Bill Frick figures prominently into 1950s midget and sports car racing—and also into hot rod engine conversions. Frick raced and built some of the fastest midget racecars of the day, driven to many wins by a man named Ted Tappet, whose real name was Phil Walters. Later, Frick built many of the cars that sportsman Briggs Cunningham raced both in the United States and at LeMans.
But it was his engine conversions that are the subject of this story. Frick produced powerful hot rods called Fordillacs and Studillacs in his Long Island shop—they were early 1950s Ford and Studebaker hybrids married with powerful Cadillac engines.
Tampa-based Frick historian Mark Elliott has been intrigued with Bill Frick for decades and hopes to write a book about the man. He once owned a very special 1949 Fordillac convertible and always stays on the lookout for Frick-built cars.
Recently, Elliott came across another Frick conversion that spurred his interest. A woman called him one day and said her deceased father-in-law had left her a 1957 Ford Thunderbird. Under the hood, the car featured a 389 cubic-inch Pontiac engine.
Looking like a restored 1957 Thunderbird, this car, still wearing its factory hubcaps, fooled many a street racer. The car was heavily modified by early hot rodder Bill Frick, whose shop on Long Island became famous for building 1950 Fordillacs. ROLAND CASSIDY
“Who was Bill Frick and what is the car worth?” she asked.
Elliott offered to come to New Hampshire, where she lived, to inspect the car, but she consigned the car to a dealership before that trip could be arranged. “She had all the paperwork,” Elliott says. “Her father-in-law was one of two brothers who owned an Esso gas station in Lowell, Massachusetts. Prior to the T-Bird, the brothers had owned other Bill Frick conversions: two Fordillacs and one Studillac. They bought the T-bird new and street-raced it for money.
Things get suspicious in the back; that Continental Kit is about the longest we’ve ever seen. Rumor has it that the spare tire was filled with concrete to help with traction, and the long bumper acted as a wheelie bar. ROLAND CASSIDY
Elliot learned that they first installed a supercharger and eventually even a second supercharger. “When that wasn’t fast enough,” he adds, “in 1959, Frick installed the Pontiac engine and two fourbarrel carburetors.”
The Pontiac’s engine proved too powerful for the stock drivetrain, though, because the car was brought to Frick’s shop on Long Island several times to repair a bent driveshaft. And from the documentation, Elliott discovered that Frick finally cured that recurring problem by installing a Ford ambulance driveshaft and rear end, which he felt were the most durable.
Even though Elliott collects interesting cars, they are usually of the sports car variety. “I didn’t really need an old drag car,” he says. The consigned dealer couldn’t sell the car during the three-month contracted period, so the car was still available.
It was an intriguing find. Elliott obtained the original Frick build sheet and invoice. Even though the car looked bone-stock, right down to the hubcaps, it was very modified. The 389 Pontiac engine was over-bored by .030 inch.
This engine compartment once contained a Ford 312 cubic-inch V-8, first with one supercharger, then two. The Ford powerplant was ditched, courtesy of Bill Frick, in favor of a big-block Pontiac engine, complete with two four barrel carburetors. ROLAND CASSIDY
“It had an overdrive transmission, which functionally made it a four-speed,” Elliott says. “For traction, the brothers had an extra-long Continental kit installed, and filled the spare tire with concrete. Back in the day, I’m told the car could lift its front wheels off the ground 12 inches, so I guess the Continental kit served as a wheelie bar, too.”
At last report, Elliott was trying to find a worthy home for this fascinating T-Bird. Interested?