Ryan submitted a new blog post: The Mystery Of The RPM Valve Covers Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Did he ever tell you any more about them? I wonder if he is afraid to tell you as they may be worth way more than 1500???
I think it's either: 1. Some joker trying to mess with me. 2. Someone that knows where these came from, but is keeping it under wraps. I don't wanna sell them... I just wanna know where the hell they came from!
If those are worth more than $1500, they must have been involved in some kind of well know event, like an accident that killed somebody famous like Patsy Cline or something. What version small bolck do they fit, maybe that would narrow down the time.
any numbers or anything on the inside?? maybe the "offer guy" saw your earlier post on these telling of the gift and is testing your integrity?
No numbers... And the casting is pretty good for as old as they are... Not Edelbrock good, but certainly better than Cal Custom...
Does anyone have any photos of the SBC that Mickey ran at Indy? I can find plenty of shots of the crazy 3-valve motor he did in the later 60's... but I can't find much in the way of the motor he was developing in '62...
Maybe some speed shop had them made at the foundry, like those old flathead heads that say DICK on them.
Something that makes the Mickey Thompson connection hard to research among indy people is that if these were in fact part of that effort, they would have had to have been on one of the 1963 cars. In 1964, Mickey used Ford motors... But these cars were not super popular among traditionalists... and the back fire from other teams is what ultimately made Mickey give Indy the finger... But watch this video: At around the 1:18 mark, there is some grainy footage... That valve cover is pretty damn close.
maybe it just happens to be the guys initials and he wants them that bad. either that or the patsy cline thing
For the record... If someone out there can prove these were on one of Mickey's Indy cars... and that car still exists... I'd be happy to donate them to the car so that they can be where they belong. Hell, my payment would be just finally knowing where these damn things came from.
too many letters. there are several articles on production v8's at indy in 1963 HRM, but mostly they show the engines with the valve covers off
Call this guy !! Either the guy who called you knows what these are and ain’t talking so he can get the deal or the claim to fame , or just fishing. I had a Hollywood deep tone split exhaust bought it with an edlebrock intake and fuel carbs for $250 Didn’t think anything of the exhaust manifold as I only wanted the intake. Sold that Hollywood manifold for 1200 bucks !!!!! some stuff really is solid gold hens teeth.
Yes, but according to the unverified story, he had a number of valve covers labeled differently for different reasons... This story, however, has never made a lot of sense to me. Having valve covers cast with naming conventions on them seems like a whole lot of trouble when a simple brass tag somewhere would have worked just as well. Interesting quote I just found: If I were a detective, my captain would be yelling at me right now. "Stop focusing on the romantic part of the story and go where the actual evidence takes you!"
I'm gonna go against the grain on this one (go figure). I think you should consider selling them to "Mr deep pockets". Without a history/backstory, these are a probably just a $100, or so, set of interesting valve covers. To Mr D.P. they obviously mean much more. He knows something about them and he is certainly willing to pay up.... he's not trying to screw you out of them I hate to see you be one of those guys that's afraid he's "not getting enough" and holds on to something someone really needs. I'd talk to the guy. Sometimes parts NEED to go where they belong...sometimes they need to just go home. IHMO
These things have sentimental value to me and I'd rather not sell them... I'd donate them to the right cause, but I'd want to know what that cause is first... And this dude is being pretty shifty.
Are you sure it's not just a scammer? There's been a rash of them on automotive boards these days, they typically contact board members in a private message and try to do deals offline with emails from a gmail account.
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