.
Regardless of the motivations behind its design and engineering efforts. Ford had its most illustrious NASCAR season up to now in 1963. Dan Gurney won the inaugural occasion in January the Riverside 500. From there, Fords captured each race of 500 miles or extra: the Daytona 500, with Tiny Lund at the wheel; the Atlanta 500 and the Charlotte World 600, with Fred Lorenzen aboard; and the Southern 500, with new Ford convert Fireball Roberts within the chair. When the 55-race season was over, Fords had won 23 times — together with one stretch of seven straight — to runner-up Plymouth’s 19 triumphs.
In contrast to gas engines, diesel engines function using compression ignition and require a heavy engine block to withstand the large forces at play inside them. That same compression ignition means the engine function with the next compression ratio throughout the cylinders, thereby producing more energy. That power is translated to torque, or rotational energy, by way of special gearing within the transmission — mixers have anyplace from 7 to 18 gears and can be handbook or automatic, and differentials.
Placed on sale in April 1962, the Jetfire two-door hardtop — primarily based on the F-eighty five Cutlass — held a turbo-boosted edition of the 215-cid V-eight good for 215 bhp at 4600 rpm and 300 pound-feet of torque at 3200 revs. That figure of 1 horsepower per cubic inch, first achieved in 1956 by the Chrysler 300-B, was a practically magical number to fans at the time.
Lifting the doorways was a chore, and getting in or out required sliding over broad sills that harbored the fuel tanks. Footwells had been slender and angled, the windscreen acted as a greenhouse, solely part of the facet glass opened, and visibility was awful. But few contemporaries had been as fast, and none was as wanton. This car, wrote journalist Pete Lyons, “treats velocity with the identical casual contempt it does society.”
