Less than 130 of these ever existed and there are very few of those originals left, so this is definitely RARE!!!
I went paintballing with my two boys and three of their buddies today and on the way home we wanted to find a recently opened Sonic...couldn't find it so as we were driving through this converted industrial park which is now a mall, I tell the boys I'll ask the next place we see if they can give us directions...so I then see this interesting looking red car sitting outside one of the buildings so I pull over and take a couple pics of it, and then go inside the open garage to see if I can ask for directions...well two older guys like my age are working on this car up on a lift...the car outside was a lightweight 427 Ford Galaxie; the car up on the lift was a Ford Thunderbolt Fairlane clone...so I said to the guys how cool the cars are and they say "a real one is right there in the corner" so I look over and see a covered car and I say something like "...Wow, they are so rare I can't believe there is one here!" so they say go over and uncover it...!!! So here it is. Very rare and this Norristown Ford Thunderbolt has an extraordinary drag racing history...I'm guessing if this car came up for sale at Barrett-Jackson, with its history, originality, and provenance, I'd be surprised if it didn't sell for at least $200,000. The first pic is the real Norristown Ford Thunderbolt, followed by the others in my little story:
Here's a note about the Thunderbolt Fairlanes:
Thunderbolt
As the muscle car market took shape, Ford introduced a Fairlane for drag strip racing for 1964, heavily modified to incorporate a 427 CID (7.0 L) V8 with two four-barrel carburetors on a high-riser manifold, ram-air through the openings left by deleting the inboard headlights, equal-length headers, trunk-mounted battery, fiberglass hood, doors, fenders and front bumper, acrylic glass windows, and other lightweight options including deleted rear door window winders, carpeting, radio, sealant, sun visors, armrests, jack, lug wrench, heater, soundproofing, and passenger side windshield wiper. This special model, of which 111 to 127 total were made depending on who you ask, delivered 500 hp (373 kW) at 7,000 rpm and was known as the Thunderbolt. Here is another comment about the possible under-rated power: "...I watched a show the other week, that dynoed all the big blocks from that era. The 426 Hemi, a 427FE, a L88 427, and a Pontiac 421. All were in stock trim as they come from factory. The 427FE ford just like came in the Thunderbolt tested at 650hp and 525ft.lb. torque. That is an amazing engine for 1964 technology. By the way, the 426 did have 820hp factory, the L88 only had 550hp..."
