when did blowers show up on hot rods?

I can't remember where I saved this from. Bean Bandits sticks in my mind? Lots of four banger stuff so pretty early...

 

One of my very favorite setups. From Kustomrama I'm pretty sure. Not really street rod stuff but damn it's cool! And early..

 

Earlier this year.

 

Hello,

When I posted the story about the first 671 Isky Gilmer Blower Drive Kit for an SBC motor, it was late 1959-early 1960. It started at Isky Cams in Inglewood. But, that was the drag race version and only two were out at the local drags. Sure, the 471 supercharger was on other competitive cars, but it was not a daily sight on the streets if any…

The one supercharger for the street was the centrifugal supercharger from Paxton/McCulloch version. It was named after the designer/builder, Robert Paxton Mc Culloch. It was a first for the street usage, but it came on very strong when the auto manufacturers added their version for the street models. Like, a supercharged Thunderbirds, then a supercharged Ford Sedan, using variations of the Paxton centrifugal supercharger.

They were easy to place on the smaller motors for more power. Several of the top Gas Coupe/Sedan racer/builders used them and were the trophy winners almost every weekend. As that popularity started and the factory joined in, now, we were seeing more of them on the weekend warriors cruising around.

The 671 did not have an adaptor to allow daily drivers to use them for the street. Yes, it was a street legal class, but no one drove around with a 671 on any motor as a daily driver and weekend cruiser. Since the 471 superchargers were already set up for the SBC motors for the drags, they were the first roots style blowers for competition and trickled down to street usage in the USA.

The Latham Superchargers were around, but hardly anyone was using them for competition and daily driving. YRMV

Jnaki

For us teenagers, unless we thought our sedans were going to be competing at the drags, no one thought of a 671 for daily driving. In late 1960, when our 671 SBC 292 motor was sitting in our backyard garage, my friend with the 57 Chevy Bel Air and I thought it might be a good project to put that motor in his Bel Air Hardtop. But, we knew it was not going to be a daily driver to and from school, plus to his after school job.

So, we looked at the motor and just wondered how it would work or that we could make it work for a “daily driver.” It wasn’t for quite a few years that someone made enough parts to make one work for a daily driver, with different power options for the supercharger. By then, we were all off on a new horizon after high school. Work, military or college for the next 4 to 6 years, or longer.

 

My 2 cents,
Alot of early Hot Rodders were WW2 vets. They would have seen 2 stroke diesels with blowers everyday all day. The 71 & 92 series Detroit engines have and impressive weight to HP ratio. It makes a lot of sense, plus it was an era were Pattern Makers were prevalent in the work place. The time was ripe for making manifold adaptation to automotive engines.