Saw the crappiest thing today ... sorta O/T

Some of you may recall me mentioning a septic truck that drives around town with the words, "We take a lot of shit from a lot of people, but we don't take any shit from Bin Laden." emblazoned on the side in huge letters.
Well, today I happened to pull along side him at a stoplight and obviously couldn't help but stare at this impressive paint job on a shit sucker.
But nestled between the cab of the truck and the tank was a flathead. Covered in soot from the diesel, bolted somewhat securely to the trailer, I just couldn't believe he would rig something like that up to suck poop from septic tanks.

Just thought I'd share.

 

Flatties suck?

 

A guy at my work asked one of those truck drivers, " What's a shit sucking truck driver make these days?" VERY Funny but a fight ensued. FUNNY.

 

Ive seen Hemi's use for industrial porposes before.... My grand father has been drilling water wells since the 50s.. He use to have a flat head with Offy heads on it powering the rig... The rig caught fire and burnt to the ground.....

 

Same in West Texas, you see all kinds of stuff powering pumps, wells & whatnot. Weird stuff.

 

needless to say they did what they needed to do back in the day, and that adage still applies today. Flatheads probably, or more than likely weren't the most wanted thing 30-40 years ago, perfect for this stuff. Much like all the home built straight 6 arc welders you see kicking around today.

 

I know of a stovebolt chevy that powers what ever the heck you call the machine that hauls yachts out of the water not too far from here... it even has the tranny behind it, they just use neutral & granny..

 

Ah yes a Travel Lift

 

I was an apprentice back in the early 70's in New Zealand and one job I got was to overhaul the workshop fire pump.Built during WW2 it was powered with a 24 stud flatty.In almost new condition I only had to change the plugs and oil and sort out sticking points and it was running.
I was then told to test it.....next to our shop was big tank full of cooling water for our air compressors ( big muthas!!) so I stuck the pick up pipe into that,grabbed the nozzle and gave it a rev....
The arsehole picked me up and shot me backwards and sent a stream of green coolant straight through the machine shop window..
There was also a flatty powered emergency generator with a worn out 24 stud engine.The good engine having being swapped by a Rodder to stick in his own car..

 

Yeah...those flatties can run pretty hot...

 

The old late '40s early '50s mopar flathead sixes were used in agricultural water pumps. If you walk into NAPA you can still find parts for them relatively easy as a result.

 

I used to see a septic truck that said "A royal flush beats a full house!" Heard of another that had the following stenciled on the door; 24,000 lbs of very gross weight.

 

We had an old cart to carry a welder around the mill where I work yrs ago, looked like a shortend chassis from something. I remember it had a flathead in it and wire wheels.


The sucker company here is named Sweet Pee

 

I've seen my flathead spew shit but never suck it.
Funny...

 

The flattie that I am building for my car came from a septic truck. It had a commercial rebuild tag on it. When I got it, it had very low hours on it. I am rebuilding it any way.

It seems as the flathead and many other early motors were used as workhorses.

 

A group of septic trucks down here have in large lettering on the back "Satisfaction guaranteed or double your sewage back".

 

Hemi-powered air raid siren owned by Don Garlits. Narrated by Robbie Coltrane. Entertaining. I never have this much fun in my garage:

 

That air raid siren is a hoot! I'd love to have one to annoy neighbors with!


But yeah there were a lot of "industrial hemi's" put out there. Most of what Dad finds are 331's, but he'll occasionally run across a 354, too. Out where he lives, they were all powering irrigation wells. I don't think he's run into a lot of flatties, but then he wasn't looking for any, either.

 

HOLY CRAP!!! That is frickin AWESOME!!!!

 

My 320 Straight 8 buick powered a well drillin' rig and then it was used to power a generator. and i have a 460 Ford CJ, that was used to power a generator. In western nebraska they used what ever they had.

 

Virtually every automotive maker had an Industrial Engine and Power division. It would probably not be unusual to find a Studebaker power unit somewhere, or an AMC(Nash-Rambler) six making juice or pumping water too.
Ford engines from Ts through the late flatties were used in air compressors, generators, welding machines, and other machinery as a power source.
The lowly Crosley OHC 4banger could be found on many military bases powering generators for aircraft both on the ground and in the air, portable welding units, as well as on railcars and trucks powering refrigeration units.

 

That siren is pretty damn cool. Here's a flatty that a friend of mine found out in the oil patch. I believe it ran some sort of pump. It came with its own cast iron engine stand.. It didn't have any fancy heads but check out that dizzy.

 

A truck meeting this discription can still be seen around Grants Pass, Ore-uh-gone.

 

A while back, there was a guy outside of San Diego trying to get rid of some propane powered Lincoln y-blocks. They were really clean, dirt cheap and used to be used to power fans in the old orange groves in order to protect from frost. Too bad parts are slim pickings, especially speed parts.

 

A long time ago they used to use old engines, as a backup, for elevators in buildings. Both hemis and flatheads. I've seen flatheads used on old crabbing boats in my area in the past.

 

When I was in the Army I was stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The motor pool where I worked we had a 40's something French built 35 passenger bus that was powered by a Ford Flathead. I drove the bus thru-out the general depot where I worked picking up GI's for lunch and then back again. It was fun to drive, because the gas pedal came out from under the seat, you used your heed to give it gas took some getting use to.
By the way this was in 1966/67.
Here's a picture of the bus (not a real good one... SORRY!).

 

That's a great pic and story.. Dude, you got history.

 

It was very common, especially in rural areas, to use whatever power source came to hand for any need. I can remember the fans in citrus groves being powered by different sixes and both type of eights; also, generators and welders, irrigation pumps, fire pumps, etc., as well as the sirens similar to the one Garlits had. When I was in the Navy, we had some flight line APU trucks powered by big Ford OHV V-8 engines. A well driller in my home town had his drill rig on some sort of old oil field chassis, and the drill and winches were powered by a couple of big Caddy flatheads. He toasted one of the Cads, and replaced it with a Chevy 283 from the wrecking yard, but was not too happy with the power; not enough low speed grunt. I think the only people who used the very latest modern stuff were the big companies with almost unlimited resources; everyone else just made do with what they could get.

 

A few years ago I went to check out an ad for some hemi engines for sale. The seller had three airport tugs all with industrial hemis. One of the older buildings in town used a hemi for the air raid siren. The guy with the tugs wanted a couple grand for each motor....I passed.

 

When I was a kid I remember the sawmill operators used Buick Straight-8's from the wrecking yards. They would use them untill they wore out and then throw them away and slide another one in it's place.