So I’m curious about exhaust trends through the years of hotrodding. What was popular on what cars? What mufflers were used if any? What kinda tips were common? What size piping was used? Things like that. Can somebody help me out?
Looking at the old little mags and the Kustomrama website, lots of the early '50s cars seemed to sport hidden exhaust, with outlets either not visible or worked into the bumpers. Many of the systems were custom built, using homemade parts from OEM parts. For instance, Kustomrama says this about Dean Batchelor's 1941 Pontiac "Huth's Muffler Co installed twin exhaust by cutting the headers and ducting four cylinders into a longer muffler and two cylinders into a longer muffler. The fewer the cylinders the louder the noise became. Tailpipes were Model-A driveshaft housings which added a deep and mellow roar that interested to police a lot." Here is a Bob Alexander's '48 Plymouth. My Plymouth already had 2" duals, but with 2000's style tips and turbo mufflers. I swapped those with short steel pack mufflers from Brockman, and replaced the tips with 1.75" pencil tips. It might not be perfectly period correct, but looks and sounds a whole lot more like a '50s custom.
1961. A black 1954 Ford drove by. It sounded good, really good and not too loud. I asked. Y block, dual straight pipes. Year 2000. I get a 59 with Y block. I put on dual straight pipes. Perfect
Where I lived, most were glaspacks-either the old Continental brand or "Smitty's". There was another brand that I just can't remember, but they were really cool-long, sleek, and had a sound that was just great. Most of these were behind sbc's. Another one, don't laugh, was a pickup muffler you bought from a chevy dealer-it was straight thru, about 22" or so long, and in pairs really sounded good. Our local cops loved the cars with the burned out glaspak's, made their day.
Back in HS in the mid to late '60's when the jacked look was in the pipes on my wagon ran over the rear end and then pointed straight down with chrome tips. Looking back it might have been because the guy bending the pipes didn't want to take the extra effort to extend them all the way to the rear of the car. Or maybe being broke I didn't want to pay for the extra pipe/labor. Can't remember last week let alone over 50 years ago.
By the time I got my license in '71, glass packs, (Smithy's, Thrush, Cherry-bomb) were still the thing. Side pipes were all that in the 70s, and I think "Purple Hornies" showed up around that time too. Bigger tubing was beginning to show up along with turbo mufflers. I had these on my '72 340 four speed Dodge Demon. In the late 70s I bought a 340 four speed Challenger T/A. Six pack induction, and it had "Header" side pipes. Fake ones. The look of four pipes coming into the side pipe with only one actually functional. I took those off and had conventional exhaust put back using "Hush Thrush" turbo mufflers, dumping out from short turn-downs in front of the rear end. That's pretty much what all the cool kids had. A mellow enough tone so our WAY too big solid lifter cams could be heard. Not much "hush" about 'em when the loud pedal got pressed though. For me from the early 80s on, I didn't keep track of what street cars were doing. The challenger had open headers and just saw track time, and my drivers had stock exhaust. Fast forward to my F100 truck I have now....back to Thrush turbo mufflers. The dual exhaust from the inline six with those mufflers kinda makes it sound like a UPS truck. I think about putting Cherry-bombs on it from time to time. I used to like the sound the 235 six in a high school acquaintances '53 Chevy pick -up sounded with a split manifold and glass packs.
I think the only performance mufflers up unto the early 60's were glasspacks, basically a straight through pipe design with holes in the pipe that allow lower frequency sound waves to exit the pipe where they are absorbed by the packing material, usually fiberglass but at least one manufacturer, Porters, used metal shavings instead of fiberglass, and instead of an internal pipe they used a long spring, like a garage door spring, spread open to allow the sound waves out. That was it for mufflers for performance applications until Chevrolet released the turbocharged Corvair in the early 60's (61 or 62 I believe) and performance guys realized the mufflers on those cars were quieter than glasspacks but still were relatively free flowing, and compact enough to fit under a car. Lot's of other muffler companies made their versions, and turbo mufflers were the other choice, for those who wanted a quieter exhaust but still louder than standard mufflers, with a deep throaty roar. And those were the 2 choices for performance mufflers for the duration of the HAMB era. In the 80's I guess it was the chambered muffler designs became popular and remain so today. Straight pipes with no mufflers was fairly common, and guys got hassled a lot by the cops for it a lot, along with other things like no fenders, or the lights too low, etc. There were cut outs that allowed guys to open the exhaust, especially useful for trips to the drags. I don't know when the cable operated cut outs appeared, maybe post '65. And then there were the Corvette side pipes, starting in '65 they were available factory installed. I don't know what technology they used, possibly chambers, but I suspect they were a glass pack design. I seem to recall they sounded like crap once the glass packing blew out of them, which happens to every glass packed muffler eventually. Early headers were built using drive shafts for the collector. Mid 50's was when mass manufactured headers started appearing from places like Hedmans, and JC Whitney. Jardines and Hooker were later in the early 60's. I'm sure I'm missing some, others can add to this or correct anything I've gotten wrong.
The early sixties Lincoln Continentals had mufflers in the normal location and resonators just before the back bumper. I cut a pair of resonators off a junkyard Linc and put them on my OT '66 Belvedere with 383, sounded great.
In my town during the 50's and 60's Porter mufflers were the go to brand with a set of duals. This was in Kansas City.
the corvair muffler was specially engineered to cause some exhaust backflow, limiting boost. my '63 turbo has been swapped for a glasspack (looks like a stubby smithy's) and it will build a few more psi than the stock 12.
Then there were those of us that were POOR! We just cut an end off the stock muffler, gutted the inside and welded the end back on. Ben
When I was in my 20’s Flowmasters were all the rage. We all had them. Now that I’m 48, I hate the sound of them. Is anyone else like this? In my 20’s we used to make fun of glasspacks, but now I appreciate them. Weird?
No, not weird. Those things are weird. There's a kid down the street with some form of ride that has one, only one, on it-I think its Briggs & Stratton powered. I'm retired, so at 5:45am to hear that thing come down the street floored is no treat at all.
We're damn near the same age Truck doctor and I too used to love the sound of Flowmaster's. But nowaday's, I prefer the mellowness of Turbo muffler's. I must be gettin' old... Nah!!!
I like turbo mufflers too. I’ve had several sets of them and wouldn’t hesitate to run them again. My last set of Turbo mufflers was on an O/T Dodge W-150 with a stock 318 and they sounded great. I think they were Thrush brand.
No one in my hometown (LAX) ran open exhaust, our local police were all over hot rods for equipment violations. One motorcycle officer, who we called the Ghost Rider, would swoop in from out of nowhere, write up everything and disappear. He seemed to be everywhere, especially in Playa del Rey where we often met to hang out and sometimes polish our cars. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, stock manifolds with 1 3/4” - 2” pipe and the can shaped ‘glass or steel packed mufflers was the big thing. Sometimes with Belond or Hedman tubing manifolds that they called, headers. Roadsters often had outside-the-frame headers made with old Ford driveshafts and occasionally oil filter canisters as collectors. Long, small diameter chrome “lakes pipes” and “kick stand” pipes were popular and muffler shops were putting “cut-outs” on stock head pipes for looks and for racing. Some cars had a steep rake and chrome “scavenger pipes” hanging down under the rear axle were popular. When I entered the header business at 18, the manufacturers were phasing out the “tubing manifold” style of header and adopting the style with four longer individual tubes with a formed 2 1/2” or 3” collector welded to the end. Some companies made “snaky”, equal length headers, others made simpler headers to make them easier for the buyer to install and avoid modifying the car. Exhaust systems were still 1 3/4”-2” tubing but 2 1/4”-2 1/2” was becoming more popular. Glasspaks were now the more common swaged, bullet shape version (cheaper to make) but the old Porter style was still available and the Corvair turbo mufflers were getting popular. When the Corvette came out with side pipes, the industry responded with their own versions in various lengths for cars and trucks. Header mufflers, a glasspak welded to a reducer and bolted directly onto the end of the headers, became popular. Cherry Bombs and Purple Hornies were advertised in all of the magazines. Flowmaster started a revolution with their fabricated and welded mufflers that advertised better flow and horsepower than the turbo and Cadillac mufflers that were popular. Larger diameter pipes were being used for the entire system but that’s all beyond the era that the HAMB covers. That’s how I saw it. I worked at Hedman for 11 years, did custom headers in my shop from ’94-‘08.
in the mid-'60s in st. louis, there was a big trend for loud glasspacks, using straight tubing with flared ends, hung under the rear axle. everybody called 'em "scavenger pipes"!
Yep, the "turbo muffler" group became diluted with junk that was similar to, but nowhere as good as a real GM Corvair turbo muffler. I was recommending and installing Hooker Aerochamber mufflers instead of the Flowmasters because they had a nice deep mellow tone vs the trash can sound of the Flowmasters. But on old cars with mild engines, a good quality, long glasspack sounds pretty good with a full system. Kinda crappy without full tailpipes.
Bootlegger Duals.... Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr To be really slick, my passenger side tailpipe should be peek out under the bumper like the stock pipe. I tried to express this to the exhaust man, but he just did not get it. I have a bender all I need is a short piece then I'll be ready to haul a load. i131342 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
They were in every state in the 60’s especially with jacked up rears…. In the ads they were scavengers but the guys I hung with called them “dump tubes”.
Hello, Our history goes back to the 51 Oldsmobile in 1955-57 leading into the new 1958 Impala from 1957 to 1965. Dual pipes with matching mufflers was the hot ticket. Noise did not make it go any faster, other wise, directly, a faster ticket from the local police or CHP. Lakes side pipes welded to an exhaust pipe coming from the downtube of the stock header was also tried. Removing the lakes pipes due to hitting everything in sight on any road surface with a lowered rake car ended that experiment. Then dual exhausts with chrome tips out of the rear was the only way to drive around in a safe and sane manner. We tried the exhaust outlet on side, in front of the rear tire, but, it brought in smoke fumes. We also tried the area behind the rear tire, it still brought in fumes and noise. So, out of the rear, below the bumper was the only way to get performance and sanity when cruising around. Most Pep Boys or accessory shops had short tubular mufflers that were too loud, (CHP ticket material) but our choice in 1959 was a tubular, stock factory muffler for a Corvette. With no rear exhaust pipe it was very powerful and loud. Almost like open headers. But, as soon as we put on the rear exhaust pipe, beyond the bumper tips, it was a good sound and mellow. The straight tube flow improved performance versus the angle direction inside of a regular baffled muffler. In most of the Chevy sedans from the early 60s to the late 60s, the stock mufflers were the main usage. No one put on individual length, fender headers until the late 60s when the gas coupes were leaving and folks tended to become remnants of the old street legal drag racing classes. Jnaki There is a confusion in description as to the popularity and style of the so called “scavenger” pipes. Scavenge means collect, garner, gather, pull together, assemble or get together. So, those short chrome pipes welded to mufflers of any style were actually not “scavenger pipes,” but chrome extensions of regular exhaust pipes+ a tip. They did not collect or pull together than just allowed the exhaust to exit through a normal muffler and chromed pipe. It was if someone welded on longer straight pipes to any muffler and ran them under the rear axle. They did make a different, louder sound than normal pipes running rear ward. They looked like “extra” added on chrome pipes directly from a separate down tube from the exhaust manifold, but were actually just "exhaust tips" welded onto the mufflers. Most had single pipe attachments made to hook up to the straight exhaust manifold down tubes. Others had custom dual pipe units made for possible allowing more exhaust to leave faster... hopefully. At one time “real” scavenger pipes were straight pipes bolted on to short exhaust outlets for a real different sound and hopes for more power. The idea was to bypass the restrictive muffler and be a different outlet for the exhaust. To funnel the exhaust directly out to an outlet without restrictions of mufflers. We will get all sorts of stories and complaints about the real scavenger pipes with photos, but if you welded on a straight pipe to a muffler, that is what it was… just another muffled shorter pipe to raise the noise level a notch or two. Even those that went to the extra work to have a custom “Y” outlet pipe added to the stock system ahead of the muffler, it still needed to be connected. The extra, added straight pipes leading under the rear axle was a “muffler by pass” to supposedly increase horsepower. But, all it did was to make a hollow sound and the performance results were not as good as people thought. Noise makers were there and plus, they hit every bump and dip in the streets. So, they were popular for a short while and then disappeared into oblivion. Not legal at the drags due to being an added accessory and not factory stock. No one ran those in the competition classes when real individual length headers were allowed. A gimmick at best. But, we did spend money getting a set of dual pipe scavenger chromed pipes for our 58 Impala, that lasted three weeks until declared illegal. red highlights: dual exhaust cut outs from engine manifold ready to attach the extra straight pipe "Scavenger" pipes that ran all the way to the rear axle as in the above drawing. Everyone will have a story about the different mufflers, but noise is not a factor when your motor does all of talking for your hot rod or cruising sedan. These days, the mustangs, camaro cars and hemi dodge sedans are now all lumped into “idiots with bee buzzer mufflers” as they definitely are guilty of acting like idiots on the streets of So Cal and elsewhere. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
