WI Ford in Can Am.

In the 60s Ford had a finger in every racing pie except Can Am, where they only dabbled. True an Indy-Ford powered Lola won the first Can-Am race but after that it was all Chev until Porsche took over.

WI Ford put some effort into Can-Am? I don't mean a major effort like Le Mans, more like supporting a team with engines and the like much like Chev did.

In 1966 most cars used iron block-alloy head small block Chevs of about 365 CI with 500hp. In 1967 the alloy 427 big block Chev entered the picture with about 620hp and grew to 496CI with 780hp by 1971.

In 1966 Ford had available an iron block-alloy head version of their 427 which should have made about 600hp in sprint race tune. Using these I'd think Ford engined cars could have a good crack at the 1966 and 67 seasons. In about 1969-70 Ford made a couple of all alloy 494CI versions of the hemi head Boss 429, these could be a rival to the Chev 496s in the later seasons.

Would the Can Am series be any different if Ford engined cars were up there contesting for the lead?
 
Ford tried entering the Can Am series in 1967. Holman and Moody ran the effort, and the car was called the Honker II. Mario Andretti was the pilot, and in a 2004 interview he called it "The Worst Car I Ever Drove". It's first race (at Bridgehampton, New York) saw it qualify 17th and finish 8th. The second race (at Mosport Park near Toronto) saw it qualified 17th and last, 20 seconds+ off the pace. It's only glory was at the final race at Laguna Seca, where it started fifth but didn't last very long in the race.

Ford use that car as a base for the F3L, which ran in Europe in 1968 and was a dismal failure.
 
What little I know about the HonkerII was that it had a 377CI engine with Weslake heads and had a slippery body but, without wings and things, no downforce. But 3 races with one car doesn't really count as an effort, undertaking to ensure that a 2 car team with Ford engines enters every race is an effort.
 
What little I know about the HonkerII was that it had a 377CI engine with Weslake heads and had a slippery body but, without wings and things, no downforce. But 3 races with one car doesn't really count as an effort, undertaking to ensure that a 2 car team with Ford engines enters every race is an effort.

They went to every round of the season, so says Mario, and he said that the thing was horribly unstable - a similar problem that afflicted the F3L. They only missed a round because the truck knocked down a telephone pole - a pretty good excuse, if you ask me. ;)

As far as that idea goes, I think its possible, but Ford at the time kinda had their hands full. In 1966-67 Henry Ford II REALLY wanted to kick Enzo Ferrari's ass at Le Mans, which is why the GT40 came to be in the first place. (Though as the legend goes, Henry Ford II's son, Edsel Ford II, restored one of the Le Mans winning GT40s, and proudly showed it off to his father, who promptly asked "What the hell kind of a car is that?") Between that and their nascent Formula One and Indy efforts, I think the case with Can Am is that Ford simply had enough on their plate without having to go after GM in the Can Am series.
 
Ford only has to supply engines to existing teams to get success. At the time suitable engines were as common as muck in the 1966-8 period because of what Ford was doing elsewhere. The HonkerII's engine wasn't particularly special and could have been used more widely than it was in 1966-7 in Lola T70s. In 1968 the Lola T160 came out which could take big blocks, Ford could have offered already available tunnel-port 427s to Lola teams.

It is only in about 1969 that Ford would have to do something in particular to ensure its engines were in Can Am cars in order to compete with the Chevs. But Ford started down this path anyway with the all alloy 494 Boss hemi in very limited numbers. If they pushed this engine out to Can Am teams they would get some success.

EDIT. Why was the HonkerII, a purpose built car for Ford, made to fit a small block when Ford had the 427 race engine available that would put out close to 100hp more than the small blocks in other 1967 cars?
 
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