fuel10922
11-21-2011, 10:03 PM
Much of the information regarding Tab's 1965 Ford Mustang 427 SOHC A/FX race car is from the book "The Hemi In The Barn" by Tom Cotter
1965 Ford Mustang 427 SOHC A/FX
Englishtown Raceway Park, New Jersey, 1969. “Dyno Don” Nicholson sets a new NHRA track record and wins the class for the season. After the race, he is approached by a group of men with bundles of cash eager to purchase the car from him. They offer him so much money he can't refuse. The new owner of the car is none other than Tab Talmadge. After acquiring the new record setting Mustang, he races the car on the streets of New York City and easily earns back his money.
The history behind the car goes something like this…
In 1965 Ford contracted Holman-Moody in Charlotte, North Carolina, to build ten A/FX Mustang drag cars which would then be shipped to drag racers throughout the United States. One car, an eleventh A/FX Mustang, was a prototype built by Dearborn Tubing Company (the company that built the Fairlane Thunderbolts under contract to Ford). These ten Holman-Moody cars were constructed originally as K-Code (cars equipped with the high-performance 289 engines) Mustangs. The cars were taken off the assembly line and had seventeen factory features removed. The parts left off included fenders, glass, bumpers, the engine, the transmission and the radiator. The bodies were then shipped to Charlotte, where Holman-Moody installed 427-ci engines. Ford engineers had developed the single overhead cam (SOHC) 427 to combat Chrysler’s Hemi in NASCAR. When NASCAR effectively banned Ford’s new engine, the company decided to use it for drag racing. Holman-Moody could secure only seven of the 427 SOHC engines; the other three Mustangs received the high-rise 427 wedge.
These ten Mustangs, which had consecutive VIN numbers, were invoiced to either the dealer or the driver for one dollar each and then shipped to them. Gas Rhonda, Dick Brannon, Hubert Platt and others all raced the new A/FX Mustangs, as did Len Richter, who raced out of Bill Stroppe’s Long Beach, California, shop.
Richter’s A/FX (VIN# 5FO9K380237) was the 8th of the 10 cars built. It was originally painted Poppy Red, but repainted Champagne Gold for Richter’s sponsor, Bob Ford, and nicknamed "The Quiet One" by Richter when he raced it. Richter entered the car in the 1965 Winternationals, racing his way right up to the finals, where faced off against the Tasca Ford. His Mustang’s axle broke, and victory went to the Tasca car. All during that season, the Mustang’s wheels, although remaining stock in dimensions, were pushed forward in relation to the body in order to aid traction by placing the engine’s weight closer to the rear axle.
After the 1965 season, and some rules changes in A/FX, Mustang No. 2 was sent back to Charlotte, where Holman-Moody converted it to a 1966 model by placing the wheels back in their original location, then replacing the grille, quarter panels and other trim items. The car also received a 1966 Holman-Moody ID tag.
Richter then sold the car to Harvey Ford. Jerry Harvey became the new driver and nicknamed the car “The Quiet One II” while he drove it in 1966 and ’67 (Jerry Harvey was a salesman at Bob Ford in Dearborn in the early-‘60s; he left and opened his own dealership in Indianapolis in ’66). Hubert Platt then raced the Mustang (apparently for the 1968 season) before it was sold to “Dyno Don” Nicholson for the 1969 season.
Nicholson converted the A/FX Mustang into a heads-up Super Stocker, but kept the “Harvey Ford” lettering on the car. By this time, the four-year-old race car was getting a little long-in-the-tooth as it competed against new cars such as Sox and Martin’s Hemi Barracuda. Still, Nicholson continued to win, and he drove it to a victory in Street at the 1969 Springnationals while campaigning the car in A/MP. The last time Nicholson drove the Mustang was in late 1969 at Englishtown, New Jersey. “Dyno Don popped the clutch at 9,000 rpms and made it through the traps at 9.89 seconds, setting a new NHRA track record and winning the class for the season.
By the time Nicholson steered the Mustang back to the paddock, men with bags of money were waiting for him. They wanted to buy the car, and they offered him so much money that he couldn't say no.
In the 1960s, there was a strong connection between street racers, number runners and drug dealers in the New York area. These dealers took in lots of money – all cash – and needed to find places to spend it.”
One of these guys was Tab Talmadge. Tab bought the car from Nicholson and raced it on New York’s Connecting Highway (and possibly 150th Avenue, where the Mutt Brothers also raced) and other locations against GM and Mopar teams. Rumour had it that Tab would wager as much as $150,000 on a single run. It is said that the Mustang won more than $1 million in one summer from one Chevy team alone!
Eventually, the car disappeared.
Years later, a Shelby Cobra and Mustang collector named Curt Vogt had heard that the Nicholson A/FX Mustang might still exist in the New York City area. He was determined to find the car, and after calling up every speed shop and machine shop in New York City, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the tri-state area, he had a chance conversation with Long Island engine builder, Jack Merkel. Merkel said the Mustang sounded familiar, and thought he remembered someone named Lucky once painted the car for ‘a guy named Tab’.
Now he had a lead, and more phone calls revealed a guy named Lucky, who owned an independent towing business in Queens. Vogt also found out that Tab no longer owned the car, but had sold it to a guy named Tex.
Lucky told Vogt that he did know where the car was. Lucky found Tex, the sixty-year-old street-savvy guy who now owned the Mustang. Tex worked on cars in a dark, dirty one-bay garage and in the street off Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. 15 months after beginning the search for the Mustang, and weeks of trying to buy the car from Tex, he finally agreed to sell the car. The Gold metal flake paint was long gone (now primer gray), as well as the 427 SOHC drive-train, but the Holman-Moody ID tag and front magnesium wheels were still in place, as well as the original Ford parachute stuffed in the back of the car. The Mustang had been sitting for a long time, nearly forgotten in a Brooklyn storage garage in a desolate area. Tex opened the garage, and there, in the rear of the dusty garage, sat a gray primered Mustang sitting way up in the front, complete with its Holman-Moody ID tag still mounted. He and Lucky picked the car up on June 13, 1988 (according to an e-mail from Vogt) or 1989 (according to Hemi in the Barn). He paid Tex $11,000 and gave Lucky $5,000 as a finders’ fee.
Vogt eventually had the Mustang’s body restored by the Super Stang Shop in Lyons, New York, but he supplied the 427 SOHC and drive-train from his own business, Cobra Automotive.
Vogt eventually sold the car around 1991, in order to buy another car of his dreams: a 427 Cobra. He sold the car to Don Snyder of "Snyder's Antique Auto Parts" in Ohio, who still has the car in his collection.
1965 Ford Mustang 427 SOHC A/FX
Englishtown Raceway Park, New Jersey, 1969. “Dyno Don” Nicholson sets a new NHRA track record and wins the class for the season. After the race, he is approached by a group of men with bundles of cash eager to purchase the car from him. They offer him so much money he can't refuse. The new owner of the car is none other than Tab Talmadge. After acquiring the new record setting Mustang, he races the car on the streets of New York City and easily earns back his money.
The history behind the car goes something like this…
In 1965 Ford contracted Holman-Moody in Charlotte, North Carolina, to build ten A/FX Mustang drag cars which would then be shipped to drag racers throughout the United States. One car, an eleventh A/FX Mustang, was a prototype built by Dearborn Tubing Company (the company that built the Fairlane Thunderbolts under contract to Ford). These ten Holman-Moody cars were constructed originally as K-Code (cars equipped with the high-performance 289 engines) Mustangs. The cars were taken off the assembly line and had seventeen factory features removed. The parts left off included fenders, glass, bumpers, the engine, the transmission and the radiator. The bodies were then shipped to Charlotte, where Holman-Moody installed 427-ci engines. Ford engineers had developed the single overhead cam (SOHC) 427 to combat Chrysler’s Hemi in NASCAR. When NASCAR effectively banned Ford’s new engine, the company decided to use it for drag racing. Holman-Moody could secure only seven of the 427 SOHC engines; the other three Mustangs received the high-rise 427 wedge.
These ten Mustangs, which had consecutive VIN numbers, were invoiced to either the dealer or the driver for one dollar each and then shipped to them. Gas Rhonda, Dick Brannon, Hubert Platt and others all raced the new A/FX Mustangs, as did Len Richter, who raced out of Bill Stroppe’s Long Beach, California, shop.
Richter’s A/FX (VIN# 5FO9K380237) was the 8th of the 10 cars built. It was originally painted Poppy Red, but repainted Champagne Gold for Richter’s sponsor, Bob Ford, and nicknamed "The Quiet One" by Richter when he raced it. Richter entered the car in the 1965 Winternationals, racing his way right up to the finals, where faced off against the Tasca Ford. His Mustang’s axle broke, and victory went to the Tasca car. All during that season, the Mustang’s wheels, although remaining stock in dimensions, were pushed forward in relation to the body in order to aid traction by placing the engine’s weight closer to the rear axle.
After the 1965 season, and some rules changes in A/FX, Mustang No. 2 was sent back to Charlotte, where Holman-Moody converted it to a 1966 model by placing the wheels back in their original location, then replacing the grille, quarter panels and other trim items. The car also received a 1966 Holman-Moody ID tag.
Richter then sold the car to Harvey Ford. Jerry Harvey became the new driver and nicknamed the car “The Quiet One II” while he drove it in 1966 and ’67 (Jerry Harvey was a salesman at Bob Ford in Dearborn in the early-‘60s; he left and opened his own dealership in Indianapolis in ’66). Hubert Platt then raced the Mustang (apparently for the 1968 season) before it was sold to “Dyno Don” Nicholson for the 1969 season.
Nicholson converted the A/FX Mustang into a heads-up Super Stocker, but kept the “Harvey Ford” lettering on the car. By this time, the four-year-old race car was getting a little long-in-the-tooth as it competed against new cars such as Sox and Martin’s Hemi Barracuda. Still, Nicholson continued to win, and he drove it to a victory in Street at the 1969 Springnationals while campaigning the car in A/MP. The last time Nicholson drove the Mustang was in late 1969 at Englishtown, New Jersey. “Dyno Don popped the clutch at 9,000 rpms and made it through the traps at 9.89 seconds, setting a new NHRA track record and winning the class for the season.
By the time Nicholson steered the Mustang back to the paddock, men with bags of money were waiting for him. They wanted to buy the car, and they offered him so much money that he couldn't say no.
In the 1960s, there was a strong connection between street racers, number runners and drug dealers in the New York area. These dealers took in lots of money – all cash – and needed to find places to spend it.”
One of these guys was Tab Talmadge. Tab bought the car from Nicholson and raced it on New York’s Connecting Highway (and possibly 150th Avenue, where the Mutt Brothers also raced) and other locations against GM and Mopar teams. Rumour had it that Tab would wager as much as $150,000 on a single run. It is said that the Mustang won more than $1 million in one summer from one Chevy team alone!
Eventually, the car disappeared.
Years later, a Shelby Cobra and Mustang collector named Curt Vogt had heard that the Nicholson A/FX Mustang might still exist in the New York City area. He was determined to find the car, and after calling up every speed shop and machine shop in New York City, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the tri-state area, he had a chance conversation with Long Island engine builder, Jack Merkel. Merkel said the Mustang sounded familiar, and thought he remembered someone named Lucky once painted the car for ‘a guy named Tab’.
Now he had a lead, and more phone calls revealed a guy named Lucky, who owned an independent towing business in Queens. Vogt also found out that Tab no longer owned the car, but had sold it to a guy named Tex.
Lucky told Vogt that he did know where the car was. Lucky found Tex, the sixty-year-old street-savvy guy who now owned the Mustang. Tex worked on cars in a dark, dirty one-bay garage and in the street off Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. 15 months after beginning the search for the Mustang, and weeks of trying to buy the car from Tex, he finally agreed to sell the car. The Gold metal flake paint was long gone (now primer gray), as well as the 427 SOHC drive-train, but the Holman-Moody ID tag and front magnesium wheels were still in place, as well as the original Ford parachute stuffed in the back of the car. The Mustang had been sitting for a long time, nearly forgotten in a Brooklyn storage garage in a desolate area. Tex opened the garage, and there, in the rear of the dusty garage, sat a gray primered Mustang sitting way up in the front, complete with its Holman-Moody ID tag still mounted. He and Lucky picked the car up on June 13, 1988 (according to an e-mail from Vogt) or 1989 (according to Hemi in the Barn). He paid Tex $11,000 and gave Lucky $5,000 as a finders’ fee.
Vogt eventually had the Mustang’s body restored by the Super Stang Shop in Lyons, New York, but he supplied the 427 SOHC and drive-train from his own business, Cobra Automotive.
Vogt eventually sold the car around 1991, in order to buy another car of his dreams: a 427 Cobra. He sold the car to Don Snyder of "Snyder's Antique Auto Parts" in Ohio, who still has the car in his collection.