Vanderbilt Cup Races

Above: In your wildest dreams, could you ever imagine a Falcon leading a Ferrari GTO at Sebring? The Challenger I surprised many, including driver Marvin Panch, who has fond memories of his two hours behind the wheel. Phot courtesy of Dave Friedman

A rare photo indeed. The only known photo of the three Holman Moody Challengers taken at the Detroit area home of Bill Clausen. The Ford executive bought all three and raced them for several years before selling them. Photo courtesy of Kim Haynes.

This was the most radical of the Challenger series. Beginning life as a humble Falcon two-door sedan, Challenger III was a chopped and sectioned more than a James Dean-era 1951 Mercury. Like Challenger I, III had three inches removed form its mid-section, but Challenger III had an additional three inches removed from the top, lowering the body a total of six inches. The stock doors, hood and trunk were replaced with aluminum, including a striking, chopped fastback roof. Lujie Lesovsky , Holman Moody's fabrication wizard, fabricated the top on an English Wheel from aluminum. 

The Ford Mustang was well in the development stages by this time, so Ford would soon have a high performance model of their own. The Challenger III retired a short and interesting sem-factory racing career.