1962-’70 TOTAL PERFORMANCE
THE YEARS 1958 TO 1961 were bleak ones for those who liked fast cars, but preferred to purchase speed rather than build it in the garage. While 1957 had seen the new OHV V-8s taken to their pinnacle — Ford alone had both dual quads and a supercharger available — it all came crashing down at the behest of the Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
The AMA members agreed among themselves to abandon speed and power as marketing tools and to stop supporting racing activities. From that point forward, so the theory went, power developments would be aimed at providing under-stressed engines for hauling around street-driven passenger cars.
The market was in charge, though, and soon enough the drumbeat of public demand would start reinvigorating factory performance regardless of what was said in the boardrooms of Detroit. GM’s Pontiac division in particular saw muscular, sporty automobiles as a way to reinvent itself after years as a mere step between Chevrolet and Oldsmobile.
In time, Ford was forced to respond. Perhaps its first effort in that direction was the 360-hp 352-cu.in. V-8 that became available for 1960. That engine evolved into the 375-hp 390 of 1961, which gained the hot rodder’s favorite induction system of three two-barrel carburetors and a 401-hp rating. The gauntlet had been thrown. Ford would no longer be content to let GM eat its lunch in the youth market. For 1962, declared Henry Ford II, the company’s policy would be
