Folks Of Interest Congrats Mike Zenor!

I've seen AND listened to it, please Mike, tell the tale of your "carburaters" again. Any video with sound? Love it and looking forward to the next 815 rod.

 

Hey Magnus -- The Meteors are not so much a proper "fuel injector," but more like a prehistoric version of Predator constant CFM carb. They don't have any float bowl and can in principle be run as a side draft or up draft. Fuel flow is regulated by a rubber diaphragm with a soft coil spring.

Theodore Saaty got a patent on the device in 1953 or '54, and began making them in Providence, Rhode Island in 1957. The only contemporaneous article about them was in the May 1957 issue of Custom Rodder, "fuel inject your car for $85." The article was only descriptive and didn't actually show one on a car. There were two models: the Meteor 100 (like on my car) and the extremely rare Meteor 200. It was supposed to cost $125 but I believe there were only 2 ever made... the prototype and the one now owned by Django.

The company was out of business within a year. One problem was the price -- at $85 they were 4 or 5 times more money than a Stromberg 97 with little performance advantage. Another problem was the design; we found that they work well as long as you have an electric fuel pump and fuel regulator dialed in at 2.5 to 3 pounds, but are touchy outside that range. Plus the Meteor 100 was made for a two-bolt base for 6 cylinder intakes, and would have required an adapter for a V8. Saaty ended up trying to sell them on the basis of fuel economy but with little success.

It appears that he made about 100 Meteor model 100s during that short run, but sold very few of them. Almost all the ones I've seen are NOS in original boxes, which suggests they were probably sold during the bankruptcy liquidation.

 

...congrats Mike!,...it should've been on the cover!...
...wow, another one of "my" cars in a magazine!
...for some perspective; here's what Mike & the crew started with...

 

The cover would have taken longer.. but SIX pages on the car aint too shabby!

Spike

 

Nice job on the car ....Really dig it...

 

Senior Zenor is already a star here in France, with a 8 pages featuring in Powerglide magazine this winter, with some pics I shoot when the car was just finished. A very nice car ! and imagine the sound of the Meteor injectors ! insane !

 

here a pic from this shooting...

 

I just got my issue yesterday.

COOOOOL.

Congrats.

Bump.

Rich

 

You have no idea the awesome-ness this car oozes in the real.

Congrats, Mike.

 

God this car is so cool I can't even look at it. This car reflects my favorite period.

 

Awesome stuff, the coupe turned out pretty A-mazing! Congrats Mike on the coverage, i'll have to hit up Barnes & Nobles, grab a coffee and peep the issue Very nice finishing touches to your ride, i like it and the scallop placement is pretty cool as well.
cheers, cab

 

Hey Zenor,Not to sound like an a-hole but you should try to know the names of people who work on your car.Thanks to "JUSTIN"for the exhaust.last time I knew my name was Ryan,but my friends call me Hutch.I used to work at Marty's with Drew and went over to help him with the custom headers on my own time,free of charge,and did the custom exhaust.Just because their is a guy named Justin who sells tires in the same shop that I do exhaust out of Doesn't mean he did your exhaust.It's a beautiful car and I was proud to work on it,but it was kind of a kick in the ball's.

 

Thank you Mike for the add'a boy... it was a real pleasure to do this car for you..I am looking forward to seeing it soon... as well as the 32... Talk with you soon..