Charlie Henry - Kar-Kraft: Race Cars, Prototypes and Muscle Cars of Fords Special Vehicle Activity Program

CarTech, Inc.

838 Lake Street South

Forest Lake, MN 55025

Phone: 651-277-1200 or 800-551-4754

Fax: 651-277-1203

www.cartechbooks.com

2017 by Charlie Henry

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the Publisher. All text, photographs, and artwork are the property of the Author unless otherwise noted or credited.

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All trademarks, trade names, model names and numbers, and other product designations referred to herein are the property of their respective owners and are used solely for identification purposes. This work is a publication of CarTech, Inc., and has not been licensed, approved, sponsored, or endorsed by any other person or entity. The Publisher is not associated with any product, service, or vendor mentioned in this book, and does not endorse the products or services of any vendor mentioned in this book.

Edit by Wes Eisenschenk

Layout by Monica Seiberlich

ISBN 978-1-61325-286-4

Item No. CT569

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Henry, Charles M., author.

Title: Kar-Kraft : race cars, prototypes and muscle cars of Fords specialty vehicle program / Charles Henry.

Description: Forest Lake, MN : CarTech, [2017] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016045047 | ISBN 9781613252864

Subjects: LCSH: Kar-Kraft (Firm)--History. | Ford Motor Company--History. | Ford automobile--History. | Automobiles, Racing--Design and construction. | Automobile racing.

Classification: LCC TL215.F7 H46 2017 | DDC 629.228--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045047

Written, edited, and designed in the U.S.A.

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Front Flap: The Haggerty building was convenient to Ford Facilities. The world headquarters, engineering, styling, Dearborn proving ground, and the Rouge plant were all within six miles. It sat on the edge of a residential area, Kar-Kraft on one side of the street and houses on the other. The occasional test drive down the street and back probably made Kar-Kraft a poor neighbor.

Front Endpapers: George Folmer gets some air under the car on this unidentified track. Aero devices could only do so much to hold the car on the track. Hitting a rise in the track at speed could launch the car, hopefully for only a moment. Drivers had to be ready to adjust their steering when the cars came down. (Photo Courtesy Lee Dykstra)

Back Endpapers: The Boss 302 Maverick would have been a very sinister machine had it made it into production.

Front Cover: Even with the wider space between the aprons, the Boss 429 was a tight fit. Great care was the order of the day to prevent scratching the fenders and engine bay. One technician, sometimes two, guided the engine down, almost vertically, and in. Two techs in the pit bolted the engine and transmission to their mounts and started connecting wiring, hoses, clutch linkage, and the stock 428 CJ dual exhaust.

Front Cover Inset: This Mk IV was the first to compete. Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren drove it to victory at Sebring in 1967, its first race.

Frontispiece: The relationship of the subframe to the Mustang shows well here. The transmission protrudes into the cockpit, but not enough to be objectionable. The cars ride and handling differed little from a regular Mustang. Enthusiasts loved the muffled engine growl behind the seats, while mere mortals might find it a bit overwhelming. Asking a gas station attendant to check the oil under the front hood was, needless to say, amusing.

Title Page: Kar-Krafts wand ranged from Trans-Am development to prototyping to crash testing analysis.

Table of Contents: An adjustable rear spoiler on a later Mk II. Six vertical slots in the spoiler fit over corresponding bolts in the deck lid, clamping the spoiler in place. Loosening the bolts allows the spoiler to move up and down. Mechanics could adjust the spoiler during a refueling stop. Testing prior to the race was preferable to doing the work during the race. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

Back Cover Photos
Top: This is the tech and weigh-in area at Le Mans. The cars rolled across the scale and then went into the tech shed for pre-race inspection. Gathered around the car are Bob Negstad (back to camera), Phil Remington from Shelby American (hands on hips), John Mulrine (white T-shirt), and Charles Mountain Sr. (hands in pocket). (Photo Courtesy John Drawe)

Bottom: This is an outtake from a photo shoot for the cover of the Motor Trend October 1969 issue. This image did not make the cover, but the same people appear in the actual cover shot. Standing behind the front fender wearing suits, left to right, are Larry Shinoda, Ed Hull, and Chuck Mountain. A year after the magazines release, Fords racing programs, and the King Cobra, ended. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

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To my father, Les Henry, in whose steps I follow.

To my daughter, Shelby, whose footsteps are alongside mine, rather than in them.

To my grandsons, Ethan and Elliott. Leave your footprints and tire tracks where the world may see them.

W hen I started this project, one thought kept running through my mind: I was at Kar-Kraft for only nine months. How does that qualify me to be its historian? It turns out that my memory was better than I expected. Of course, working at a place like Kar-Kraft was bound to leave a serious imprint on a car-crazy college kid. How could anyone forget driving a brand-new Boss 429 with the throttle stuck wide open?