Anybody have any info on Eelco past or present. I see some vintage parts from time to time but have no knowledge of the company's history.?????
Old EELCO was..E E Lohn Co....Els lohn was one of the founders of the current SEMA.....Speedy Bill has his old Bonneville streamliner.."The WEE EEL"........... Have no idea of the new guys using his name and trademark
I am not sure if the original company is still around or if someone bought the name but: http://www.ripoffreport.com/Auto-Parts/Marty-Lackner-Eelco/marty-lackner-eelco-manufactu-6883q.htm and http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=387522&highlight=eelco+6x2
Before Els passed away, he bought Ansen and was selling banger equipment. He also invented a very interesting item that allowed you to keep a pistol under your car seat for quick access. EELCO was bought by Filter Dynamics Inc. in the late seventies, along with a bunch of other speed equipment manufacturers. Els bought in back for pennies on the dollar when FDI went tits up.
Got one of the old Eel Eelco stickers somewhere.and a few catalogs,,The bought Chassis Research out in the mid 60's
This is what I keep getting when clicking that link... Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.
If you are thinkin about plunkin down your hard earned cash to Marty at Eelco, you might as well just set... A. Set the cash on fire or B. Flush it down a toilet Either way, the result will be the same. But, if you do choose A or B you will have less headaches than dealing with Marty. At least with those choices you won't expect anything to be sent to you.
wow, this is disgusting !! Take a good name and run it into the dirt by scamming folks...'nuff to piss you off...I met these guys a couple years ago at a swap meet and was pretty impressed by what they said they were doing and going to do...guess the crooked history goes pretty far back...A leopard can't change it's spots I reckon...Thanx HAMB for getting the word out !!
We had this going, mostly about the parts but it died out. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146204&highlight=eelco+parts The only thing I can say good about Marty is that most of his parts are cheesy new castings for now. I'm sure he'll continue "preserving" the hobby for his own benefit and has scalped the BBC, Hollywood Hoss covers and tank brackets so far. It is truly a shame what he has done to the Eelco name and a person like that owns it. However he has yet to copy,mass produce, and completely devalue original parts as Speedway, Vintage Speed and other leaches have. Even Edelbrock has ruined much of what was rare or cool about owning their stuff. At least it is Jr's family name and some asshat was sure to do it anyway so he might as well.
Hey, my 2 cents is I've bought alot of Nailhead stuff from Marty/ EELCO and never been disappointed. He does know Buick!
His dual quad intake for the Nailheads is an Edelbrock B262 rip off with a little improvement. His transmission adapters are rip offs as well.
Algon, what the hell are you talking about? "and completely devalue original parts as Speedway, Vintage Speed and other leaches have. Even Edelbrock has ruined much of what was rare" dude youre smoking something.... the original parts are worth just as much, and whats wrong with having new parts???? not everyone has all sorts of money to get originals when the new stuff is nearly the same. they are coming out with new repop stuff everyday, hell even ryan just posted a journal log about it! and on top of all this. the rich guys who DONT GET IT, they buy the new stuff, and then guys who DO GET IT can finally buy the vintage stuff for cheaper.
This is why there is so little of any value posted about Eelco. It always becomes about Marty and his hack modern version, and those two lucky guys that were happy for every hundred he rips off... Zman, cool I didn't know he had one may he rot in Hell for it... The majority are still completely new parts Eelco never made and have nothing to do with the original company. A large number even sport a script they never used at all. I don't know or like the guy to defend him in any way... My thing is if you make a new part for the vintage market that is on you. People into the real stuff generally could care less except when an original item is directly ripped off. Many of the originals were scabbed or bought off other companies back then and renamed anyway. I'll take an M/T power ram over an Edelbrock, Eelco anything over Moon and a bare Algon over a complete Hilborn, thanks but that is me. A copy with a fake speed shop name sucks but I can deal. Really I find it funny that they have the gall to take credit for the part and no serious person would buy one any way. On the other hand look at the Martin Speed thread the man made his own stuff from scratch and it's awesome looking. I truly have a great respect for what he has done. I'd buy it for the wife's car, she doesn't care who or when it was made. Like many something that looks good and is shiny is good enough for her. So If you want something that never was or the look without the hassle of finding it this is perfect for you. Bondo, You are welcome to your opinion and it is the popular take of course. Me too, me too, I want one, right? Here's what I'm smoking, if it has not happened already, I hope whatever interest you grew up surrounded in gets put on TV, spread across the net, twisted with incorrect assumptions accepted by the masses, and reproduced to the last screw. Then every single bandwagon poser tells you what it's all about that just heard of it because he just bought an example of that once ultra rare find new from Walmart with a cute little story line attached. Who knows maybe you'd like that, for me something I live for has gotten watered down and even boring to a point. I know I'm beating a dead horse here. You can't beat the popular take with facts, dates and pictures so there is no way one opinion matters. Outside the net sites and bogs there are alot more of us for what it's worth. However, price is really not the VALUE I speak of it's the rarity. The cool factor of finding something again you used to own, researching it, tracking it down and making it work the way it did. I would rather spend twice the cuurent price for something every poser does not have than get ten for a dollar. It was cool to see that one 6 deuce 392 in a sea of 350/350 Chevy powered yellow 32's or that one Ardun, Edmunds dressed flatty, or 409 powered A with Edlebrock valve covers. No loss of cash value, think again. Those 348-409 covers used to cost more than a pair of 425hp heads. They are $188.95 at Summit Racing so how many sets do you want ? Reproduction is about money period, leaching off of an era for the most part the owner of the given name has nothing to do with or any appreciation of and you hold these guys as hero's. Sorry I can't get into seeing places like Speedway make out selling a scabbed waterpump hand carved buy a guy in his basement in 1957 instead of his family due to better lawyers. How about a VonDutch trucker hat anyone? Now that's preservation, right ? Cars are an expensive hobby, and not everyone nor I am rich but if you can't pay for it you simply don't need it bad enough. Sell something, trade, hustle, work O-T, build some GoodGuy member a car on the side.... That's how we do it.... it's too much like work though for most. Vintage parts for your "vintage ride" what a backward concept of things I must have. You want it now so your car can look just like his and his and his and hers and his who copied this other guy who has the same stack of catalogs. Just add the black primer, red wheels instant rat eeer a hotrod ya that's what it is. Yes I know and you want an ALgon 409 intake right now, you've been looking for two whole months and no one will give you one for a pair of stamped SBC valve covers and $25. Then you'll tell me all about how rare they are I'm sure and life is so unfair, boo hoo, please someone reproduce it so we can all have one. Ya dude I'm the one missing it.
i think im even more confused then i was before... lol im not even gonna try to answer that. all im going to say is that i love REAL vintage parts, and compairing repop stuff to walmart stuff doesnt even compute in my head. im running a Y block ford engine one year only 239. i even bought a NOS glass bowl fuel pump instead of getting a stamped steel top autozoo pump. then i got myself a rebuild kit for the holly 94. if i was one of those "just bolt some stuff on and paint it flat black cuz now im a real hot rodder" type guys you think i would have done that? and when you find me a damn intake that fits my y block for a price i can afford, you let me know.
I don't expect to sway anyone, I simply disagree and you asked.... If you clarify what exact manifold you are looking for I'd be glad to contact you with the owner's number should I know of or find one in whatever range that is...
After seeing the prices of vintage flathead stuff at swap meets, I talked to Fred and Carl Offenhauser in the about putting some of their stuff back into production. Since they never really stopped production and had the original tooling, you can't refer to it as repro stuff. In fact, the aluminum alloy was better then the stuff they used in the fifties. Too, they refurbished the drill fixtures and basically built a better product at a price that was comparable to the prices at Pomona for vintage stuff. I might add that Els started adding vintage stuff to his line of EELCO products after getting the company back from FDI.
With Offy at least it was theirs to do so... New production just stamped out any point of looking for a straight set with no cracks unless they are dirt cheap or certain compression ratio... That's alot like making new 69 Camaro's since when was there any real shortage? It's seeing stacks of Eddie Meyer's, Grancor's, and Sharp's that get to me.
there made by another Portland scamer Tom Godish http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=305709&highlight=tom+godish
Back onto the subject- the Rodders Journal did an excellent article on the subject of EELCO. It answers about any question you may have.. Spike
1954 ford 239 v8 OHV "y block". but i think i may be just selling the car anyway, im pretty over leadsleds now.
_________________________________________________________________ From what I remember way back when....I used to work for American Speed, a major speed equipment supplier on the east coast in Huntington, NY. I remember the company sort of being something like Mr. Gasket when it first started...... mostly dress up stuff if I remember correctly. Chrome engine dress up stuff, lug nuts, all kinds af little doo-dads....they are famous for a gas pedal that looked like a bare foot (CHROME) and dress up stuff for the clutch/brake pedal. I don't remember them getting seriously into hard, heavy duty racing stuff. I left American Speed early 70's. I hope this helps some...........
The earliest Eelco catalogs I have (1958) show lots of fittings and linkage stuff ("fittings that fit, linkage that links") and it looks to be air or navy surplus. There are other parts made specifically for race cars as well. And maybe even some resale parts too from Moon or somesuch. The four-toed foot stuff was later in the 60's when they became more Cal-Custom-ish. Bubble packs at the parts store probably didn't happen til the mid 60's, right?
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