1965 Tulsa Bill Parham 1957 Ford E/SA 0144-2291

Bill Parham's yellow 1957 Ford E/SA stock car staging beside the starting tree at Tulsa in November 1965.

What Is in This Photograph?

A colour frame taken square-on from across the strip. The car is a two-door 1957 Ford painted school-bus yellow, front wheels light and thin, rear wheels on steel rims with red-painted centres, and it sits just short of the staging beams. Lettering covers the flank: BILL MURDOCK and RAMON L. KING as co-owners, a FORD INC. block, BILL PARHAM & GORDON PAYNE of Tulsa, the number 1045, the class marking E/SA, an engine figure alongside it, and 1965 NHRA NATIONAL CHAMPION arched over the rear wheel. An STP roundel sits on the roof. In front of the car stands the tree with its stacked lenses, and behind it are a chainlink fence, a packed crowd in white shirts, a small shed, a loudspeaker mast and flat Oklahoma scrub under a hard blue sky. A man in an orange cap sits on a roof beyond the guardrail.

Why Tulsa in November?

Because that is where the season ended. NHRA wanted a place to crown its season champions and held the first World Finals at Southwest Raceway in Tulsa in 1965 (NHRA). The lettering on this car, 1965 NHRA National Champion, is therefore being carried at the meeting that created the title.

What Does E/SA Mean?

Stock Automatic, class E. NHRA's stock eliminator classes were set by a weight-to-power ratio, with a letter for the bracket and S for stock, and the A suffix separating automatic transmission cars from manuals. A car like this one is a showroom body shell with a class-legal engine, which is why the painted engine figure next to the class marking matters as much as the number.

Who Is This Print For?

This vintage drag racing print suits NHRA and stock eliminator historians, 1957 Ford owners, Oklahoma and Tulsa collectors, and garages, bars and dens where period colour photography of a working race car beats a studio portrait. The yellow bodywork against blue sky makes it carry from across a room. Choose framed print, stretched canvas, ChromaLuxe metal or Giclée.

Photograph Details

• Vehicle: 1957 Ford two-door, NHRA class E/SA, number 1045
• Named on the car: Bill Parham and Gordon Payne of Tulsa; co-owners Bill Murdock and Ramon L. King
• Lettering: 1965 NHRA National Champion
• Event: Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 1965
• Archive reference: 0144-2291

This archival photograph is made available through Fordimages.com, the official Ford archive imagery licensee operated by Richard Weedn LLC. Each image is digitally restored before printing and handcrafted to order.

Available as:

• Framed Print — museum-quality paper, archival inks, Acrylite glazing, hanging hardware included
• Stretched Canvas — hand-stretched over 1.25-inch pine bars, heavy cotton poly matte finish
• ChromaLuxe Metal Print — image infused directly onto sheets of alloy metal for maximum vibrancy and durability
• Giclée Art Print — 260gsm satin finish paper, finest archival inks, white border

Made in the USA or Europe depending on your location.

About the Artwork

Artwork in this collection comes from the Ford Motor Company Archives, The Henry Ford Museum, the Carroll Shelby Archives, and the collections of acclaimed photographers and painters from around the world. Reproduction rights are reserved by the respective copyright owners.

Our framed prints feature a black, hand-stained solid wood frame with a white mat, museum-quality paper, archival inks, Acrylite glazing, and hanging hardware. The frame features a slim 0.8-inch face and projects 1.3 inches from the wall, creating a clean, contemporary shadow-box effect. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

Our stretched canvas prints are produced on acid-free, pH-neutral, and fade-resistant canvas. Each canvas is hand-glued to solid wood stretcher bars and stretched over 1.25-inch-thick pine bars. Mounting brackets are included. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

Our Giclée prints are produced using premium 200gsm semi-gloss paper and high-quality archival inks. Each print includes a white border around the perimeter.

For the 40 x 60 size, we use 250gsm museum-quality archival paper with an off-white, uncoated finish.

The listed size refers to the overall paper dimensions. The image is printed proportionally within the selected paper size. Made in the USA or Europe, depending on your location.

ChromaLuxe prints use a state-of-the-art coating process that infuses the image directly onto sheets of alloy metal. The result is photography with an exceptional combination of vibrancy, clarity, and durability.

Each print arrives ready to hang. An alloy subframe on the back allows the artwork to float away from the wall for a sleek, modern appearance. This is the finest-quality print we offer. Made in the USA.

All images are digitally restored before printing. Production location varies by product and destination. Shipping is calculated at checkout.