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Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg
New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.
I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.
Want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, new week, gonna get hot. Get you a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, maybe a tall cool glass of lemonade. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $6.41 a bushel. 550lb steer calf $5 on the top end, for fall delivery, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings topping out at $3.16 a pound. But guys there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:Okay. A listener who shall remain nameless, Gary Knudson, asked if I had done the Ford Fairlane on Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. I said, Gary, I'll check and get back to you.
OK Solberg:Well, it's Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. Listen now and you will know the answer. Listen carefully to a story I found online. I like it. There was a time when a young man could walk into a Ford showroom, point at a car and say, yeah, that's the one.
OK Solberg:And if he happened to point to a Fairlane, he wasn't making a bad choice. The Ford Fairlane had been around since 1955 named after Henry Ford's estate, Fairlane in Dearborn, Michigan.
OK Solberg:But by the late 1960's the automotive world was changing and Ford was changing right along with it. In 1968, Ford introduced a new name alongside the Fairlane, Torino. At 1st, Torino was a fancier member of the Fairlane family, but but Ford had bigger plans.
OK Solberg:By 1970, the Fairlane 500 was still there, but the Torino had become the star of Ford's intermediate lineup. The new Torino had a long hood, a fast looking roof line and shape. It looked like it was designed to move even when it was sitting still. It looked like the future. And underneath that long hood, you could get some serious hardware.
OK Solberg:For 1970, Ford offered engines ranging from 6 cylinder power all the way up to the big 429 cubic inch V8. And if you wanted the really hot version, well, you could order a Torino Cobra with a 429 Cobra Jet. But while young fellows were dreaming about Cobras, there was another Ford quietly doing business all over America, and that was the Galaxy 500.
OK Solberg:The Galaxy was a big automobile, big enough that you could put a family in it, load the trunk, turn on the air conditioning, and head across the Montana Prairie without feeling like you're riding in a sardine can. But Ford had another customer in mind, the police.
OK Solberg:Ford's 1970 police car literature listed an interceptor package. And the top engine was something that sounds almost ordinary today, but wasn't ordinary at all then, the 428 Police Interception.
OK Solberg:Interceptor, 428 cubic inches, 4 barrel carb, 360 horsepower, and 459 pound foot of torque. And Ford described the Interceptor as its maximum duty police vehicle capable of sustained high speed operation. Now now remember this was 1970.
OK Solberg:360 horsepower in a big 4 door Ford wasn't something you bought because you wanted to be economical. You bought it because you needed to catch somebody. Imagine you're driving down the highway in 1970.
OK Solberg:You see a big Ford Galaxy 500 sitting along the road, 4 doors, you know, big trunk, look like somebody family car, but maybe you see the spotlight or maybe you saw the antenna and somewhere under that hood is a 428 police interceptor. Suddenly, that ordinary looking Ford doesn't seem quite as ordinary anymore.
OK Solberg:But guess what, guys? The Ford Motor Company wasn't finished. 3 years later, the big dog arrived. For the 1973 model year, Ford made the 460 cubic inch, four six zero, 460 cubic inch V8 available as a police interceptor in the Galaxy 500.
OK Solberg:This wasn't just a regular family car. The police interceptor version was specifically intended for police service and was the high performance version of Ford's 460 police engine.
OK Solberg:460 cubic inches, that's 32 more cubic inches than the 428, And in 1973, you could order that Galaxy 500 as a police car with a 460 police interceptor under the hood. Now think about that. A car big enough to carry the family to church on Sunday, well, could be ordered with an engine designed to chase down bad guys on Monday.
OK Solberg:But now back to our Ford Fairlane. Then came 1971. Ford quietly closed the book on the Fairlane name. The Torino remained. The Fairlane had done its job.
OK Solberg:It had carried families, teenagers, salesmen, farmers, and just about everybody else who needed an automobile that could do a little bit of everything. But the name was going away that Torino would carry the torch.
OK Solberg:And the Galaxy 500, well, it would continue on as one of Ford's big family cars and in police trim, one of the most serious, listen, serious automobiles on 4 wheels. Funny thing about automobiles, sometimes a name disappears, but the car doesn't really disappear. It becomes another name, another generation, another name.
OK Solberg:And somewhere sitting in a garage or under an old tarp somewhere, there's probably still a Fairlane waiting for somebody to open the door, slide behind the wheel, and turn the key. And when that old Ford fires up, well, for just a moment, huh 1970 never really ended. The end of the episode.
OK Solberg:This one's for Gary. And if you heard about the 460 Ford interceptor, ask me to tell you the story sometime that happened on 12/31/1974 where there was not only a Galaxy 500 with a Ford 460 Police interceptor, but there was also a 1970 Buick GS with a 455 Stage-I right alongside a red 442 Osmobile.
OK Solberg:And the story didn't happen in California or New York or even Louisiana. It happened right here in Phillips County, America with the conclusion happening right in downtown Malta, Montana with all 3 of those classic cars.
OK Solberg:Gary checks me if I have a bible verse, and I know I haven't yet. So here it is. Psalm 77:11-12. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Again, Psalm 77 verses 11-12. And, guys, I do ponder on his mighty deeds, I thank him that I survived that night long, long ago.
OK Solberg:So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.