Here's an interesting article i found online on ARDUN cylinder heads as well as so other flathead conversions https://www.torqtalk.com/tech/whats-an-ardun
Great article there is a set of ardun heads in the Nat Corvette museum/Zora Duntov display, I guess the only "ford parts" there.
That, my friend, is the very definition of wealth. Maybe a couple of pictures from other angles might help, but from what I can see, that looks like a R*t R*d with shiny paint and an Ardun.
Thanks! Wish I'd kept mine. Then again we were building the house back in 1974 and that $2,500 for the NOS set paid the balance on the plumbing. Bob
I've done almost as dumb of things to pay for college tuition and a furnace. Apparently wives need heat in the middle of November.
I've done Dumber..........Bought a V8-60 ARDUN engine for $500. swapped it to John Kovar for $2,200.worth of reproduction 1932 Ford parts around 1975. Had a br*** tag with #1001 stamped in it, turned out to be the first one, they put it in a Midget that Duntov drove and won some race on Long Island. It is in a '32 Roadster somewhere in California now, like to know were. Bob
At the Ferguson's they are all lined up in a pretty row. You should see their ARDUN headed SBC and the Hemi with the Chevy bell housing flange cast in
Yeah, that's pretty dumb. The "1001" tag likely indicated the model number. The big heads have 3-digit numbers stamped into them for the individual head serial numbers. They also have a "1002" cast into the valve cover, along with other 4-digit numbers used as part numbers on the various parts.
My V8-60 ARDUN was made in Germany, all the extra parts were wrapped in German newspapers. Have one cam follower left, all the valve train small parts were in fabric bags with draw strings. Should have taken more photos. Bob
My father talked to Don Ferguson about the Ardun heads that we had and were looking for a buyer... N.O.S. V8-60 heads, never touched, never on a car, complete right down to the instruction sheet (well do***ented on the HAMB a long time ago). Don said "those old things are wall hangers, garage art" and offered $1500 for them. We, um... declined. Yep. The heads were sold to Roy Brizio (for a hair more than $1500) and ended up in John Mumford's T Roadster that won AMBR in 2013.
I am confused—-Ferguson SR used to buy flathead speed parts from me in the late 70’s in Texas. Last meeting between us I met him at the Antique drags at Santa Anna around 1980. Myself and a friend ended up at his “house shop” and were shown at least 10 sets of new looking Ardun heads underneath a work bench. I know Orosco sold Arduns to Ferguson JR, but who made them first—-did Ferguson SR sell to Orosco or did Ferguson SR buy from Orosco??? I saw my first and only set of Ardun 60’s at Specialized Auto Parts in Houston sometimes in the 70’s???. Took 3 pics at H &H flathead on my 69th birthday about 3-4 years ago.
Not a spokes person for the Fergusons, but it is my understanding that bought the rights to the heads from Orosco. They have made improvements to the valve train and the casting and have expanded to the aluminum ARDUN spec blocks, intakes and blowers... just open your wallet,, they don't retail the heads, they work through H&H I believe.
The story about the reproduction Ardun is as follows. Don Orosco decided to made the exact as original repro his plan was to make 25 sets and a limited amount of spare parts such as the rockers. Once Dons 25 sets were competed he then offered the patterns and related tooling for sale. Ferguson was the buyer and as written above slight improvement's were made and the rockers were now rollers. To add to the history of the ARDUN the actual designer of the heads both the full size and the V-8 sixty version was not Zoza it was George Kudash. George was a design engineer trained overseas he went to work at the Ardun mechanical co in 1947 arriving at Ellis Island NY from a refugee camp in Switzerland where he and his wife Rita escaped to during WW2 from Germany. George upon arriving in the US did not speak English he actually learned our language from the janitor while working for Zora. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending many hours learning so much from George about the true story on the development of the Ardun conversions. Picture this George arrives in NY the summer of 1947 and in a matter of 2 months there's a prototype running on the dyno. The head designs were the only automotive related work he did however by the mid fifty's he was working for Sikorsky Air Craft in CT where he had patents in his name for various systems he designed and used on helicopters George continued at Sikorsky until his retirement.. Ronnieroadster
There was a story in Autoaficianado magazine about Fergeson, they bought the rights/patents to tons of stuff, jiggler overhead valve, crossflow GMC head, and on and on cool stuff
The Jalopy Journal
