They used to say, “it takes a Ford to catch a Ford,” but by 1956 that was eroding. Sure, Ford beat Chevrolet to the punch by introducing its overhead-valve Y-block V-8 for the 1954 model year, but Chevrolet was wasting no time in catching up. Its high-winding 265-cu.in. V-8 was very well received when it arrived for 1955 and got even better for ’56 when the 205-hp (180-hp in 1955) Power Pack engine was supplemented with a 225-hp dual-quad version.
Ford countered with its own dual-quads for ’57, in the form of the E-code 312-cu.in. V-8, which made 270 horsepower in street trim and 285 hp when paired with Ford’s “Racing Kit.” By then, though, Chevrolet had introduced its Rochester Ram Jet mechanical fuel injection, pumping the output of its enlarged, 283-cu.in. V-8 to the psychologically important one-horsepower-per- cubic-inch.
Ford’s answer was not to embrace the complicated and hard-to-tune technology of fuel injection, but rather to collaborate with Paxton to develop a supercharged version of the 312, coded “F” and blowing through a single Holley four-barrel. In street trim, this setup produced 300 hp at 4,800 rpm, and when tuned up for use on the NASCAR circuits, it put out 340 hp at 5,300 rpm. The Thunderbird Special Supercharged V-8 was available in any Ford chassis from the bare-bones Custom lineup through the prestigious Fairlane 500 and the Thunderbird.
Although the chassis was still derived from the new one introduced for 1954, all Fords for 1957 were longer than they had been in 1956. The Fairlane and Fairlane 500 had an extra 2½ inches of wheelbase and were 9 inches longer overall. The Custom and Custom 300, though, were only 1½ inches longer in wheelbase and 3 inches longer overall. Perhaps more importantly, a Fairlane 500 two-door hardtop weighed 3,442 pounds while a Custom two-door sedan, like the one seen here, tipped the scales at 3,276 pounds— not quite as light as the equivalent Chevrolet, but close enough especially when the extra power from the Ford engine was factored in.
Ford General Manager Robert McNamara had guessed correctly when he asked product planners to build the long-wheelbase Fairlanes, knowing that public tastes were favoring increased luxury from even the low-priced brands, but those who made their living driving fast cars were grateful that the F-code could be had in the shorter, cheaper ’57s as well. Count among those both NASCAR drivers and their country cousins, the moonshine runners.
Moonshiners had long favored V-8 Fords for transporting their untaxed and therefore illegal corn liquor from still to market, and this particular car was purchased new by one such backwoods entrepreneur in Tennessee. We don’t know exactly the eventful life this car lead with its original owner, but by the time young Rich Stuck, of Brick Township, New Jersey, first spotted it in 1965, it was showing its age—including the complete absence of its original engine. In fact, it was destined for a second life as a stock car (and not the genteel kind it might have been in 1957) before Rich purchased it for $150 and dragged it home.
It wasn’t until much later that Rich discovered that he’d purchased an original F-code car or what that even meant. Initially, with a remanufactured Y-block underhood, it was just his ’70s street machine, including Custom 300 fenders and trim, and a flame paintjob. It was the 1980s by the time its provenance became evident, and thankfully Rich had saved all the original parts he’d removed.
Those parts that hadn’t been present, notably all the supercharger-related elements, including the unique heads and intake manifold, were tracked down over time. Although only 350 to 450 F-codes were produced, there is a vibrant community devoted to preserving and restoring these cars and they are all too willing to help see another resurrected.
Not every part to turn this one back into factory original has even been reinstalled at this point, either, with Rich preferring to maintain the car’s hot-rod history as well. The correct, column-shifted Borg-Warner T-85 three-speed, for example (available with or without overdrive) isn’t present, with a later Ford Toploader four-speed in its place, controlled via an adapted ’57 Ford truck floor-shift lever. Likewise, a set of Mummert aluminum cylinder heads reside atop the 312 short-block, bumping compression up slightly to 8.7:1. The innards of the original VR-57 supercharger have also been replaced with pieces from a newer Paxton SN.
Perhaps most importantly, for a car that is driven occasionally in anger, the ’57 sports 1970’s Granada disc brakes up front and an anti-roll bar. It also has 4.10 cogs out back in place of the original 3.56s for better acceleration—an easy enough change thanks to the ’57’s original 9-inch rear. Finally, a 2-inch drop makes the car look more like an ad for a ’57 Ford rather than what you might have actually found on the dealer lot that year.
Finished in a screaming fire-engine red, it’s hard to call Rich’s Red Lightening a “sleeper,” but from its low-line trim, dog-dish hubcaps, and blackwall tires, it certainly has the no-nonsense, all-business look down. It’s a great illustration of an era in Detroit history that could have been so much more but for NASCAR’s anti-technology decrees and the pesky AMA racing ban that would put the lid on domestic performance for a few years before finally exploding into the muscle-car greatness of the ’60s. It kinda makes you wonder “what if?”
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine OHV Ford Y-block V-8; cast-iron block and aluminum heads
Displacement 312-cu.in.
Horsepower 340 @ 5,300 rpm
Torque 324 lb-ft @ 2,600 rpm
Fuel system Holley four-barrel carburetor (with modified Paxton VR-57 supercharger)
Transmission Four-speed Ford Toploader (original: three-speed Borg-Warner T-85)
Wheelbase 116 in
Length 201.7 in
Width 77 in
Height 57.2 in
Weight 3,276 lb
