Yeah! It IS a Delage! Peter Giddings has one. It was driven at Monterey in August, for Peter, by Jeffrey O'Neil. It packed up a wheel bearing, so Jeff parked it. But, what a beautiful sound that engine makes!
Seeing all of these unusual engines reminds me that so many great ideas and designs were developed during the period of the latter part of the teens when the US and much of the world was at war. It would have been interesting if the engine development had been allowed to thrive without the break from 1914-1918 for war work and the ill effects of war itself. Starting in 1915 on Grand River in Detroit, Louis Chevrolet built Frontenac racing engines, the first purposeful racing engines in the US to win at Indy (back to back in 1920 and 1921-with 183c.i. versions). They were placed in Frontenac racing cars in the teens and in the early 20s were also placed in Monroe race cars. They had nothing to do with the Ford engines-the Frontenac heads were manufactured later in the 20s to be fitted to those that wanted to go racing with a slimmer wallet in the form of Fronty Fords. Here are some pictures of his 1916 models which were 300 cubic inch (the AAA limitation at the time). You will notice the head was integral with the aluminum block. He and others took advantage of the lighter metal aluminum. Also notice unlike others who put the fuel in the tail sections he placed two tanks lower in the chassis-something that I remember F1 commentators claimed as innovative not that long ago (at least in my lifetime). Not much is new of course. These Frontenacs were extremely fast race cars. Here is a picture of a match race finish at the Sheepshead Bay NY boardtrack in 1917. The #4 carries the Packard 299 engine I posted above. The three headliners, Ralph De Palma in his 12 cylinder Packard , Louis Chevrolet in his 4 cylinder Frontenac and Barney Oldfield in his Miller powered SOHC four 289 Golden Sub put considerable numbers in the stands throughout the country during the war period of 1917-showing there was still a thirst for racing in spite of the war. Sadly nothing of these 300 inch Frontenac race cars survive. Some engines from the 183 Frontenacs do survive.
There was a 67 Camaro drag race car in the Pacific NW that ran a flat head (in the late 60's). I remember walking past the car noticing a sticker that said "Ford's Better Idea". Huh? Then I looked under the hood and was especially thrown for a loop! - EM
That was Clarence Everett, I saw it at Woodburn and about soiled my pants when I saw it. I guess he was quite the engine builder in the Salem area, my brother was somewhat older than me and told me about him one time, don't recall what but I think he drag raced a Hudson in the 50's.
Could be that was built in Wisconsin, saw it run at Angel Park Speedway, Sun Prairie Wisconsin in the 50's, Wilison or Wilisen, builders name I'm thinking. I heard someone has the patterns and tooling for it. I knew the daughter (deseased) and grandson, there also was a Rassey( mans name)6 cylinder Offy type engine in the 70's/early 80's, the Pic could be of that engine, pretty competitive with Larry Rice driving.
by wicarnut posted Jan 20, 2014 at 5:00 PM by wicarnut posted Jan 20, 2014 at 5:00 PM As far as I know no other liquid cooled heads were made for the orig flat 4 style VW engine, this was a project I started/completed, used 84/86, Racing/Passion/Obsession covers it.
They were the VW guys in the Milwaukee Wi. area, I never did business with them, AutoCraft, Calif, Scat, Calif, Denny McNutt, Ohio were my suppliers back in that time frame. I know there has been on going development for this style engine as back in my day, already, very few VW parts, all custom race pieces. Theres a man in Chicago IL. area, last name Cornell that has produced a flat 4 stlyle race engine for Midgets, recently read won a race in IL. That basic design is like SBC, around forever and constant developments
A few engine shots taken at restoration shop in Vermont in 2015. The first is a Miller V8 which I can't remember details of. Someone will know. The blue chassis is a Bugatti Type 54 GP car - one of maybe four built. The engine is a 4.9 litre straight eight - 300 hp with a supercharger. Also there is a 1914 Packard - T head six.
I was reading a 1962 Car Life magazine the other day and ran across this 1922 (?) Julian. Rear engine, air cooled radial flat six. I guess they only did a prototype, Julian Brown had legal troubles that put the brakes on his car building efforts. The wife and I saw the car and engine in the second photo in person last year at the automotive museum in Reno. I don't remember what it was but the cylinders and block rotate while the crank stays put. Seems like bassackwards gnireenigne to me.
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