Looking for info on 1965 AFX Mustangs

[OldFordGuy]

My understanding is only 6 of these still exist. The only one I know about is Gas Ronda but I've seen some vintage photos of others. I'd like to have one, but since that's probably impossible I'll have to build it myself. Does anyone know of a good resource on the web where I can see exactly what all the modifications were that Holman and Moody did? Thank you in advance.

[JohnSlack]

Well you should be careful about which one you choose to copy, because it might have the same provenance as the one you are building.

[Bob Gaines]

Well you should be careful about which one you choose to copy, because it might have the same provenance as the one you are building.

          LOL

[OldFordGuy]

Well you should be careful about which one you choose to copy, because it might have the same provenance as the one you are building.

Good thinking!

[J_Speegle]

Didn't pay much attention to them at the time we nor did any of our friend ran AF/X class. Did have a friend later that ran a BF/X. More Gassers and Altered vehicles

There was at least one magazine article of the period that showed a fair number of pictures of H&M building one or more. Of course most were customized to the driver and other reqirements.

Do you have a line on an engine yet?   A lot is going to depend on that happening since without it ...well you know


Your looking for the article Holman & Moody build the Ford AF/X Mustangs - April 65 Super Stock Magazine Shows a fair number of the suspension and body modifications but no easy button with measurements and the secrets


Here is a shot of of one of the cars before it was campaigned




Paul Norris' car




And the shop during the build showing 4 of them in three different colors

[CSX4781]

Those are very cool cars. A handful of restored cars (Gas Rondas second car, Larson Ford, Al Joniecs Batcar, the Bob Ford car, Wickersham Ford, and Holman Moodys house car Big John), a couple of project piles (including Tasca Fords car),  a handful known destroyed (Gas Ronda and Les Ritchey), as well as a northern Ca bracket racer that started out as a factory A/FX car (not sure about the original history). The ones that seem to have disappeared are Phil Bonners car (eventually went to Bill Ireland) and the Dick Brannan car sponsored by Stark Hickey Ford (the prototype built by DST). Other than Tommy Groves 66 stretch nose car, which had a straight front axle, the 66s had the same twist leaf front suspension that the 65s had.

The only A/FX car converted to a stretch nose car by Holman Moody was the Batcar, after it was wrecked. The Bob Ford car is pretty much restored back to the A/MP and match racer configuration it was in 1969 when Don Nicholson owned it (also put back to a 108 inch wheelbase rather than the 106 inch wheelbase the A/FX factory cars were in 65). I actually bought (and paid a good bit of money for) a collection of correspondence related to A/FX and A/XS (1966 stretch nose) Mustangs, including copies of a bunch of good construction photos and a number of Holman Moody drawings of parts for those cars. I even got memos with the Ford serial numbers of all of the 65 A/FX cars (there were only 10 or 11 cars). But I'd be hard pressed to find that stuff now. I'm just not the most organized person, but I was really fascinated by those cars and had really studied them.

Dave

[CSX4781]

Didn't pay much attention to them at the time we nor did any of our friend ran AF/X class. Did have a friend later that ran a BF/X. More Gassers and Altered vehicles

There was at least one magazine article of the period that showed a fair number of pictures of H&M building one or more. Of course most were customized to the driver and other reqirements.

Do you have a line on an engine yet?   A lot is going to depend on that happening since without it ...well you know


Your looking for the article Holman & Moody build the Ford AF/X Mustangs - April 65 Super Stock Magazine Shows a fair number of the suspension and body modifications but no easy button with measurements and the secrets


Here is a shot of of one of the cars before it was campaigned




Paul Norris' car




And the shop during the build showing 4 of them in three different colors

Hey Jeff,
  The car in the B&W photo is the Dearborn Steel Tubing prototype being tested by Dick Brannan at Pomona in late 1964. I don't recall the whole story  whether DST couldn't (or wouldn't) do the production run, so Holman Moody was contracted to do them. Seems like it was a crash program to have what cars they did ready for the 1965 Winternationals.

Dave

[TA Coupe]

Holman and moody afx cars

Holman Moody GT Gallery https://share.google/gvfPTwtNQjpTzzeqD

   Roy

[OldFordGuy]

Re: Engine

Didn't they all run the 427 SOHC? Ideally I would find one of those at a yard sale for $500, otherwise I'm probably going to have to build something. I have a 428 in a car right now (that's a factory 390) and will probably build a correct engine for that car and have a spare 428. This whole thing is years away, I'm just planning now. One question I have is I heard these cars had the back axle moved forwards 3 inches. Why and how?

ETA: I saw a 65 fastback that sold at Mecum for $25k that was already a lot of the way there (body style wise), but unfortunately I am not the buyer.

[CSX4781]

One of the memos I had included a status of production/completion of the cars. The first four or five were noted to be 'OHC', there were some noted as 'wedge'. The 65 Comets were the same way. Sam Auxier was involved in both 64 and 65 A/FX Comets. All the 64s were High Risers, but the 65s were like the Mustangs in that there were a mixture of SOHCs and Wedges (likely all of those were Medium Risers). There just weren't enough SOHCs to go around early in the year. Al Turner from Mercury told Sam that the 65 with the Mediium Riser would run better than the 64 High Riser. Sam told me they did the  first race with the Medium Riser, the next week it had a High Riser top end on it....

Dave

[roddster]

Look into 1965/66 copies of Hot Rod, Car Craft, an the already mentioned magazine for a hold in your hand lesson.
  But, just want to say, the 65/66 Mustang body style get a little unstable North of 145 MPH. So also mind the more modern safety items.

[pbf777]

Ideally I would find one of those at a yard sale for $500, otherwise . . . . .

    Actually, back a few decades ago, I ran across a '66 "Long-Nose" AFX car sitting on a trailer in the far back reaches of a junk yard in Tampa, Fl, out by the airport.  It had obviously been there for a while weathered by the elements; missing the engine but surprisingly mostly there otherwise. 

    I had inquired as to the story and whether it might be available, this as I came to understand it, the situation of the junk yard was that it was being disposed of by the court under a divorce settlement, the operator of the yard being "supposedly" appointed by the court and really knew little of anything going on and seemed to need approval for each sale transaction. The end result was that he would have to get back to me as to if and for how much it might cost to purchase.

    A week or so later he called me up and said the owner really didn't want to sell it and if things changed he'd call me.  A month later I had heard nothing, so I revisited the yard and the guy now said that I could have it for $1800.00; I thought well maybe, let me go out back and look at it again. But when I found it, it had been moved to a different spot and the thing had been ravaged for parts including having had the rear-end cut out and taken away! Discussed, I just walked away. 

    Turns out the guy had learned how "skimming-off-the-top" works, making cash sales with the proceeds going directly into his pocket, as there wasn't any real inventory of the yard, so everything was up for grabs if you had cash! 

    A couple of months later I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in, the yard was barren, all gone. I stopped in to the shop next door and asked the owner about whether he knew what might have happened to the old Mustang race car; he said he wasn't sure, but that an enclosed car trailer with "Don Garlits" painted down the side had been there the week before; that's all he knew. 

    A couple of years later a customer of mine from England was by on "holiday", said his next destination was Don Garlits Museum; so I told him the story and suggested that perhaps if he had the opportunity to inquire as to whether they had rescued it.  He said no problem, "Don" was a personal friend and he also would love to know if it had been saved.

    The following week as my customer was on his way back to the airport to go home, he stopped in; he said it was the strangest thing, he was at the museum talking with Don when the subject of the Long-Nose Mustang from Tampa came up, he said at that point Don just stopped talking and walked away? 

    So I 'almost' had one! 

    Scott. 

       

       

     

[Cobrask8]

Curt Voigt got the Dyno Don car from  street racers and restored it. Maybe a source?

The Gas Rhonda car is at 3-Dog here in eastern Pennsylvania.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

What I know - not in any order
I have a VIN list of the 10 original cars.
Gas Ronda crashed his first car before race 1 in a practice run. The axle broke. It wasn't his fault so Ford gave him the car they has set aside for the show car circuit.
I looked at Gas' car often whenever it was in town sitting on the Russ Davis floor right outside his office. Never thought to crawl around under it.
Les Richey's car was destroyed when he was killed at the old Fontana strip, It sat under cover at HM back east for years. Randy Gillis snagged the tag off it an gave it to a drag race museum.
The cars were originally built by HM/Stroppe in Signal Hill CA as were the LWB cars.
There were not enough cammers available when they were first built so some got conventional engines but eventually all had cammers.
Gas was driving for Downtown Motors in Los Angeles. Russ Davis' son approached him about a move to Covina. He took the deal so he'd be nearer to Les Richey who was prepping his cars. Gas brought his Thunderbolt with him and it was painted Orange from the Maroon he'd run at DTM. It was the same deal - basically he was a car salesman who based his racing out of the dealership. Les also built the 1965 GT350 drag cars for SA.
After Les was killed Gas started having Ed Pink do his engines. A mechanic at Russ Davis - Skip Boroughs drove a fuel altered I crewed on. I'd be the fly on the wall when he an Gas were bench racing. Skip became Gas' full time crew chief 69ish?.
Here's some shots 1 is Gas's first car behind Les' Glendora shop (unk Tbolt is next to it Gas' or Les'?) 2 We'd touch bases with Gas at his bar occasionally - until it was torn down to build a MB service center. It was more about people and remember when not specifics of cars and races by that time. 3 - Tbolt in DTM livery 4 - Ft susp mod to remove the spring and make room for the cammer.

[OldFordGuy]

Some great stories, guys. Thanks for sharing.