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Original Message
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| '58 fe - hp? |
| By Mike McQuesten - 10/09/2001 4:51:45 PM; IP 206.193.0.124 |
Mel Clark mentioned something about '58 Fords being offered in a high performance variation that I wanted to respond to in a different thread than the original question about shell vs. dumbell lifers. There's just a couple of points and I think it's important that we get the right information.
Personally I want to know the facts on the origins of the FE. It was the beginning of the big block that most of us enjoy working on, accelerating and everyday driving with.
I have never heard of a special HP package for the '58 332/352. I'm not saying it isn't true but I have strong doubts and would like to know the facts.
From what I remember, what I've been told and what I've read and actually seen, the first three months of FE production saw all of them factory built with a shell solid lifter camshaft, adjustable rockers @ 1.76 ratio and machined combustion chambers. This was true for both the 332 and the 352. The two engines had the same cam and heads. The cam was a miserable excuse for anything related to high horsepower/performance. The 332 could be had as a two barrel or a "Police Interceptor" that was nothing more than a 4 barrel feature. The early 352s were 4 barrels and labled as "Police Interceptor".
Starting to get the idea that Ford was using "Police Interceptor" as a marketing tag line? 300 horsepower? Don't count on that.
As for a 350 horse 352 T-bird option? This may have been a special package offered but again, I've never seen any documentation on this package.
I'm such an FEnatic that I picked up the April, 1958, Hot Rod magazine at a swap meet years ago just because it featured the brand new 300 hp '58 Ford. Note: hp meant horsepower not High Performance.
They tested three '58s, two with 332s and one with a 352-4V/300hp(horsepower).Here's a direct quote from that feature:
"We weren't particularly taken by surprise when the Fordomatic with 2.91 axle or the Cruise-O-Matic with 2.69 axle didn't accelerate too well, this is the price you pay for so-called economy gears. We were a bit surprised, however, to discover that the stick shift model with the big engine didn't go. The owner of this car had traded in a '57 Ford Fairlane with a 245 horsepower, 312 inch engine, stick shift and 3.70 rear axle (Note from me: the '58, 352-300, car had a 3.56 axle w stick/overdrive trans.) that felt like an intercontinental missle compared to the '58 version. The owner of this car is a mechanic by trade and has spent many hours of tune-up time since buying the car last December (Note: this car would have been the solid lifter version) trying to unleash the advertised horsepower.
I speculate that FoMoCo was doing all they could to stick with their commitment to supporting the Auto Manufacturers' aggreement to ban support of auto racing. The brass up at the Glass House were mandating that Ford offer decent family automobiles. They wanted none of that high performance stuff. All the while, that little power packed 283 kept kicking butt! And the 352/300hp was even making the 348 look fast.
Mel Clark even bought and raced a '58 Pontiac!!
Mel was definitley right about 1960. Some engine engineers did get through to the boys across the vast expanse of lawn there and got permission to put a real camshaft into the 352. The Total Performance era was about to begin. |
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