Thread: 396 Chevy- 390 Ford

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‘…..There is always one, I mean you and the Thunderbolt. Wikipedia lists 390 as coming in Thunderbolt but of course it does not……’

Ain’t that the truth, and god knows if you read it on the internet it must be true


You do realize the 100 Thunderbolts were actually put together at Dearborn Steel Tubing, not the regular Ford production line. This was due in large part to the shock tower mods that had to be made in order for the 427 to physically fit into that body. If you’ve never seen a Thunderbolt or clone first hand I can tell you it is 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag.

“….Your statement about 406 is not quite true as Ranchero, Fairlane,
Thunderbird all could fit 406.…..”

1963 was the last year of the 406 (although I have heard rumors of a few early productions 64s with them). The 63 Fairlanes had an engine compartment that was close to the same as the 64s meaning they would require the same shock tower mods to fit an FE in. As far as the Ranchero, these were falcon based in 63 meaning an even tighter engine compartment than the Fairlanes …..there was definitely a reason the FE wasn’t available from the factory in these bodies.

I will give you that Ford could have fit the 406 into a 61-3 Thunderbird, but frankly it would have been a wasted effort. Again even in that body the shock towers were so tight with the FE that only the factory flat log type manifolds fit without modifications. There was a reason that that majority of all the 406s came with factory cast iron headers….they needed them to breathe. Additionally the banana nose birds optimistically weighed about 4200 pounds with no options, check a few boxes for things like AC, power seats etc and they easily were in the 4500+ pound range…….a bit portly to be considered a hotrod.

I’m not trying to rain on your parade…..I actually like the FEs but I’m also realistic about their strong and weak points.


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the flat exhaust manifolds were because of the steering box location