Vintage FF's are great cars. They don't require a lot of maintenence, handle
great and go very fast. Parts are readily available for most except for cast
bits like hub carriers, as most of the car was fabricated from tube or sheet
steel. Some of the best vintage FF's would include Titan, Merlyn, Winkelman,
Elden and Caldwell. There are others, too. Althugh others would not agree,
when I was racing and preparing Fords in the 1970's I did not like working on
Lolas. They seemed to be harder to work on and not as well built. Maybe that
was the examples I was working on and not the whole fleet. Lotus 51 and 61
are great looking cars but more expensive and usually not as quick as the
others. Lotus 69's are fast, rare and expensive. Check the Monoposto rules
carefully, they are more restrictive than rules used by many other vintage
groups. This can be good or bad, just make sure you are OK before showing up
to race. Be sure and get the Steve Nickless book, The Anatomy and Development
of the Formula Ford Race Car. It is available from most book stores or
Classic Motorbooks.
Harold Pace
Former Winkelman WDF-2 racer.
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