Visa to Lemans - 1967 Ford 427 dyno testing video

A former dyno room technician dropped this film off with me over the weekend. Not a lot of detail as to its original target audience or expected distribution.
This appears a promotional film from Ford Engineering in about 1967 that covers 427 LeMans racing program engine development. An awe inspiring window into the work done in the 60s includes track simulation and images from the race.
I apologize for the video quality - but with this kind of stuff you get what you can.

[@mchristr]

This is pure gold. I'm astounded that they could duplicate the race laps in the dyno cell. Listening to a GT40 never gets old.

[@pauljanssen2624]

That was the most amazing test dyno ever built it would test engine under actual running conditions amazing feat of engineering

[@radioguy1620]

I seriously doubt any Chevy or Chrysler big block motor could last half that long. I read somewhere that after the full race they dyno tested the motors and they made more HP than when they started. Thanks for posting.

[@kimmorrison9169]

I seriously doubt that assumption. Ford threw boat loads of money at these projects when they decided to race on a large scale. Chrysler and GM had no interest in such.

[@jerryw6699]

@@kimmorrison9169 Chrysler and GM spent just as much, they just fell short of LeMans and gave up. Many corvettes tried and failed.

[@kevin2960]

​@@jerryw6699this isn't true. The executives pulled the plug on the super stock Corvettes, the only reason any exist at all is some of the engineers kept working on them until they were stopped. The "mistery motor BBC" was actually better than the big block they produced. I love FE and Cleveland motors and I'm by no means a Ford guy, I also like Mopars and love building the odd engines, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, AMC, ect. No other ford would have stayed together either, actually no other FE for that matter. That block was completely redesigned and so was everything else. It is a amazing undertaking but Ford did spend an unbelievable amount of money. With a Blank check you can do almost anything.

[@quagmiredavis4117]

It would be awesome if this set up is in mothballs and could be brought back to life ... this sounds like grandads cobra 427 I remember as a kid the sounds going thru gears .....sadly grandad passed in 2017 we still have have his 427 cobra and SOHC Galaxie 427 1963 station wagon and other fords ... this is great video thanks for posting 👍

[@williamleuck2225]

Wow that’s awesome !! Let me know if you ever want to sell.

[@quagmiredavis4117]

@@williamleuck2225 I I might have one or two things I might sell of his where are you located I just recently took his Mark 3 Lincoln to Texas and back it's not your usual Mark 3 Lincoln 1969 once you open the doors you see it has three pedals Boss 429 under hood we have several unusual vehicles of his with strange engines but before I sell anything I'm not going to sell to somebody that has them sit around as a trophy I just drove the Mark 3 Lincoln to Texas and back on the 4th I just got back two weeks ago all his cars are driven I'm taking the 289 competition cobra up to Virginia in a few days I'm going to go up and see family and I figure it needs a good exercise going through the mountains is there a way I can contact you and then we can erase the message

[@Mr.McGillicuddy]

I’m a technician in the dyno lab! If you’re referring to the dyno cell (17D), unfortunately it was renovated into a control room for the adjacent cells many, many years ago. I’m actually sitting inside the room as we speak. C wing is full of old nostalgia cells that don’t run, but even those are more modern than what’s shown here.

[@quagmiredavis4117]

@@Mr.McGillicuddy shame nothing was saved i have since found 2 SOC crate engines a sunbeam tiger 289 k code F code 57 ford And many McCullough supercharger parts 352 hi po crate engines 312 parts blocks 410 427 428 429 parts blocks CJ parts Recently in a Building he had in SC on his family farm and Holloman Moody he knew and numerous parts and HM Fairlane Needs work 427 .... I think i have found everything .. he had .. stashed i will inventory and place in his old hangar building Thanks for posting information I might find other items .. he worked with Ford for 27 years squirrel away many cars parts Again thanks for posting this information

[@quagmiredavis4117]

@@Mr.McGillicuddy on another note fords latest Bronco a joke .. should have used the dyno room to test ecoboost engines figure out why Dropping valves .... I pulled one labor day out of forestry road 17 miles to main road using my 68 Real Bronco 300 I 6 4x4 man transmission I was heading to cabin .. the 2022 Bronco just locked up on the couple ... hint go back to reliable 300 inline 6 manual transmission Ford apparently has stopped with quality control years ago ..

[@darronmecak5720]

very cool ford was so serious in those days i wish they kept it going into the 70's then the cleveland would have been even more powerfull !

[@kramnull8962]

Had to leave Dan and Ernie Elliott something to do...

[@grandcrappy]

Pisses me off NASCAR doesn't run stock vehicles. Look at the h.p. available today!! There is no Ford, Mopar, Chevy in those rides.

[@jackierandall2230]

Ford caused restrictor plates to be used because the chevrolets could not keep up.

[@plantfeeder6677]

​@@jackierandall2230actually Buick did trying to keep up. Bobby Allison was driving a Buick when he crashed at Talledega. Everybody was trying to keep up with the Elliotts back then.

[@byler390]

Love these old videos, pushrods and carbs . Everything mechanical

[@wysetech2000]

Thanks for the very cool presentation. I love watching old stuff like that. I can't imagine the engineering that went into all that test equipment. Sure wasn't a Super Flow Dyno. {:-)

[@arkhsm]

How sophisticated was that...for 1967 !!! No modern computer power; just lots of extemely complex HARDWARE. And the complete Le Mans track programmed in....Wow !!

[@1Cobranut]

Likely done with banks of time-delay relays. Pretty amazing for the time.

[@plantfeeder6677]

Thank you. I read about this back then and always wondered if they made a film about it. We read that the Ford engines already had 24 hrs. on them when they started the race because they ran these test for 48 hours not 24 and if an engine had no trouble at 24 hrs it was 100% guarantee they'd last 48 hrs. Those big block Fords may not have been the fastest or most powerful but they certainly lasted longer than any other American engine could.

[@oldsccaguyyah9901]

Hey, don't sweat not knowing what audience it was meant for. You saved it. That's the most important thing.

[@iggyfritz7150]

Back when men were men and women were women when man and machine meant something today we've all been dehumanized by cell phones and computers

[@GLHS60]

Brilliant vid!! Thanks for sharing Barry.

[@notme810]

If you look at the LS engine , the similarities are stunning, if only the metallurgy had existed then, the grandfather of all pushrod engines is still in the GOAT category!

[@plantfeeder6677]

"If you look at the LS engine"..... You'll find a Ford small block Cleveland. There I fixed it for you😑

[@spartonboat1]

Per my memory and hearing, the voice-over is by an entertainer from Detroit by the name of Bud Guest. He had a live show on WJR Radio. Detroit, called the "Sunny Side of the Street" with Bud Guest. He was very entertaining and there are videos of one or two of his shows on KZbin. It is not called out, but I would bet 51/49 that the movie was shot by Jam Handy Productions of Detroit who filmed a great deal of commercial productions, in the area. The engine on the test bed, is running similar cycles to that to run in the Ford 427 V8 for LeMans. It is reported that Carrol Shelby ran it at very high horsepower, per the duty cycles shown and it was run as hard as it was capable, until it failed. When the lowest high point, at which it was not failure prone was reached, it was race ready. At least that is my research. This is a phenomenal video!

[@lancelot1953]

Hi Oldcarboater, thank you for this bit of nostalgia. I was an engineering intern at Ford (Detroit, Cleveland, Windsor) in 1970, met the Ford Answer Man (Mount Clemens, MI). It was a dream come true, Detroit/Ann Arbor was alive then. I still have my first car, and my third: matching 1970 Mustangs (Convertible and Fastback). Sadly enough, the storm was already over the horizon according to my mentors, times were going to change irreversibly. Peace be with you, Ciao, L

[@bobwhite5440]

thanks for posting this very interesting film.

[@asizzle88]

Thanks for posting. I hope Mose Nowland, 1966 -1968 Ford GT40 Race Engine Engineer, can see this....he works at the Henry Ford now.

[@1Cobranut]

The Henry Ford is the most awesome museum on earth. I've been twice, and I still haven't seen it all. I could spend a week in that place. LOL

[@racerxonthe8th]

AWESOME! Thanks for sharing.

[@christopherpack3565]

Great video!

[@steveoh4595]

The Deuce (HF II)Passed out cards to all of his execs after the disappointing '65 LeMans That simply said "we better win- Henry Ford II", nobody DARED take any chances...

[@Ronsonic]

They say the only thing that beats cubic inches is cubic dollars. Ford showed up with both and with cubic brains.

[@bgd73]

incredible

[@DaveMcLain]

Thank you for sharing that movie Barry. I had heard too that in some of their testing Ford ran the drivetrain for not 24 but 48 hours I wonder if that's true?

[@danh8302]

I read this in Go Like Hell, good read. I love the ford Ferrari war story

[@suntzu5836]

It's true. The baseline that was required was 450 HP for 48 hours. The engines were tested after the race and made just over 500....

[@arkhsm]

I don't think ANY made it the full 48, but some got into the 40s; which is still amazing !!

[@plantfeeder6677]

​@@arkhsmall the engines that finished Lemans already had 24 hrs. on them from the dyno. I'd say many engines ran 48 hrs. I'd love to know the record if they ever tried to run a good engine till it failed. Probably a week would be my guess.

[@andywood8082]

Kept waiting on that 427 to hit 7000 rpms.

[@Mick_A_Knuckle]

In drag racing, yes, in endurance racing no. Those scenes from Ford vs. Ferrari were theater.

[@jacobbondy2936]

@@Mick_A_Knuckle for good reason they wanted the engine to last the whole race, it ain't like today with Forged internals and ARP bolts, those engines would hit 7K RPMs but only so many times before they blew

[@jesse75]

@@jacobbondy2936 none of them blew up.

[@1Cobranut]

My Cobra has an original sideoiler, with LeMans crank and rods, but with modern ARP fasteners and Arias pistons. It hit's 7,000 easily, and 550 hp. It would pull higher, but due to the rarity I have the limiter set at 7,000. It is definitely sweet to hear a high compression big block that can rev. 😎

[@jesse75]

​@@1Cobranutshould put a video of the engine running on utube. I did with my 427.

[@davidbrown8517]

The 427 engine in the 1966 GT40s was a NASCAR unit.

[@OHUQTU]

Actually, it was a detuned NASCAR engine, with aluminum heads, smaller valves, and other changes.

[@dennislaws5187]

I had a Cobra Le Mans 427 side oiler in my 68 Shelby GT 500 KR was dealer installed when new.

[@davebuck86]

Barry rocks FEs!

[@byler390]

If you look closely I see common truck/ full size exhaust manifolds.

[@redlion9199]

Ford only american muscle that beat ferrari 3 years in a row.

[@bash5995]

Why would they test it with those flat log style stock exhaust manifolds?

[@Mick_A_Knuckle]

The bundle of snakes probably didn't fit the dyno setup. Anyway, the test was to establish reliability, not output power.

[@Mike62501]

Can you believe Ford used flat pan cake exhaust manifolds during the 427 test cycles for Lemans France. 24 hours or racing.

[@Survival427FE]

I think they were simply testing for durability

[@vikotto]

I cringed every time the narrator said Le Mans.

[@grandcrappy]

Ha, hard as hell to imagine cheap, high octane fuel eh?

[@kevinyancey958]

Le Mans is pronounced Le Mon! It's French! Any car guy would have known that, even back in the 60's.

[@caratcranker5874]

Yer, but yanks don't give a fuck about the French, only beating them WITH their precious pronunciations..... Branch Brarnch....Pronouncing LeMan is wrong, but i bet it pissed a lot of people off...

[@danh8302]

Actually it is LUH Mon. If you say Le as LAY you are actually saying the plural: Les

[@stevoschannel4127]

Man it must have really been a mess when one of those test motors blew up sending hot oil and coolant all over all those electrical components...

[@cammontreuil7509]

None ever blew up.

[@Mr.McGillicuddy]

As a current dyno tech in this very building, yeah, it really fucking sucks.

[@stevoschannel4127]

@@cammontreuil7509 oh i think plenty blew up that was the point, take a ohv passenger car motor and modify it to the point where it could do lemans for 48hrs

[@cammontreuil7509]

@@stevoschannel4127 no indication or history of any of those 427's blowing up. They were detuned engines.

[@stevoschannel4127]

@@cammontreuil7509 the literature describes ‘finally’ getting them to last for 48 hours…not sure that means they blew up but pretty sure that means they failed…my comment was intended to express how any messy mishap could wreak havoc with all those servos and relays associated with that old dyno…6500 is still alot of revs for a pushrod v8 with 1960s technology…My phony 427 Windsor has machining and components that are common on the scene now that they could only dream about in 66, and i dont go beyond 6500, it could but im just a working man with a limited toy budget! Cheers!

[@captjim007]

Ford really wanted Ferrari's ass.