When the Detroit automakers went drag racing in the ’60s, they produced some very special cars that are highly prized by collectors today. Here’s a closer look at the factory lightweights. 

Chasing the exploding performance youth market of the early ’60s, the Motor City carmakers plunged headlong into the hot new sport of drag racing. To accommodate their competitive streak, the National Hot Rod Association, the sport’s leading rules body, created a new set of classes for cars equipped with factory performance parts that were not necessarily available to the general public. The category, first named Optional Super Stock, then Factory Experimental, inspired some of the wildest vehicles the Motor City has ever produced.

With the horsepower potential of their big V8 engines approaching the limits, factory engineers took the other obvious route in improving acceleration: weight reduction. Replica fenders, hoods, doors, and bumpers were fabricated in fiberglass or thin-gauge aluminum. Interiors were stripped bare with thin rubber mats replacing the carpets, and light bucket seats were borrowed from delivery vans. Even acid dipping, a process known in the aircraft industry as chemical milling, was used to shed every ounce of unnecessary weight. Depending on the measures taken, the total weight reduction might range from 120 to 600 lbs., all while preserving a semblance of showroom appearance.

These cars were rare and expensive when new, produced in mere handfuls and available only to the most well-connected racers. They are even rarer today, and now easily command six-figure prices (even more for a few examples) on the collector car auction scene. Indeed, the photos in our survey below are courtesy of the respective auction houses. This is by no means a full listing of all the vehicles produced in the era of factory lightweights, only a sample…

Chevrolet was an early entry in the factory weight-loss game in 1962 with a run of Impala SS Sport Coupes equipped with aluminum fenders, hood, and internal sheet metal. The reported weight reduction was 120 lbs., and meanwhile, the vaunted 409 CID V8 was treated to a improved intake manifold and other pieces. Reportedly, only 18 of the trick machines were produced on the assembly line, but Chevrolet did make the lightweight body pieces available separately.  Auctions America photo 

Ford offered a winning engine in 1962, a 406 CID V8 with three two-barrel carburetors and rated at 405 hp, but unfortunately, the Ford full-size package it came in was big and overweight. So Ford arranged with its favorite performance contractor, Dearborn Steel Tubing, to assemble 11 Galaxie Club Sedans with fiberglass fenders, hoods, deck lids, stripped interiors and special lightweight frames, cutting 400 lbs. of needless fat. Only four examples exist today, as six of the cars were later rebodied as 1963 models.  Barrett-Jackson photo

In 1963, the Dodge and Plymouth brands at Chrysler came loaded for bear with highly developed 426 CID Max Wedge engines in both Stage I and Stage II tune. To squeeze even more potential from the combination, Chrysler issued lightweight body components, including hood, front fenders, and valence panels stamped in 26-gauge aluminum. The paper-thin body components, which saved a reported 160 lbs., were prone to crumpling with even casual contact—note the caution painted on the hood scoop of this Dodge. Mecum Auctions photo 

Saddled with the biggest and heaviest package in the game, Pontiac took desperate measures in building its Catalina lightweights. Accordingly, they will be forever known as the Swiss Cheese Pontiacs. Along with aluminum bumpers, front fenders and internal sheet metal, these cars sported 120 large-diameter holes punched in their frame rails to shave off a few more precious pounds. Only 14 of Swiss Cheese Catalinas were built, all powered by 421 CID Super Duty V8s with manual transmissions. Mecum Auctions photo 

Arguably the most famous of the factory lightweights today is the 1964 Fairlane Super Stock racer, which Ford gave the colorful name Thunderbolt. Dearborn Steel Tubing built 100 Thunderbolts (some folks have claimed more) with 427 CID High-Riser engines and fiberglass fenders, doors, and front bumpers, incorporating stripped-down interiors with delivery van seats. Half the cars used four-speed manual gearboxes, while the other half were equipped with modified Lincoln automatics. At 3203 lbs. the Thunderbolts were extremely competitive, taking Super Stock class honors at both the NHRA Nationals and Winternationals in 1964. Barrett-Jackson photo 

Even upscale Mercury played the factory lightweight game in 1964 and 1965 with a handful of Comets constructed to run in the A/Factory Experimental category (’65 model shown here). Of the eight Comets built for the 1965 season by Bill Stroppe in Long Beach, California, four were equipped with the new 427 SOHC Cammer, while four received the tried and true 427 High Riser V8. All used fiberglass hoods, front fenders, doors, and bucket seats, along with plexiglass windshields and side glass, slashing the race weight to a slim 3215 lbs. Mecum Auctions photo 

The final factory lightweights of the classic era were Chrysler’s Hemi Super Stock cars of 1968. Produced in both Plymouth Barracuda BO29 (pictured here) and Dodge Dart LO23 versions at a Hurst Performance facility in Detroit, these cars were equipped with fiberglass fenders and hoods and gutted interiors, acid-dipped doors with thin Corning glass, and in lieu of window regulators, the glass was raised and lowered in the door via a length of seat belt webbing.

Some 80 Darts and 55 Barracudas were built, which satisfied NHRA’s production requirements for the Super Stock category. At just over 3000 lbs. with a race-spec 426 CID Hemi V8 under the hood, these beasts were easily capable of ten-second quarter-mile times straight out of the box—the ultimate expressions of the factory lightweight era. Barrett-Jackson photo

To be continued….