ONBOARD: 1959 Ford Thunderbird wrestled through the pack! | Goodwood Revival

Ride onboard as Fred Shepherd steps into the boots left by Tom Kristensen in 2017, to take us on a trip through the St Mary's Trophy at the 2023 Goodwood Revival. Built by the Bill Shepherd Automotive team, this Holman Moody, ex-Nascar #fordthunderbird runs to European historic racing regulations and on historic racing cross-ply tyres!
For more information, visit our website: www.billshepherdautomotive.com
Driver's Instagram: / fred_shepherd_racing
BSA Instagram: / bill_shepherd_automotive

[@robertwenzell9510]

Holman-Moody rides again.."Competition Proven "

[@WilliamKiene]

The 1959-1960 Ford Thunderbirds (Square Bird) had a special engine option, the Lincoln 430ci V8 @ 350hp.
They were among the fastest cars of their time.
At 15 years of age I watched one race in 1960 at the old California State Fairgrounds' one-mile dirt track.

[@stephenholland5930]

I guess it's running a 352 ci FE engine, but what's the gearbox used? Love watching these old timers getting used as they were designed to be.

[@billshepherdautomotive]

Hi Stephen! The Thunderbird runs a 430 MEL, which was standard issue amongst the Holman Moody Nascar Thunderbirds. H&M also retrofitted floor shifters to their Thunderbirds in period, to which it runs a Borg Warner T-10 gearbox. The only difference to the original 1959 Daytona 500 running spec is a safety allowance in the racing regulations to convert the front drums to a disc and caliper of a type used by Ford prior to 1963.

[@stephenholland5930]

@@billshepherdautomotive Thanks for the reply.