1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt
SOLD at Mecum Auctions Kissimmee 2022 - $286,000
For the aficionados who understand the history of Ford’s Total Performance racing era, cars like the Fairlane offered here are understandably important. To have true desirability, a racing vehicle should have production exclusivity, excellent conditioning and important historical significance. Those standards are all met with this car, the 1964 Thunderbolt Fairlane once owned and raced by the late Phil Bonner.
The T-bolt story begins with the Ford Drag Team, part of the Total Performance competition program of the early 1960s that had resulted in successful NASCAR, Formula 1, Indycar and drag racing involvement among others. Bonner was a factory-selected member of the team, representing the southeastern area from his base of operations in Atlanta, Georgia, and backed by Al Means Ford. Until 1964, Ford had released lightened Galaxies for the drags, but that year found the brand turning to its better-suited midsize model line for a quarter-mile car package. After a prototype was raced by Tasca Ford in 1963, these new Thunderbolts were hand-built by subcontractor Detroit Steel Tubing Co. (DST) based around production-line 289-powered Fairlane 500 coupes, converted into 427-powered drag packages with serious driveline, body and suspension changes.
Bonner, whose racing nickname was “Daddy Warbucks,” was chosen to get an early example and he did. However, while on tour elsewhere, that car was raced and totaled by a crew member. Bonner’s deep connections with Detroit allowed him to quickly get a replacement. This Thunderbolt is even more special as it was used as a promotional match racing vehicle for Ford NASCAR stars like Fred Lorenzen and Curtis Turner at drag strip appearances before being given to Bonner. It is verified as Car No. 53 of the batch of 100 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolts produced. It was used as Bonner’s NHRA “legal” car the remainder of the season.
Under the hood is the BONNER-stamped 427 that was first purchased with this car when located and bought from a secondary owner by Hal Reed. This high-riser motor uses correct and original hardware, including the date-code-correct pair of Holley 4-barrels under the teardrop-shaped fiberglass hood and fresh-air cast airbox. The engine is backed by the rare aluminum-case BorgWarner 4-speed transmission and a 9-inch Ford differential.
The exterior trim is correct with all the lightweight components by DST; rare midseason A/FX parts like fiberglass doors are also on it. The interior has been correctly redone with beige vinyl installed on the original seats, with period aftermarket gauging by Sun and Stewart Warner and factory dash components completing the look. The crowning touch was an incredibly rare set of NOS 9.50-15 Firestone Lightning slicks with the lightning bolt tread pattern mounted on steel wheels.
The car’s post-race history is also interesting. Reed, an engine builder, had purchased the car in the early 1980s with much of the original car and components still intact. He began a race update but was sidelined and the car sat in quiet barn storage for three decades. When he finally decided to sell it, the buyer he chose was Donald Allen, who is a noteworthy restorer of vintage Ford race cars. Allen expended considerable time and money to make this into one of the very best and most accurate Thunderbolt race restorations known to exist, using NOS and original parts to complete it. This also included adding Bonner’s special Burgundy red paint and having the car professionally hand-lettered to the ’64 season scheme using period photographs.
Today, the Bonner Fairlane Thunderbolt remains a car of incredible importance to the hobby. Documented and restored, this car presents a truly special opportunity to own what frankly should be considered a cornerstone example of Total Performance era Ford drag racing package cars.
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