The casting is REALLY, REALLY close... But why the "RPM" casting? And Norwell, I totally spiked your margarita. Date **** Drug. ****er...
3 of my heros are Mickey Thompson, George Barris, and a local legend Frank Maratta Sr...because they were masters at promotion, and also worked with their hands. So..I'd bet what little I have, that they are not connected to Mickey; as he would have had his name on them, unless it was a GM corp factory paid experimental piece. (which it can't be with that logo). jmo
Mickey Thompson did quit a bit with magnesium. I saw a SBC engine block made from mag in his daughters shop. Only two ever made by GM. I think that was the same block he made the 3 valve heads for if I remember right. If you think the valve covers might be one of his designs I'm sure they could tell you.
Must be the rarest covers on the planet. I've never seen it take more than 30 minutes to identify anything around here.
The casting on these is actually way better than anything I've seen from Mickey Thompson... Someone loved these man. The photo must not show it.
Im searching the net for ya ,With no luck rpm must mean something Im thinking the m is motorsports,But so far nothing,,,
Maybe the letters signified special builds with the engine? RPM and TRQ... I can't see anything but Torque when I hear about the TRQ.
I'm going through the literally thousands of emails that I never delete from yahoo and it seems like this might have been with a Ridgerunner intake on a sbc in a 1951 Ford I got from North Carolina. I found one vague e-mail. I'll keep looking.
Here's an example, Hot Rod magazine OCT '57 with the bakan coupe on the cover. These particular ones are obviously different but I've seen ads from several companies that offered them, but you get the idea... Granted, it would be a lot more glamorous to find they were prototypes for experimental drag engines, but this is my guess as to their origin.
Ryan, Did you end up with the "COCHRAN" valve covers that were on a give-away motor back in the day? Didn't that motor end up in the KC area? I never heard what happened to it other than it was won by a buddy of a certain coupe that is being built on the HAMB. Chris
Ive seen a similar set of valve covers in a 1960 or 61 Rod and Custom for a 324 Olds rocket, and instead of RPM in the middle it said OLDS....It didnt give any information
we would take a VW block hunting and break it up and throw it in the fire little by little and light the area up like it was daylight.
Ryan, As you may know, Lester Casting Co. did allot of valve covers back in the '50-60's, they are famous for doing the Corvette valve covers. They also did custom sets, [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Original Lester Panther Valve Covers with Offy breathers.One of a Kind for sure. See picture: http://kellisonpage3.homestead.com/forsale.html[/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I worked for TRW Automotive Aftermarket for 25+ years, based in Cleveland Ohio. I know that they did allot as Thompson Castings, and Cleveland Castings did a lot of short run parts back then. There were so many casting companies back then that you could get just about anything made, quick and affordable. [/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]My memory tells me that there was a RPM Speed Shop / Warehouse back in the 60's, which was a Speed Shop that later turned into a small distributor, then a warehouse that was bought out or closed down. The same basic thing that took place with Honest Charleys, Rocco & Cheaters,and many more. [/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I would suggest contacting Bill at Speedway Motors, he will know.[/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Glenn[/FONT]
One more thing, you may also want to contact Dale Wilch in Kansas City. I've known Dale for 30+ years and he knows a ton of this history. Fact is, he named his catalog RPM. Dale was drag racing in the mid-'60's all over, and has been in the Speed Shop business since 1970. He and Eldon L****n (R.I.P.) who started Reliable Automotive in Sioux City Iowa were close friends, I know that Eldon would have known, I worked for him many,many years ago.
A Hot Rod Any pictures of the show car? Outside of reading that I wondered if they were originally intended for the Camaro prototype? Anyway here is a similar pair for Olds... Something that needs pointed out is that real pattern makers may have been more common then but they were not on every corner. Many popular designs were bought out and even more were ripped off of the work of others. Such as common as dirt 1965 original series Cal Custom diecast SBF valve covers ( as in preHawk ) were actually made off a sand cast pattern made by Holmes before selling out to Moon... or an original Say-Why-And part vs a dime a dozen Offy.
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