remembering the "Ford-illac" on the Flying Mile at Daytona beach
greg minter
Saturday November 21 2009, 3:58 PM
This is a story about my granddad, George Minter, and a trip to Daytona in the early years...Now forgive me for not having all the facts and correct dates because it has been years since I have heard the story...It seems to me that it was in the late 40's (I want to say 1947 or '49) my grandpa and a couple of buddies from around Eden, NC took a brand new Lincoln off the showroom floor and put a Cadillac engine in it, then drove to Daytona to run it in the Flying Mile, there was a huge turnout of entries at this event(over one hundred, possibly?) I don't know exactly which class the "Ford-illac" was entered in, I imagine it would have been the modified class. I also am foggy on the reason for the hybrid car...on the surface, it would appear to be a novelty, that a Cadillac engine would bolt into a Lincoln frame, but it had to be performance related for sure. Apparently Cadillac had developed a superior powerplant to Ford's that year, but either the weight of the Caddy or suspension durability were possibly factors, and the local gearheads decided to try the Caddy engine in the Lincoln, thus the name "Ford-illac". Now Grandpa(I think it was his 1st time ever on the mile) went out and set a new speed record(modified?) in this car, somewhere around 139-145 mph. Nobody had yet approached that kinda speed that day People at the beach were a little curious or even perplexed by this anomaly... "hey, what kinda car was that?"..."is that legal?" or " a Ford-illac,...huh?" Now, again, forgive me if my facts are bit skewed, but according to the legend, just when Grandpa and his friends thought they had 'em covered , the only other person on the beach that day who WASN'T curious or perplexed took his turn at the Flying Mile several hours later and beat Granpa's speed by a good 5 mph...and that person was none other than Big Bill France!! .... in what else?... another "Ford-illac"!!________If there is anybody out there that can add to this story, or was there that day, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks, and God Bless, Greg
Jeff Gilder
@jeff-gilder   15 years ago
Great piece of history, Greg. Thanks for sharing it with us. I was reading about some of those early speed records down there the other day...can't remember which book it may have been. But, its cool to have some of it brought here.Thanks again!Jeff
Mike Ray
@mike-ray   15 years ago
Good story Greg!