“I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!”
WHEN YOUNG, up-and-coming Ford Motor Company test-track electrical technician and Detroit drag racer Milo Coleman kept an extra dollar bill in his pocket, little did he realize that it would buy him one of the world’s most sought-after factory racers.
But thanks to his high-profile success with a stocker Fairlane a year before, 27-year-old Milo was the lucky racer chosen for the 13th 1964 Thunderbolt off the production line, one of 100 427-cu.in., dual-quad, lightweight Fairlane 500s put into the hands of straight-line racers. He piloted the 425-horsepower land rocket to the NHRA Southeast Super Stock championship in the summer of 1964.
In 1958, Milo was a newbie at Ford, but he kept his eyes peeled for performance, especially after 1961, when he recalled seeing high-performance testing ramping up at the well-guarded Dearborn track. One bite from the high-power bug, 427 lightweight Galaxies among others, and Milo would quickly become a lifetime disciple of Ford high performance.
While working the test-track hangars,
