nothin sounds like a flattie. that's what i love about them. don garlits ran flathead dragsters until, he said, he was coming home from a meet and saw an advertising sign for the new chrysler with a hemi--180 h.p. you know how much work it takes to get that out of a flathead. that's when he switched to hemi power.
Lots of luck beating some kid at the red light regardless of what overhead valve engine you elect to use. Speed parts are readily available today but the parts are getting expensive,,you really don't need tons of power to out class the tuner boys. HRP
Im a flathead guy obviously but.... if I had to choose an alternative Id choose a 312 y block.... or build a 390-406 tri power fe
i like flattys but if you can pickup a early hemi you wont need to do a whole lot to it and it will make great hp
Would you be happy with a stock flathead or a stock SBC? Is a stock flathead as bad as the old Vega and when you hit the gas you are very disappointed? If that is the case then I would say SBC...... my 2 cents.....
If you have the room a 59 Olds 371 will give you plenty of power just the way it is,they came only with 2 bbls but a 394 4 bbl intake bolts right on. In 85 I put togather a 53 Olds with a 59 371 and had fun beating guys in almost new corvettes on the highway with the 2 bbl still on and with a 4 bbl I beat some hotrods. If I kept my foot out of it would get around 20 miles to the gallon on the highway,that car had the best of both worlds in it as it was quick out of the hole and plenty of top end with the jetaway 4 speed automatic trans and 3.23 gears.
How about a 337 big block flattie from a 49-53 Lincoln? Should be able to get 250+ horse and still look like a ford flattie. ( very large one!)
To answer the original question the flathead Ford V8 was king. But, you also saw some Model A 4 cylinder hop ups, and the Chev and GMC OHV 6s had their fans. But as soon as the first OHV V8s came out in 1949 - 51 all the hot rod kids wanted one. The trouble was, they were in $4500 cars like Cadillac and Chrysler New Yorker. Even the Olds 88 cost $3000 new. Cheapest was the 51 Studebaker Commander. As these cars got wrecked and written off the OHV V8s became available in junk yards but they cost $250 to $500 used and they were not common to find. Then Ford, Chev and Plymouth came out with their low priced V8s, in 1955 (Ford in 54). You could go down to the Chev dealer and buy a 2 tone Bel Air hardtop for $2500, or a stripped 2 door post for $2000. Even this was too expensive for some people. This led to a fad for hot rod pickup trucks. You could buy a Ford pickup with V8 and stick shift for $1500. Ed Roth did this in 56, he wanted a Bel Air but couldn't afford one so he bought the cheapest V8 pickup and fixed it up with scallop paint job, tarp over the bed, white walls and wheel covers. A lot of guys did the same in 55 - 56. By 57 and 58 there were lots of cheap used 55 - 57 Chevs on the car lots. By the mid fifties there were plenty of OHV V8s around. Hopped up flatheads became a drug on the market. You could buy a good built up flathead for $100 - $200 because guys were taking them out of their rods and putting in Olds, Chev, Buick etc.
The real truth is that no period-correct traditional Hot Rod with less than 1HP/CI is going to beat a modern import with more than 1HP/Liter. Racing against imports just ain't traditional.
ARDUN did, but they were one of many, look up Don Mongomerys books lots of info on early speed equipment in there
The Jalopy Journal
