So, a few years back while working on the Ed Ward survivor 32 roadster we were on the search for a set of Grancor flathead head, my buddy was editor at Old Cars weekly and wanted to do a story on the 32 roadster and coupe i was working on, in the story he mentioned we were looking for the heads, thankfully a guy outside Illinois got in touch and had a set of heads, he also said he had an odball set with no markings. both sets were his fathers and he had p***ed so he really had no knowledge about them. the Grancors were bought and i told him id like to buy the other set but hadnt the funds at the time. he was nice enough to hold onto them for me. some wheres in between i seen a set of v8-60 heads on ebay that were advertised at Roof, they were stamped R&R manufacturing (and some other stuff but its not the most ledgible, ill add it later). they looked familiar and lit a fire under my **** to save up for the other heads. I was able to get the deal worked out a couple weeks ago and had a buddy in Chicago pick them up and bring them to Vintage Torque fest in Debuque over the weekend. when he got them i had him look for the stamping, and they did turn out to be R&Rs, needless to say i was stoked. So now i was on the lookout for heads. I met Robbie Wolf (American Pickers) a few years ago at TF and talk with him on and off, he was on the look out for some air cleaners or scoops and knew i had a collection of junk, i had remembered that Robbie had brought a few cool flathead intakes to TF last years so i sent him a pic of an intake and told him to keep and eye open, i hadnt heard anything from him but its always worth a try, got to beat the bushes. as i was setting up for the swap at TF i hear someone yell, "hey ***us" it was Robbie, he says "i got one of those intakes your looking for, its in the truck" i figured he was messing with me, but he did, we worked a deal on it, so needless to say i rounded up some pretty neat stuff, stuff that will be going on my channeled pre-war 32 roadster. So onto the pics V8-60 heads stamping on 60hp heads roof heads and intake stamping on my heads So, these are 24 stud heads, ive read these intakes were made in the mid 30s but not sure, does anyone know of the heads are pre-war? i know the window was small ish but he basically had 3 or 4 years so my guess is that they are but not sure, i know he died in 1949
***us, I'll send you a Xerox of the R&R catalog if you send me your address. The V8 stuff Robert Roof made was real early, but just like 99% of old speed equipment catalogs there is no date on them. Last record mentioned in this catalog was 1931 for the 101 MPH run in the '29 Roadster with an R&R Overhead. Bob
Here is my Roof v8 flywheel. Just like the one in the catalog above! Thanks to ***us and this post i was able to identify it!
Man, ***us...You do come up in the Mainstream of Flattie Fancy! I have received a nice gift from a friend... '47-'48 Merc 59A, a good 'rebuild'. (.040" over, factory relief, nice pistons, crank, 59 A-B heads. (want Navarro, but new are 'budget'!) I found a cherry Navarro dual intake, and a new Winfield SU1R cam, and have some decent Johnson adjustables I can reface on my Sioux machine. Funny...I had hot & cold running flatheads coming out of my ears for eons...since 1954! Now? Lotsa engines, but few flathead parts. GREAT find there, the Roof parts. SO RARE! Kudos.
My original Roof literature, envelope dated April 17, 1945. Probably about the same stuff as 37 Kid has. The last Image is a poster that was included in the envelope. Mick
Robert Roof's grandson is alive and living in Anderson, Indiana. He may have some info. He has a model T speedster with a Roof double overhead cam head on it. He lives about 2 miles from me and I p*** his house several times a week. I do not have his number but I could probably get it pretty easily. PM me if you are interested. R&R means Reynolds and Roof. Reynolds was Reynolds Regulator, a business here in town that is long gone. BTW, I would be interested in the 24 stud heads and intake if you ever decide to sell them.
Awsome @showrod neat to find a piece like that, if you ever go to part with it let me know. Great literature @lurker mick too. i never posted that i did get the heads on a car, they seem to function really really well, i stuck my slingshot on it instead of the roof intake for now, i might switch it over at some point but it runs so dang good.
Cabriolethiboy, do you know if the R&R building at 1503 Nichol ave. still stands today? Lots of history there!
Do a Google Street View search, it comes up right away. Further looking around finds it as having been built in 1919 and it is currently on the Section 8 housing list for subsidized rentals.
Not Roof. But I thought it was a cool picture. And I didn't know where else to post it. Maybe you flathead guys see Meeks heads all the time. I don't know
Went looking for more info on the Meeks heads( couldn't find any) and ran across this twin Eelco set up.
The Jalopy Journal
