A few months ago I put a wanted add here and on HH cl***ifieds for a 241-325 Dodge Red Ram Hilborn Inj. unit. After several false trails I gave up looking, than last week I get an e-mail with pics from a guy in MI. saying he found a unit in his granpas garage and was wonding if I was still interested. After a bit of digging and contacting Hilborn he learned that Ray Brown had bought it new around 1954. After googling his name I found several interesting feats Ray had accomplished on the Land Speed ***ualt in the late '40 and '50'z. Any first hand accounts of his life with Hemi's, pic's, etc.? Trying to varify if this Hilborn set any records! Thanks
There is an interview with him by Tom Medley in Tex Smith's "Hot Rod History" published in 1994...don't know if it is still in print. Ray was a hot rodder from way back, and his 32 roadster has been perfectly restored. In the '50s he built many a record-setting hemi, including the engine for the Shadoff Special. I didn't see a picture of your Dodge, but it's quite
Ray Brown was a great friend of my grandfather Phil Freudiger, and my dad Willie Freudiger. Ray Brown used to run the same cl*** as my grandfather in the 50's. Ray Brown just couldn't beat the Freudiger and Cobbs modifed. God Speed Ray Brown! Thank you for the memories!
I have a book on the "New Engine" that I think is partly by him, need to look, and a book (maybe the same one) that has a short bio in it, circa 1953. RB became the Hemi Guru as soon as they came out and ran a specialized speed shop building and dyno-ing them...later a seatbelt mogul, I think! Someone on here surely has Bonneville record records...but of course it might have been a Brown built engine running under the customer's name.
The picture of his 32 highboy in the snow that is in American Hot Rod is one of my favorite hot rod pictures ever. That car was perfect.
The Jalopy Journal
