Right out of the gate the ’57 Ford stroker 352/3-speed standard with stock front suspension was a potent combo, running consistent high 11-second ETs but Dixon wasn’t satisfied with that. In 1964 he installed a 427ci with high riser heads and high riser dual quad intake, dual 4-barrel carbs and a 4-speed transmission. The 427ci FE motor had just been introduced in 1963 so this was a fairly state-of-the-art combo and it immediately had the Ford running low 11-second ETs. “I was really good friends with Blackie in the parts department at Bob Ford in Dearborn, MI so he kept us up to date on new parts,” says Dixon.

It was with this new combo that Dixon had one of his more memorable race wins. Dixon thinks it was 1965 at St.Thomas Dragway in Sparta, ON and that he was facing London, ON’s Pete Wouters in the B/Gas final. Wouters’ SBC-powered ’41 Willys was dominating the class at the time. “He was pretty well king of the strip there and that race we beat him,” says Dixon. Dixon said he was told even the tower crew was pulling for him on this day as they bellowed over the loud speakers during the race “Come on Mr. Dixon.” As for the date of the event, East London Timing Association member Mark Rogerson did a little sleuthing and found out from George Gray, of Ontario George ’33 Willys fame, that it was likely in 1965 because in 1966 Gray began a racing partnership with Wouters and pulled the supercharged SBC out of his A/Gas dragster to put in Wouters’ Willys so it could run in the A/Gas class. Later in ’65 the front A-arm suspension was ditched in favour of a 1948 Ford pickup straight axle and parallel leaf springs.

Despite success with the 427ci hi riser, Dixon wanted to go faster and in ’66 he got serious when he laid down $3,500 to buy a 427 SOHC motor through the Bob Ford dealership in Dearborn, MI. “Before the engine was ever run I tore it apart to machine the heads for more compression and installed a Crane Cams cam and made my own headers — a real advantage when you work in a tool and mold shop like I did,” says Dixon. “Not many guys had one of these engines so I searched out Connie Kalitta and George DeLorean, who were in the Detroit area, for any speed tips they could let me know.” By 1967 Dixon also ditched the carburetors in favour of Hilborn Fuel Injection and held the B/Gas track record at St. Thomas, Grand Bend and Milan Dragway from 1966 through 1968. In 1967 Dixon ran a best ET of 10.44 at 130 mph when the 1967 National Record was 10.38 at 131 mph. “I tried everything to set that record,” says Dixon. “I remember almost burning out the clutch trying to take off in second because I wanted the speed record but I just couldn’t get it.”

In about 1969 the 427 SOHC expired (maybe it was all those attempts to break the speed record) and Dixon parked the car in the aforementioned garage and in 1970 actually purchased Scott Wilson’s record-setting Top Fuel dragster....less its 427 SOHC. “I figured I had one I could rebuild but I sat in that dragster and the rear end was right under my best parts,” laughs Dixon. “In the gas cars you were always blowing up rear ends and I thought if this dragster rear end blows that’s the end. I sold it to a fellow in Chatham who I think still has it.” Dixon sold the car to Ron Cavanaugh in 1971 but first rebuilt the 427 SOHC motor and then acted as Cavanaugh’s tuner as he campaigned the car for a few years as the Canadian Cammer. In 1973 Cavanaugh sold the car to Pat Maville who, with the help of the Gramada brothers put the car on the street for the first time since 1961. “I lost track of it after that,” says Dixon. “It was always in the back of my mind. I wondered if somebody had it scrapped.”

He still had a need for speed though and so he bought a 1969 Corvette with, of course, a 427ci rat motor. “The Mounties had confiscated it from a fellow because he got everything built up in the US and tried to smuggle it back into Canada. They put it in storage and the block cracked. I bought it cheap and rebuilt the motor.” In about 1972 he got into antique and classic cars which further pushed drag racing and the ’57 Ford into the memory vault. Bob may never have considered owning the car again if his brother Al didn’t get back into drag racing in about 2005. Al Dixon and his son Shawn both started racing and a few years into it discovered the whereabouts of Bob’s ’57 Ford. It was just 25 miles away and owned, since about 1974, by Butch Laporte and his father. The pair had started to build it into a pro street car, replacing the quarters and losing, among things, the Logghe straight axle but it never got beyond project status. “That was a shame because I heard when they bought it the car was basically the car I had sold in 1971,” says Dixon. “That Logghe axle is probably under some little farm trailer or implement but nobody can find it.”

Once the ’57 Ford was back in Dixon’s garage the idea wasn’t to restore it exactly as it was but more to pay tribute to that 1960s drag car while also taking advantage of modern chassis technology and speed parts in general. To that end the car first went to Andre Mailloux of Mailloux Chassis. He build the chassis, using the stock frame but creating a custom front clip with a tube front axle and parallel leaf springs while out back a custom 3-link chassis setup with coil overs and double adjustable shocks was fabricated along with a full roll cage. The body, paint, interior, very trick custom tilt front end, engine installation and headers among many other items were done by Shawn Dixon and Dennis Standon at Oldcastle Speed and Custom in Old Castle, ON. Dixon wanted to cut weight on the ’57 Ford so had carbon fibre doors manufactured while swapping the stock hood and deck lid for fibreglass units. Under the tilt hood resides a 427 SOHC. Dixon didn’t have any parts left from the past and if Cammer motors were expensive in the 1960s you can imagine what it cost to build one today. This new version sports 527ci and more than 900hp and 700+ft/lbs of torque with a reproduction Hilborn mechanical fuel injection system resembling the one Dixon purchased in 1967

The car was built for drag racing and Dixon, a member of the Ontario Nostalgia Drag Racers, plans to hit the track in 2014 with the same enthusiasm he had in the ’60s. This time around something tells me the 21st century version of Dixon’s Ford won’t have any problem getting low 10-second ETs and eclipsing 131 mph.