Hot Rods WEIAND SUPERCHARGERS LOST TO THE AGES

I bought a 6-71 for an SBC last November from Dyer's. Spoke with both Gary and his son during the process. The boxes were delivered a couple of weeks later. I don't think there's an issue with them.

 

Nothing to see here! No need to panic about not being able to buy offshore low quality parts. (which is in large about 80 percent of everything Holley has been selling now for many years. The Weiand blowers sucked anyhow! IMHO. I bought plenty of rebuilt units from Bill Dyer over the years and they been making new units for sometime now. I agree with what Gimpy said. We are "Dinosaurs". And as traditional Hotrodders We are a small Market in the grand scheme of things. Many of us have invested several thousands of dollars to reproduce Vintage Speed equipment to make our hobby more fun. But Regardless of how much I love my Hot rod hobby, Almost all the guys I have talked to who have Spent tons of money and time bringing Traditional Speed equipment to market pretty much agree that from a business standpoint the investment wasn't really worth it. Losing Weiand is no big loss IMO on the other hand I still have not gotten over losing Walker Radiator!! Just my 2 cents

 

There's a pair with a tunnel ram in the classifieds here on the HAMB. @28rpu - Dyers set me up with my 8-71, I know Mad Mikey here has blower from them as well. Very pleased with the company and products.

 

Measure, scan, model, digitize, archive.

 

Yes, as Steve said, Gary Dyer built my blower and his son Bill built the drive. Great guys to deal with and the product is second to none. IMO.

 

Ordered mine DIRECTLY from "The Man" himself... In 1992! Still in perfect shape!!! Gary and Billy are the BEST in the industry, as far as I'm concerned!

 

Uuh, Didn't Capitalism begin when cavegirl got together with caveboy to begin the worlds oldest profession?

 

No. But the explanation of why is not appropriate for the HAMB.

 

Nope.

Services do not qualify as capital.

 

Until they are needed and then they are insurmountable and priceless.
All you have to do is look back at every major empire through history. Usually takes about 3 generations. Lol ( and that could change depending on the definition of generation )

 

Capital assets are significant, long-term assets not intended to be sold as part of your regular business.

ProTip: the intangible can never be a capital asset.

Everyone here participates in Capitalism. Very, very few here are actual Capitalists.

It's not political, it is economic. Almost none of us are part of the ownership-class.

The ownership-class are like the folks that own and run capital asset management corporations, for the benefit of shareholders, like the one that acquired Holley, and many other brands.

They make the decisions about what is bought, what is sold, and what is eliminated from the market.

There is nothing to be done here, as there is nothing wrong happening here. This is a basic function of Advanced Capitalism. We, as a nation chose this system. It is neither natural, nor inherent.

It does not matter what we want, or any other group wants. What will be sold is what will sell to the most people, at the lowest cost-of-production, for the maximum profit.

The short of the long is that no matter what is engraved on the brass plaque in the lobby about any company's glorious mission, corporations exist to make money. All of the ones that are publicly traded have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to maximize revenue and dividends, not to make cool hot rod parts, or anything else. If that happens in the process, it is simply a means-to-an-end.

I have never seen so much hand-wringing about basic free-market business practices from folks that overwhelmingly lean fiscally conservative. If you are one of those people, this is exactly what you asked for.

If you are concerned about what this will do to our tiny sliver of the hobby, start selling the parts that you are hoarding, so that others may build too.

You will have no success in changing what corporations are doing. The only thing that you can do is control your own actions.

If you are choosing to sequester parts from the market, to where they will be eventually scrapped by your heirs, you are creating the same functional outcome as a large capital asset management corporation that is eliminating products from the market.

You are just doing it on a smaller-scale, and with fewer steps.

Only you can stop you from doing this.

 

I sold 2 parts this weekend and bought probably 30 more.
I’m doing my part

Get busy guys

 

Any '20s or '30s project out there has dodged the WWII scrap drives, periods of disinterest, periods of high scrap steel value, etc.

Hoarders did that, because they thought it was worth doing when others didnt.

Yes, its possible stuff gets scrapped anyway, but that outcome is not certain at all.

On the balance, Hot Rodding has benefited more from hoarders than they have hurt it.

I think they deserve some credit, instead of the constant ragging on them...

 

Hard disagree.

I have now seen four local million-dollar+ collections, and several hundred-thousand-dollar+ collections of vintage speed parts go directly in to an industrial shredder, and melted down into ingots to be made into other things.

This is just what I have seen directly, with my own eyes, with no speculation required.

For several years, my shop was one block away from a custom alloy and scrap sales operation.

Past their gates I saw enough Edelbrock, Brodix, Weiand, Offenhauser, Halibrand, Cragar, Winters and so many others, parts to make you want to puke.

All lost. Those losses alone are more than just a footnote in the history of small production parts.

I reiterate, all of these losses passed by my front door! I saw them happen, and there was nothing I could do!

This alone was devastating, and if it happened at one or more location that just that one, this could easily explain why quite a few parts that were once produce at-quantity have completely disappeared.

Every minute that a part sits on a shelf, never to be sold or used is one more minute closer to scrap.

Every pair of eyes that never falls on a part on a car is one more person that will never strive to find and build with that part.

For everyone that desires to build something cool, the unobtainability of any unique parts will simply drive them towards building with generic ones. When everyone is driving an LS powered car, it will because they are cheap and easy-to-get sources of efficient power, generic and soulless.

I have more money in my blown Hemi engine than the neighbor's kid has in his turbocharged LS, and his engine makes 250hp more than mine does, will get better mileage. It should be noted that he got the car that he put the engine in, too, all for less than I have in my engine.

The math is not hard. His car is on the road. Mine is not.

Forcing parts into rarity, and driving up prices will only hasten demise.

 

BTW, I hope to become that cantankerous old bastard, sitting on a pile of desirable vintage parts.

Its one of my life goals...

 

My point is, if the stuff had not been squirreled away for a period of time, you would not have seen them get destroyed.

Cause they'd be gone already.

As a system, its far from perfect.

But it is beter than scrapping stuff the minute it gets outdated ( which is the norm).

 

Sounds like what the collected wanted to happen.
Had the collected cared for those possessions, the parts wouldn’t have met the fate they did

 

As far as the Weiand/Holley thing...

We are lamenting the demise of the horse buggy whip factory.
If they cant keep the doors open and make a profit, they are not obligated to do so.

On a related note, we've all looked at some 1-800 part and wondered how it could be made for that price.
And we all know exactly how that is possible...

Seems to me, it all comes down to knowledge.

Somebody who knows why something is cool and has to be preserved wont scrap it.

Even if he/she doesnt have an immediate use for it, right now...

 

Each of these scrapped collections were from dead collectors.

Each swore to me that they were "sitting on a goldmine", and that they were leaving it all to their heirs.

In each case, the heirs wanted to immediately sell the inherited, now multi-million-dollar house, and all of grandpa's junk had to go. As far as I know, the heirs PAID to have grandpa's junk taken away.

The hauling crew got paid to take it away, and they got paid again by the scrap yard when they dropped it off.

All of the parts had value, and somebody got paid for them. It just not the way we wanted it to go.

In this case, the heirs are the capital asset management outfit, and they took a loss to realize a greater gain.

Even if the heirs knew the value, the time and effort to realize that value would have delayed or possibly even endangered a greater gain.

CAMC's are just hoarders of capital. All hoarders have developed patterns of thinking to justify what they are doing. Each destroys value, just on a different scale.

 

Exactly. The collected knew whom he was leaving the junk.
It’s not logical for us to assume the collected didn’t know what would happen.
bad planning = lost collections unless that was the intent.
I’ve got 2 sons. 1 digs old stuff, the other doesn’t. I know exactly what will happen to any old car part I leave them.

And honestly not worried about it.

 

As for hoarders: Hoarding is classified by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), 5th Edition Text Revision, as a mental illness, disorder class: obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.

Be it of capital by individuals, or collective groups, of of hot rod parts by individuals, it is always harmful.

 

I've bought a hoarder's entire collection of parts once ( as well as the car he kept them for),
I've got a good chunk out of 2 brothers hoards ( those parts support 2 cars I race),
And I've helped the widow & son of a hoarder who died, by spending time to go through the collection and sort out what belonged to what car, what was valuable, etc.

And I also have my own selection of parts squirreled away ( mostly for future projects, and cars I have running already)

I fail to see how I'm part of the problem, in any way...

 

I don't doubt that.

 

Finally something we can agree on...

 

To clarify, I dont hoard to hoard.
I like to build cars, and parts tend to be a lot cheaper if you are not in a panic for them.

This truck was my daily driver until I parked it ( years ago, time flies).
One day I decided it was its turn to get built, and right now its a couple of weeks away from being done.



I got this 5W as a body and grille, and over the last 15 or so years I've collected parts for it.

I'm guessing its about 1/2 way done, and I'm really going to jump on it when the truck is on the road.



As these projects are getting done, I'm selling off the doubles and dead end parts I had for them "just in case"...

And to bring it back to the original post about Weiand and Holley, as companies are dying off and stopping production on parts we need, it makes even more sense to plan ahead and get the parts you will need when you can ( even if it is years in advance...)

 

Ding Dong! ^^^^^^^^^^

 

Well after my several disappointments with the recent Weiand stuff I got my first Hampton 6-71. Bought from Dyers before and never had any issues whatsoever and usually have very good quality polishing compared to others. Thought I'd try something new and it just got delivered today. Everything looks good and was even finished earlier than first stated. Not cheap but I'll forget about it the first time I drive the car with it on there.

 

If you hoard and are over 60 you should Start passing stuff on...over 70 you should Start giving stuff away.....over 80 you should only have what is finishd or little stuff......

Many people die and never thought about it for one sec.

I'm an ex hoarder... its a disease

The moment you understand that you don't need many things you just want to have....you start a new life....

Ardun heads belong on an engine...not on a shelf...

 

I have found that the most annoying non smokers are ex smokers.

I wonder if that applies to other "ex" groups as well.

The personal growth you are so proud of is not for everybody.

And that's OK...

 

BTW, a little update from the last time I was on this thread.

My truck is done and on the road ( its been to a small local show where it took best truck).



My '32 is coming along nicely.




And I'm now getting serious with the planning and parts collecting for a racecar that hasn't run for some 30 years.
Which I plan to combine with a oddbal ( and Off Topic ) engine, that I will mate to a shorty Powerglide.
I had no Powerglide, so I bought 3 for a very good price.
One of them I've taken apart to Bridgeport the bellhousing off.




In other words, I'm using my stash ( or hoard, collection, or whatever you'd want to call it ) in exactly the way I planned to use it.