Does anyone out there have a Ford FE 8 Liter 483 Engine?

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have lots of old Ford publications and a member of the Galaxie Forum I am on wanted a copy of the Star Lift ad that I had. That was a option in 1962 for a removable hard top for the Galaxie convertible. Ford changed the roofline for 62 and the NASCAR guys were going crazy could not control the cars above 165 mph. So they took the steel top from the 1961 model hardtop and made the removable hard top for the vert.

I have attached a copy of the Ford Newsletter showing the top for sale and Jimmy from the Galaxie Forum sent me some info he had back. When Holman Moody took the 1962 Galaxies to Atlanta with the NEW hardtop they blew away the competition so NASCAR told them to leave them at home, lol. They outlawed so much stuff that Ford had. Read the article.

Ford was trying to come up with their next engine to come out with and built two yes just two 8 Liter 483 C.I. FE motors for development using nodular iron. When they put on the Ford dyno it burnt the dyno up. At 4,000 rpm it made a crazy 598 ft. lbs. of torque and 455 HP.

Since they could not test on the dyno they got Holman and Moody to lease them one of the Star Liters. They put the new FE engine in and ran at Fords test track to 182 mph. This is 1962. They then took to Bonneville salt flats and set 46 new records with the car. They ran it for 3 hours at 163 mph or above, lol.

So if someone ever tells you they have a 8 Liter Ford FE don't blow them off buy it as quick as you can.

IMG_0003.pdf

SoCalGalaxiesNewsletter-2018_08(1).pdf

 

[Don C]

I can see why it didn't catch on, that just doesn't look good on a '62. It looked great on the '60 & '61. I believe the '61 Starliner was one of the best looking cars of that era.

 

[GalaxyFan67]

I have lots of old Ford publications and a member of the Galaxie Forum I am on wanted a copy of the Star Lift ad that I had. That was a option in 1962 for a removable hard top for the Galaxie convertible. Ford changed the roofline for 62 and the NASCAR guys were going crazy could not control the cars above 165 mph. So they took the steel top from the 1961 model hardtop and made the removable hard top for the vert.

I have attached a copy of the Ford Newsletter showing the top for sale and Jimmy from the Galaxie Forum sent me some info he had back. When Holman Moody took the 1962 Galaxies to Atlanta with the NEW hardtop they blew away the competition so NASCAR told them to leave them at home, lol. They outlawed so much stuff that Ford had. Read the article.

Ford was trying to come up with their next engine to come out with and built two yes just two 8 Liter 483 C.I. FE motors for development using nodular iron. When they put on the Ford dyno it burnt the dyno up. At 4,000 rpm it made a crazy 598 ft. lbs. of torque and 455 HP.

Since they could not test on the dyno they got Holman and Moody to lease them one of the Star Liters. They put the new FE engine in and ran at Fords test track to 182 mph. This is 1962. They then took to Bonneville salt flats and set 46 new records with the car. They ran it for 3 hours at 163 mph or above, lol.

So if someone ever tells you they have a 8 Liter Ford FE don't blow them off buy it as quick as you can.

 

[GalaxyFan67]

A friend of mine owns a 62 Starlift with a 483. It was purchased as a NASCAR and driven on the street for a couple months before the dealer told the owner that they could get their hands on a 483 and swap it for the 406. A week or so ago we did some side by side start ups. We started a 65 R code Galaxy, then a 65 M code Galaxy(yeah try to find one of those!). The M code makes the R code sound like a grocery getter. Then we fired the 483. I swear a couple 426 Hemis in the next county relieved the contents of their oil sumps at that moment. My pedestrian IPhone simply could not record the sound well enough to do it justice. Without a doubt it’s the most brutal sound I have ever heard from a stock motor. My friend told me that the motor could make well over 600 HP at 6700 or 7200 rpm(I cant remember) and some ungodly amount of torque, 650-700 I think. The stats you quoted are amazing, back then the dyno couldn’t handle the power they can these days so they shut down the test at 4000 rpm because I think they were near the torque limit. Another anecdote. I was watching a video on some restored R codes which sported a big sticker on the windows imploring the driver to keep the windows up at higher speed. My friend told me today that he was also amused at a similar sticker on his Starlift unit he was testing it out at a speed you wouldn’t want to get clocked at..... He was starting to get hot so he cracked the drives window about 1 inch. Within seconds the newly installed headliner was literally sucked out of the little gap in the window. Lesson learned. I really liked this car before I ever heard it run. Now I am crazy in love.