Ford Thunderbolt
BY MARSHA ALLEN PHOTOS BY MARSHA ALLEN
Bill Dismuke has a collection of rare and unusual Ford cars that would make any collector proud. Born in Colquitt, Georgia, 70 years ago, Bill calls Donalsonville, Georgia home.With a home on Panama City Beach and rental properties in the area, he is a regular visitor to Bay County.Bill owns and operates a salvage yard in Donalsonville, “Bill’s Used Parts” that is filled with old cars and car parts.It is a great place to find just the part you are looking for.
One of the rarest cars Bill owns is a 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt, a limited production, factory experimental, drag race-only car, produced by Ford for one year.Limited to 100 units, the first 11 were painted Vintage Burgundy and the remaining 89 all wear Wimbledon White.The Thunderbolt features a “high-rise” 427 cubic inch (7.0L) engine with dual Holley four-barrel carburetors. The factory-installed engine was conservatively rated at 425 horsepower but estimates place the actual horsepower closer to 600.Since the car was not “street legal,” there were no window stickers but, according to Dismuke, the cars sold for “the princely sum of $3,900.”
To reduce weight, fiberglass doors, hoods, and fenders were used along with plexiglass side and rear windows.Non-racing-essential items were eliminated. These included sun visors, radio, heater, hubcaps, passenger side windshield wiper, and many other items. Also deleted were the high-beam headlights that were replaced with mesh covered air intakes.
The car features a distinctive raised teardrop ram air scoop, which aids in keeping the engine cool and is held in place with pins instead of the traditional hood latch.Racing equipment, such as headers, altered rear suspension, and a trunk-mounted battery, were installed.Ford Motor company built 49 of these models with four-speed, and 51 with automatic transmission. The Thunderbolt secured the 1964 NHRA Super Stock title for Ford.
Bill’s Thunderbolt was purchased new by Cook Motor Company in Panama City and was raced for a short time by Pete Mount, a Cook Motor Company salesman.Bill traded Mount a 1963 lightweight Galaxie known as the Rebel Rouser plus $1,000 for the Thunderbolt.At that time, racers kept their own motors so the trade was for the body only. Dismuke raced the Thunderbolt for three years at tracks all across the Southeast, including the Sunset Drag Strip on Panama City Beach. He remembers, “We had to run seven-inch wide tires back then. The best time I turned with the car was an 11:86 at 123 MPH, using a motor built by Ford factory racer Phil Bonner.”
After three years, he sold the Thunderbolt to a collector in Charlotte, North Carolina, who had it fully restored and placed in the North Carolina Auto Racing Museum.It remained there until 2001 when Bill purchased it back to put it on display in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum at the Talladega Superspeedway where it remained for two years.
Bill’s passion for Ford cars started at the age of 14. Until that time, he had been a “Chevy Man” but, in 1960s he attended a drag race in Albany, Georgia and fell in love with a red 1961 Ford Starliner that was racing that day. He says, “I have always been somewhat different.I like to be a little different than most people and I had been noticing that you saw many more Chevy hotrods than Fords.I didn’t want to just be another face in the crowd!”
Bill’s collection includes a variety of automobiles from pristine and fully restored to “under restoration” projects.Several are documented original factory race cars, others are “clones” of race cars of the past, and some are regular production cars.
Bill’s other rare Fords include: 1964 Ford Futura drag car, 1964 Fairlane Wagon drag car, 1967 Fairlane factory 427 two-door sedan, 1957 Skyliner Retractable Hardtop Convertible, 1970 Falcon 429 Super Cobra Jet, 1963 Ford 300, 1964 Futura Falcon drag car, 1961 Starliner (the car that started Bill’s love of Fords), 1968 Mustang Cobra Jet, and a 1963 Lightweight Galaxie, one of 200, known as “The Rebel Rouser” and, like the Thunderbolt, it has been owned twice by Bill.This is the car traded to Pete Mount for the Thunderbolt.
Bill loves to show off the Thunderbolt but, since the car isn’t street legal, the only place to see it is at area car shows and car displays.He is a regular at the Old Drag Racers Reunion (ODRR) held in Panama City and he was inducted into the ODRR Hall of Fame in 2010.
[author image=”https://www.panamacityliving.com/media/2014/07/Marsha-Allen.jpg” ]Marsha Allen is a local photographer and long time Bay County resident. She is the owner/photographer at 2Cool Photography and a founding member of the American Muscle Car Club of Panama City. Her work has been seen in Panama City Living Magazine and displayed at the Visual Arts Center. [/author]