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Celebrate NHRA History With This 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt

By Steven Symes Nov 13, 2019

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By Steven Symes Nov 13, 2019

This car was raced by Phil Bonner back in the day.

There are special cars and then there are completely unique cars. This 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt belongs in the latter group, thanks to its distinct motorsports heritage. Piloted by Phil Bonner in the 1964 NHRA Super Stock class, there’s a lot of history in this old racer. And now it could be yours.

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["Celebrate NHRA History With This 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt"]

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An extensive, thorough restoration performed by the capable hand of Donald Allen, who has experience restoring limited-production Fords, ensures the true character of this car has been preserved while making it worthy of displaying in the best automotive museums in the country. Looking at that Vintage Burgundy exterior with the distinct race livery is enough to transport some people back to 1964.

If this car looks familiar and you weren’t around back when it was racing, there could be good reason for that. It has been featured in Old Cars Weekly/Sale and Muscle Car Review, plus photos of it are floating all around the internet since it’s such a lust-worthy vehicle.

Even if it hadn’t been raced by Phil Bonner, this Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt would still be a special car. All 100 units produced were made for drag racing only. Ford took the lightweight Ford Fairlane bodies and paried the with the dual-quad Galaxie engines. While you know the Ford Galaxie saw a lot of success in NASCAR, it was too heavy for the drag strip, but this combination took care of that problem.

As you would want with any highly collectible, valuable vehicle, the history of this Ford has been thoroughly documented. After the 1964 NHRA season, Gene Wilson, who was on Bonners race crew, repainted it and raced the car. Eventually it was stored in a barn in Georgia before Donald Allen was able to convince the owner to let it go. Allen has a reputation for putting significant cars through thorough restorations, which is exactly what he did here.

What you see outside and in is a faithful reproduction of how the car looked during the 1964 NHRA season. Phil Bonner himself tried to buy the car, so this is your chance to grab it first. This is the ultimate toy for someone who wants something beyond your average American classic car. If you think that’s you, contact RK Motors, which is handling the sale.