Folks Of Interest Pioneers of Hot Rodding the Flathead?

Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

Pioneers of Hot Rodding the Flathead?

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

Limiting to 5 is tough--Don Francisco, Bobby Meeks, Al Sharp, Barney Navarro were certainly deserving

 

Read it when it came out a couple of months ago. Kauai guy has a point, however the five mentioned were in business. Don Francisco worked for Petersen and Meeks worked for Edlebrock. Sharp and Navarro both were in business, but not the same scale as the aforementioned.

 

I'll add a couple just for fun...

Tom Beatty
Chuck Potvin / Bill Jenks
Ron Main
Ron Ceridono... hell, he wrote the book!

 

How about Bill Kenz from the Denver area?

 

Almost like picking your favorite guitarist or drummer. Pre- war or Post war..... At least the important names aren't forgotten, like Don Francisco, Bobby Meeks, etc.

 

Zora Arkus-Duntov

Mic drop

 

*picks Mic up off floor.

Yes, but if only for the work of C & T Automotive who figured out how to get those heads to work reliably and worked out the flaws of those high-al***ude truck cylinder heads. If not for savvy gents like Don Clark and Clem Tebow, the Ardun head would be but a footnote in the history of the Flathead.

And as far as Ardun heads being considered "speed equipment", I'd say it was just as much a happy coincidence as the 71-series blowers.

 

For space limitation reasons they had to pick a number, otherwise the article would have turned into an encyclopedia. After all, they said "Here are five pioneers" and not "Here are the only pioneers."

 

Hello,

Of all those famous names, one stands out for me. Everything about the Flathead motors we saw at the local speed shops, Joe Mailliard Automotive, Reath Automotive were always the full on “hopped up”motors on display. If we had not seen a 283 SBC motor with dual carbs and a nice set of valve covers and headers, we would probably have gone for the built up Flathead motors. We always got the discussion about the speed parts needed for any motor to go fast. Carbs, camshaft, pistons, rods, etc.

Those two early hot rod/drag race shops had their activities that cornered the market on So Cal hot rod builds and definitely a ton of necessary parts for all motors and hot rod/drag race builds. Our mechanical expert family friend in Los Angeles was an old time ***ociate of Vic Edlebrock Jr and Sr. So, we always heard about the latest from the Edlebrock camp on manifolds and other parts.

Creighton Hunter/Hill Acala roadster with the original “Moon Eyes.”

But for us neophytes during the late 50s and early 60s were the countless racers and their cool builds that showed up at Lion’s Dragstrip weekly to show case their cars and try to win the cl*** entered. It was a young teenagers dream location. The films came naturally to record what we liked and saw on a weekly basis.

Creighton Hunter, Hill Acala, Flathead powered roadster





Jnaki

Boy, that motor would have fit perfectly in my Flathead 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery for all purposes. No more “inching forward” on steep slopes during our coastal surf trips to San Diego. And having to slow down on the El Morro Beach cliff side slope angle on PCH hill climb in Laguna Beach coastal drive, weekly was a real chore with nothing left in the gas pedal.

NOTE:

This unusual roadster looks as if it just rolled off of the streets and went racing. It was a popular roadster and won its share of races. But it has been over 65 years with a nice film of early roadsters racing.

1959 Lions Dragstrip
Who owned it and what was the Flathead motor?

Information needed: Owner, cl*** at Lions, motor, builder, etc.

Note 2:
It looks as if it has a supercharger with twin carbs on top. So, it is probably in the Modified Roadster Cl***, B/Roadster Or C/Roadster.

 

Spade Carrillo should be in that list.