Fred Lorenzen’s Starlifter at Atlanta

What’s the story on the “Starlifter”? I’ve heard of starliners, but never a starlifter.

It was a hard top that you could put on your convertible. It was considered an accessory at the time.None of the convertibles came from the factory with them already on them. That was one of the reasons NASCAR did not allow them after that 1 race.

Also the roofline on the 1962 model was not very aerodynamic. This was found out after the 1962 model came out. The starlift roof was a way to get around this fact.NASCAR didn’t like the way Ford had went about trying to get around this problem,so they did not allow them to race this car any more.

RR your correct. Ford knew the square back was a slug on the faster tracks. Speaking with Fred Lorenzen several years ago, the day after the ’62 Daytona 500 H-M rented the track fora test. Lorenzen’s hands were blistered from the day before, but Ralph Moody asked him to drive. Moody took Lorenzen’s square back and using thin sheets of plywood and a great amount of tape, fashioned what would become the “starlifter” roofline. Even with hurting hands,Lorenzen said the difference in the car’s handling was like day and night. Looking at newspaper records for the ’62 Atlanta 500, H-M built a total of 4 “starlifters” ( Lorenzen, Nelson Stacy, Larry Frank and, surprisingly, Elmo Langley. Ford even produced accessory pictures touting the roofline. NASCAR Scrutineers said the cars were really convertibles and needed frame X-members. H-M added them an the cars handled even better. Then Big Bill F said the cars could run in the rain-delayed Atlanta, but no more. I guess race car parity didn’t count. The next several years threw parity out the window.