I think common sense would tell ya that... But Mickey did some weird shit - especially concerning heads...
Ok, let's go a little further down this path. The Indy SBC would be pretty small displacement. Any body have this detail from early/mid 1960's? Small displacement block/rotating assembly would match better with early heads than FI 327 stuff. But the early heads don't breathe well. Maybe?
If you look at this pic you can see the power pack rect casting mark on the end of the heads. It states that the engine is all aluminum. Chevrolet made some experimental 283's in the late 50's, maybe Mickey got his hands on some of those. The article on the indy car lists all the M/T produced parts used and the heads and block were not included in the list
If no new information comes forward... and no one knows anything more... I think the best guess is these were just part of some short run of valve covers made in the 1950's by some aspiring speed shop... To me, that's more probable than some crazy story involving Mickey... Which is cool too... I mean, I'd take these over some Edelbrock, Cal Custom, or Corvette valve covers... Still... Man... I'd sure like to know...
More info... Turns out Cob had the same valve covers with later model bolt pattern. Given that, I think it's pretty safe to assume these are just part of a short run of some kind...
Yep about 5-6 years ago I found some at a spring swap meet and bought them for 40 bucks. Sold them about 5 months later at a fall swap meet for 100 bucks Said RPM on them but we’re not stags / they were straight across. Wish I had a picture to add to Ryan’s hunt. Didn’t think how unusual it was at the time, Just like them at the time but like anything else always something else I wanted and made some money on them to buy other stuff. Haven’t seen any since. The other off ball I’ve had and seen is A/FX
It’s possible member @Louie could shed some light on this. He has some pretty rare ones. I seem to remember some with the name dragster engraved in them, that looked to be the same casting.
A look at the fin count and radiused edge tells me that they are not from the same basic design as shown in the pictures.
They are something cool. I found a pair once, had them for a short time, sold them and I haven’t seen any since and it sounds like nobody else has either or has any other than Ryan.
I have a set of these squirreled away. They are a lot more late 60's/early 70's feeling than the RPM set discussed here.
@Ryan I sold last year a open dual quad type scoop (like you see on a tunnel ram or blower) that had RPM in block letters on the top in the fins. I could never find anything about it. I offered the scoop on an off for years at a loss, still never sold it. Finally one day put it up on IG with a price more than I paid + shipping and sold it within a couple of days. So the guy tells me that it was a company his friends father had way back and they had stuff like this made. He recognized it and wanted it, I was only too happy to sell at a profit with no other bites on IG or in the past trying to sell it....and yes, the stuff is kind of rare in that you don't come across it, but not super rare as in valuable (debatable of course). I "think " the guy I sold it to was in New Mexico, but I "thought" he said the company his friends father had that made these was in Texas. It was definitely all around that vicinity of the country. I just went back through all my old IG stuff and I must have erased all of it unfortunately. I'll see if I still have any photos of it and amend this post if I do. Edit: Well, unfortunately as we get older we forget. I searched and searched and searched for any old pics, no such luck. Then I thought what if the third party reposter resale IG account still kept his old ads. It took me quite awhile to go through his ads (which being reposts are just screen shots of the first pic posted), but sure enough, I found the ad. The bad news is, as I mentioned, we forget as we get older. The scoop says MPH on it.....not the RPM you were looking for. And through all the searching, I think the guy told me the MPH was the initials of the guy who made them. Sorry @Ryan , I thought I had something for you, but turns out I was a little off the mark.
I'm not sentimental about them or anything, so I'm good to go if someone wants to offer 1,500 bucks for them.
They look like base 2 barrel heads with the flat rectangle. No other triangles/ squares, steps, etc of high compression. The engines was turbocharged so I’m guessing the 8-1 heads were the right ones to use..
More of a science & accounting approach, but .. ... $1500, buys quite a few bottles of high grade tequila. Just sayin'.
Hmmmmmmm... Why would the slick dude offer $1500 without batting an eyelash for JC Penney knockoffs???
You know I stumped the HAMB a while back with an old finned/chrome cast console. This is a disturbing pattern
The valve covers with Dragster on them was part of the Oberhausen blower setup I believe. I passed on a pair at the LA Roadster show a couple years ago. I regret that. I stumbled onto a pair of Cal-Race valve covers at another swap...turns out there was a speed shop named Cal-Race so it was one of theirs. My bet on the RPM covers is that they came from that speed shop mentioned by someone on this thread. I think the prior post said that that RPM speed shop was in Indy? Ryan...didn't you say the coveter of your valve covers was from Indiana? Probably the guy either had a connection to that speed shop, or bought some of these covers as a kid and wants to get another pair. Those are my guesses...
Like this? http://www.rpmgofast.com/About/ RPM Performance 3202 South East Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46227 Maybe back in the day? Not so much now. Seem to cater to OT dailies.
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