OK Papa here you are!
The Wood Brothers Modified
In 1966 Ford Motor Company boycotted Grand National racing due to Nascar outlawing their new 427 Single Over Head Cam engine while allowing Chrysler cars to use the 426 Hemi. To lure Ford back to competition Nascar allowed Ford’s teams to run the 427” Tunnel Port” engine in the lighter and smaller 66 Fairlane which came to be known as the “half chassis” car. It was so named for its 65 Galaxie frame snout connected to the Fairlane’s unibody with square tubing. This was the beginning of the fabricated chassis, a form of which is still in use today
I always wondered what a Nascar team would build if they decided to "go back home" only to discover the Wood Bros. answered that question during the boycott.
Being diehard racers the Wood Bros. built this modified to give them something to race until if and when Ford rejoined Nascar competition.
The Wood Bros only ran the car a year or so. It was raced at their “home track” of Martinsville and other major modified races but not on a regular basis at a local track. The car initially had a 289c.i.engine with fuel injection; it was later replaced with a 427 with 4 Weber carbs. (Aka the Dearborn sledgehammer! The Wood Bros had just come back from Lemans where they learned a LOT about the Webers). Leonard Wood used a highly modified 65 Galaxie chassis from a now year-old race car The independent front suspension made the car push really badly so it was changed to a straight axle setup like other modifieds of that era and it was much faster The rear suspension was leaf springs with a Nascar type rear end.
The car was very competitive and had several different drivers including Sonny Hutchins, Donnie Allison & Eddie Royster. For a time the restored version was on display at the Wood Bros museum in Stuart, Va. and is now reportedly for sale for 25000.00
The restored version in the WB museum in Va.
An early version of the Wood Bros.
Over the top of the car scratching his ear is a one of the Wood brothers
Far left leaning on the truck is Sonny Hutchins,the driver. This is a very
early version with injected 289 and coil spring front end
Haulin the mail!