Hinchliff History 1962-2003

Ed Hinchliff’s first racecar was this1962 Corvette. Ed raced this car extensively winning many drag race events in the Detroit area from 1962-1966. Ed raced the Chevrolet when he was first employed at Ford Motor Company.

In 1966 Sitting on the sand in Daytona Beach Florida, Ed bought this 1966 425 HP 427 big block Corvette to continue his drag racing competitiveness. Fortunately for Ed’s career at Ford, he made a fateful decision in February of 1967 and drove his Vette down to the Daytona 24 hour race. It was here that he first saw the road racing Trans Am competition with Mark Donahoue’s new 1967 Camaro Z-28 besting the field. Ed returned to Michigan and traded in his Vette and ordered a Z-28 with the entire road racing options. Unfortunately for Chevrolet the car was never built and frustrated after 8 months of delays in the fall of 1967 Ed went to the prototype Lot at Ford Motor Company and bought his new 1968 Mustang which was a cosmetically updated ‘67. Ed remembers almost immediately putting the roll cage in and still driving the Mustang to work but within several weeks the Chevrolet dealer call to inform him that his Z had arrived as a 1968 model and was ready for his pick up. Though no longer interested, Ed went to see the Z-28 and remembers a crowd around the car, which was how he had ordered it, black with gold stripes and sitting on the showroom. After looking over the corvette 8” wheels, competition delete options, headers and cross ram induction in the trunk Ed released the car and drove off in his Mustang and Pro-Racing history. The Z was sold to a Woodward Avenue street racer and was one of the fastest cars in town for many years.

Ed Hinchliff began working at Ford Motor Company in 1963. This year he celebrates 40 years employed at Ford Motor Company. For the past 20 years he has been working with and training engineers at Fords Advance Vehicle facility. Pictured is the 30th anniversary article in the Ford Employee Monthly magazine.

A resident of Ypsilanti Michigan for the past 50 years Ed and his wife Chrissie have traveled SCCA racing all around the country. The requirements and costs of being an independent racer/owner are as challenging today as ever.

Ed’s race shop is fully equipped including a racecar chassis plate Ed designed himself. Utilizing bodywork components from Roush the Hinchliff Mustang for the 2003 season features Yates heads and is 100% designed and built by Ed.

The cover of the 2002 fan guide holds in it the current competitors of Trans Am. Ed Hinchliff still running the #29 is the longest active trans Am competitor in the field as seen on page 54.

The cover and the listing of the 1997 SCCA Pro Racing guide list Ed as a long-standing competitor with over 58 starts and 7 top tens. The road of an un-sponsored independent can be long but very personally rewarding.

From the 1972 SCCA T/A program Ed’s driver profile tells of his 2nd T/A car at the time a Grabber Blue 1970 Boss 302 Mustang that Ross Meyers and Terry Brookheimer now campaign in vintage nationwide. This car was built following the damage to the 1968 at Michigan and its repair prior to the sale to Steve Ross.

Autoweek October 1997 had an interesting article by Greg Rubenstein on the Trans-Am that featured a great feature on Ed Hinchliff. Ed tells of how Sam Posey passed him in a spin at the Watkins Glen Trans Am on August 10 1968.