A new rabbit hole to chase Dearborn steel& tubing

[gt350shelb]

 There seems to be a black hole when it comes to period information about DST.

Has anyone found any paperwork for DST ?

They seem to have built and still do  build  a lot for ford .

show cars/ displays / specialty vehicles / parts?

[gt350shelb]

Ford supported race car with FIA race histroy: 1963 1/2 Falcon. One of three built by Dearborn Steel Tubing for the the 1963 Shell 4000 Canadian Rally. This was the #133 car in that event and finished 2nd in class. After Canada this Falcon and one of its team cars were sent to Holman Moody for modifiaction to road race spec and entered in the August 18th 1963 Marlboro 12h FIA race.

[gt350shelb]

[propayne]

I think that what eventually became the first Trans-Am Cougar was built at Dearborn Steel & Tubing and then sent to Bud Moore who further modified it.

- Phillip

[CSX4781]

Phil/Phillip,
   Very cool; I had forgotten about DST building that first Cougar TA car and had no idea Dearborn Steel Tubing had anything to do with those Falcon rally cars- I'd LOVE to have that Canadian rally 1963 hardtop.

  That whole Dearborn Steel Tubing story is something I've only been able to find bits and pieces about, never one good comprehensive story/overview of. Of course, everyone knows they built the 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolts and everything else has been a little piece here, a little piece there (usually their contribution to whatever special car is being written about). They did build the first 1965 A/FX Mustang fastback drag car with the twist leaf front suspension (which became Dick Brannan's and was the prototype for the remaining cars that were built by Holman Moody), and the two 1964 A/FX Falcons given to Dick Brannan and Phil Bonner. There was also one 1965 Mustang hardtop that may have been built by DST (sponsored by Bob Ford), supposedly wrecked sometime in 1965 (high riser 427 and modified shock towers like the 1964 Comets/Falcons). Maybe the story could be Charlie Morris next book.....

My only connection to DST is a friend of mine, Tim Mason (RIP). His dad was Jim "Hammer" Mason, who was the shop foreman for DST and oversaw a lot of the race car projects including Thunderbolt production. He also built and campaigned a 1963 Galaxie Fastback that they raced at Daytona in the Sportsman race from 1966-1968 (and won each of those years, usually driven by one of the Ford factory Grand National drivers). The car is in survivor condition and was in the Gilmore museum, at least up to the point where Tim passed away, IIRC. A lot of guys on here knew Tim and probably bought detail parts from him at Ford Carlisle over the years, and he had picked up the DST name for his business (someone else was recently laying claim to the name, but not sure what became of that deal).

Anyhow, I picked up (what I believe was) a reproduction brochure publicizing DST's manufacturing capabilities from Tim one year at Carlisle, and it did give a little history and insight on what DST did. It appears they manufactured a lot of the specialty pieces for the 406/427 FE engines, 289/271HP engines. as well as the Cobra Kits for Ford, including the 4V, 3-2V and 2-4V intake manifolds. I'd say it's a safe bet that they probably manufactured the pre 1965 accessories such as the Cobra Roadster oil pan and the early Cobra 'no-hole' 260-289 valve covers. I did notice that the article Steve Sloan wrote for the Shelby American this year (about Cobra accessory installation on the 1965-66 GT350 assembly line), he made reference to a Shelby American memo noting delays on delivery of hi-riser GT350 intake manifolds from DST in 1965, so I suppose there is a possibility that they made those (the small letter version) as well. I'll post some photos of the brochure in a separate post (they are on my phone); they are pretty darned interesting.

Dave

[CSX4781]

As promised, some photos of that DST brochure.

Dave

[CSX4781]

A few more.

[gt350shelb]

Thanks Dave great info   

[CharlesTurner]

Talked to a couple of guys that worked there about 20 or so years ago.  They moved locations, not sure exactly when, 70's or 80's and a bunch of paperwork that was in some cabinets was thrown away.  Evidently had info about Thunderbolts and such.  A shame...

[Coralsnake]

Maybe we should make a list of Shelby related projects we know they worked on?

[shelbymann1970]

Phil/Phillip,
   Very cool; I had forgotten about DST building that first Cougar TA car and had no idea Dearborn Steel Tubing had anything to do with those Falcon rally cars- I'd LOVE to have that Canadian rally 1963 hardtop.

  That whole Dearborn Steel Tubing story is something I've only been able to find bits and pieces about, never one good comprehensive story/overview of. Of course, everyone knows they built the 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolts and everything else has been a little piece here, a little piece there (usually their contribution to whatever special car is being written about). They did build the first 1965 A/FX Mustang fastback drag car with the twist leaf front suspension (which became Dick Brannan's and was the prototype for the remaining cars that were built by Holman Moody), and the two 1964 A/FX Falcons given to Dick Brannan and Phil Bonner. There was also one 1965 Mustang hardtop that may have been built by DST (sponsored by Bob Ford), supposedly wrecked sometime in 1965 (high riser 427 and modified shock towers like the 1964 Comets/Falcons). Maybe the story could be Charlie Morris next book.....

My only connection to DST is a friend of mine, Tim Mason (RIP). His dad was Jim "Hammer" Mason, who was the shop foreman for DST and oversaw a lot of the race car projects including Thunderbolt production. He also built and campaigned a 1963 Galaxie Fastback that they raced at Daytona in the Sportsman race from 1966-1968 (and won each of those years, usually driven by one of the Ford factory Grand National drivers). The car is in survivor condition and was in the Gilmore museum, at least up to the point where Tim passed away, IIRC. A lot of guys on here knew Tim and probably bought detail parts from him at Ford Carlisle over the years, and he had picked up the DST name for his business (someone else was recently laying claim to the name, but not sure what became of that deal).

Anyhow, I picked up (what I believe was) a reproduction brochure publicizing DST's manufacturing capabilities from Tim one year at Carlisle, and it did give a little history and insight on what DST did. It appears they manufactured a lot of the specialty pieces for the 406/427 FE engines, 289/271HP engines. as well as the Cobra Kits for Ford, including the 4V, 3-2V and 2-4V intake manifolds. I'd say it's a safe bet that they probably manufactured the pre 1965 accessories such as the Cobra Roadster oil pan and the early Cobra 'no-hole' 260-289 valve covers. I did notice that the article Steve Sloan wrote for the Shelby American this year (about Cobra accessory installation on the 1965-66 GT350 assembly line), he made reference to a Shelby American memo noting delays on delivery of hi-riser GT350 intake manifolds from DST in 1965, so I suppose there is a possibility that they made those (the small letter version) as well. I'll post some photos of the brochure in a separate post (they are on my phone); they are pretty darned interesting.

Dave

My friend Tom Lang's older brother was friends with Jim Mason back then among others.