Video: The Ford Battlebird is a 7.0-litre battering ram

23rd October 2025

Russell Campbell

The gargantuan Ford Battlebird cut an unlikely figure in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at the 2025 Goodwood Revival — living up to its 'battering ram' brief as it towered over the European exotics it lined up against.

But if the Battlebird looks like an unlikely racing car, few could question its performance as it tore away from the start-finish straight, leaving the rest of the grid in its wake. Its cornering performance, however, was up for question.

Built in 1957, this 7.0-litre Goliath competed at the Daytona Beach speed trials, where it clocked an astonishing top speed of 204mph. That would have been enough to blow away the General Motors competition had it not failed to make the second run needed to make the record official.

The Battlebird was built to sprinkle some motorsport fairy dust on the Ford Thunderbird road car, as it battled for sales against the Chevrolet Corvette, but it was a very different machine to the one you could buy in the showroom.

Its bonnet, boot and doors were made from lightweight aluminium, the wheels were constructed from magnesium, and the interior was stripped and replaced with a single lightweight seat. Rather worryingly, drum brakes provide the stopping power for this rocketship.

Peter De Paolo Engineering, commissioned by Ford to build the Battlebird, produced two cars: the supercharged #98 and this, the #99, which used a big block V8.

Goodwood Revival

Video: 2025 Freddie March Memorial Trophy highlights

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Its star-spangled history stretches long past Daytona Beach. After its record runs, Ford sold it to Andy Hotton of Dearborn Steel Tubing, who raced out in regional events across America before selling the car to a Pan-American Airlines pilot in 1960.

Quite unbelievably, the pilot used it as a streetcar before agreeing to lend it to the makers of Viva Las Vegas, where it was supposed to be Elvis Presley’s wheels of choice. But tragedy struck when a member of the production team crashed the car during a shakedown.

The remains were purchased by 'Bayou Bondurant', Ricky Lee-Babineaux, who intended to salvage the big block 430 MEL for air-boat racing. He would later begin a DIY restoration, only for the work to stall due to poor health.

Bill Shepherd Automotive then acquired the Ford when it purchased much of Babineaux's collection in 2016 and set about restoring it to its former glory with the ultimate plan to race the unique machine at Revival.

It was at this year’s event where we spoke with Bill and Fred Shepherd and driver Romain Dumas before joining it for its epic showing in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy.