FORD FE FANATICS COVER CAR: February

We here Stateside tend to complain about how hard it is to find parts, but imagine building and campaigning a FE powered car in Sweden ! Matz Frobom took this challenge head on and doubled down by building a Galaxie for road racing. When images of carving corners come to mind Galaxies are not on the short list  with  Mustangs , Cobras , and Falcons.  However Matz knows Galaxies especially FE powered ones  so that's the direction he was going .  In 2000 his friend Bert Svensson found the original FIA records , they set on the shelf for a few years when Matz  got them out and wanted  see about getting a car legal. First up was getting the records  of the 6 cars Holman and Moody built for FIA competition  in Europe to the local sanctioning body. He had to build the car to the original specs with exceptions for safety . Building a Galaxie to compete in a class populated with Jaguars, Alpha Romeos, and Minis was going to require a ground up build. Well Matz told Bert if they are going to build one they better get started and a search for a suitable body began.  In 2006-2007 Matz was working State side on a Clean Coal project and after searching a body was found and purchased in 2010. After inspection it was found to be very rusty , repairs were made and it was sold. The search continued when in  2011 they bought another body but it was still not what they were looking for and it was sold in Sweden. Finally in 2014 a contender was found, it is believed to have have served as a police car at some point due to some extra lights and a spotlight hole in the body. A complete frame off restoration began starting with separating the body from the frame then mounting it on a rotisserie  and  replacing any body panels not up to snuff. The frame was was blasted , painted and the upgrades began with lightening of the A-arms , and single leaf rear springs. Disc brakes were hung on the front with three pistons calipers help haul this beast down to corner managing speeds.  Once rolling the newly prepped body was lowered down and a full roll cage was built. To try and trim this ol'Gal into fighting weight they used fiberglass doors, hood, deck lid as well as making their own hand formed aluminum bumpers!!! For power nothing would be acceptable but a mighty 427 , sourcing three blocks and associated parts to support the racing effort. A set of C3AE-C heads ported to flow 300 cfm gets squeezed down 11.4 -1 necessitating 98 octane fuel. The cam is a 304 duration with .640 lift singing a mechanical tune regulating the ins and outs.   A cast crank spins in the crossbolt cradle  further strengthened with a main girdle. Air is pulled in through a factory Lowriser 2x4 intake with daul 600's. Custom built headers mirroring the original factory pieces were fabricated. Tied to this beast  is a T-10 4 speed rowed by a Hurst shifter directing the power to a 9 inch rear end.  The finished product is both a stunning working recreation and a battle ready warrior.  Matz is running a full schedule in the Masters Historic Racing series, he has hopes of running a Stateside race someday. The love of FE'S crosses oceans and ages this one being an example of one teams dedication to that love.


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