Technical Offenhouser valve covers from Speedway

Not that this dead horse need anymore kicking but....

The box that was inside the speedway box was what offy likely sent them. So offy stuffed them with the non English newspaper. I'd almost bet it's a free newspaper and that's why they use it. Plenty of those around in even small cities.

 

Well that may be

 

Damn, that was a good one.

 

One interesting thing you will notice is how small our segment of the automotive business is. A couple of guys working old slow machines can keep up with the demand.

 

This is going to be one of those threads that get resurrected after five years, because someone googled "Offenhauser and Chinese newspapers" while drinking.

 

As for the non English language newspaper, I have a friend that produces small parts at his machine shop and ships them out wrapped in foreign language newspaper. Rather than buy bubble wrap, he goes by the local news printer and they give him all the end runs and returned newspaper he wishes to haul off.

Offy states: Hand machined since 1957 in their shop. To me, manual machining (vs. CNC), sand casting (vs die cast) is "traditional", and I really dig that. Would love to walk through their old school shop.
From their website;

 

How come valve covers are kinda spendy? Just cuz they can? I ain't poor but I can't talk myself into 400 bones for T bird covers. There are some cast finned aluminum that look pretty good for around 200, I could talk myself into that. But if the ****ers leaked I'd be royally pissed.

 

I hear you, I wanted to get these covers for years but could not justify the cost so I kept putting it off. But you know with a small run and a limmited market stuff just costs more. You are right, there are some $200 covers on e-bay but I wanted the real thing, so I went for it. Guess it aint easy being cool.... and it costs more too.

 

Made in America, packed in China. LOL They are nice though, I've always lusted for a set for my SBC.

 

Welcome to my world.. every day was like getting paid to go to shop cl***.

 

Yep, lusted after some Offy valve covers for the '35, but just couldn't pull the trigger due to sticker shock. Bought some nice no-name finned valve covers for $100. Still had to make those fit. They were much thicker than stamped tin valve covers, and the upper flange interfered with the aftermarket intake. Had to grind reliefs so they would sit down on the heads. Ain't nothing easy.

 

got that right, if it was everyone would have a hot rod.

 

so Speedway got back to me and they made it good. And, you know, they could have just said after I milled them that it's all on me. So let's give Speedway a little credit for standing behind what they sell no matter who made them or where they were made.

 

So, are you saying that they gave you a refund?
How exactly did they make it good?

 

Not a full refund but they covered my time to fix them.

 

Good of you to set the record straight on Speedway handling it the right way!

 

I had a damaged Speedway package show up with some damage to the product.
I called Speedway and they had UPS come back and pick them up at no cost to me, offered me a full refund but I ask for replacement product instead in which they sent and it arrived undamaged.

 

Can't help with any advise but when did a rant about bad parts become a technical thread?

 

Because he milled them?

 

Speedway does do knockoff stuff the used Vern Tardels early Ford drum retainers bought his for years than copied them I don't know if they have done that on the Offy products

 

I don't believe for a minute that Speedway makes and sells counterfeit products!

 

Counterfeit and knockoff are 2 different things.
A knockoff can be a stolen design, or a copy.
If it has the original manufacturers name on it, yet was made elsewhere, then it's a counterfeit.

 

Well this has a happy ending. Now don't go all "Asian m***age parlor" on me cuz I said happy ending. And there was Asian paper in the box. And a box was in the topic. And, well, nevermind...

 

I know what I am talking about when I say speedway uses knockoff parts they have done this for years but and sell a product for awhile then send a part to china to be copied and manufactured there. I worked for speedway for about two years and know this as a true fact.

 

People buy many things because of the name, Offy, Edelbrock and Holly to name a few. I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of product from Speedway over the years and yes, I have had one or two issues which they corrected immediately. Speedway like any other company is in business to stay in business and secondly to serve the public. They sell a lot of name brand products and given the opportunity, they will produce their own price sensitive label that may look a lot like the compe***ion, but I am sure they never put a name on their product that they don't own. I live in a community where the popular pastime is bad mouthing and degrading people based on half truths and innuendos and it's not fun. The OP started this thread without contacting either Speedway or Offy and now both companies reputation has been tainted without proper input.

Warren

 

Why is this thread still open,,,Guess its up to me to report this badmouthing.

 

I have bought from Speedway in the past and I likely will again, but I don't intend this post to sound like I'm a cheerleader for them. I shop price and I also look for quality and I'll buy from whoever fills those requirements.
With that said I don't think Speedway bootlegged the brake drum/broken axle retainer. While they may have sold Tardel's in the past I highly doubt Vern was the first guy to think of that item, they had been in use long before he came on the scene. Tardel does hold a patent on his Stromberg coffee mug but that's it. Are there knockoffs out there? For sure, but if they are not patent protected (like the drum retainer) or sold as produced by someone else there is no foul.
There was a local guy, a machinist for Nabisco, that was making stainless dropped tube axles for early Ford spindles. Nice item but he had a hard time marketing them. He approached Speedway and they bought the rights to them, and for all I know they bought his fixtures and tooling too. They have done a lot of that over the years, with Mr. Roadster, Total Performance and more.
Do they source some things offshore? I would imagine so, but most companies do these days.
Who was the first guy to produce the flame cut disc brake bracket for GM calipers with GM or Aspen rotors on early Ford spindles? Probably no one remembers but how many are on the market now?

 

They sell a bunch of house branded items that are knockoffs of items that were designed and produced and still are produced by other vendors. Any time you look at a Speedway branded item and tell yourself "that looks exactly like what_____________ makes except for the name cast or stamped in it" you are most likely totally correct.
That saves the research, design testing and engineering time that the shop that first built the item they did the knockoff of and lets them sell it for a lot less.
My dad as much as I loved the man and as much as I miss him was terrible for buying the "almost as good" knockoff items of things. Didn't matter if it was a tool shirt, jacket or car part.

 

I believe the first guy to cut that brake bracket was
Jake Jacobs


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

For years, every casting made by Offy had the words Pat Pending on it. When asked, Fred said that he had a machinist named Pat Pending that liked to sign his work. You can go back to the fifties and find plenty of do***entation of speed equipment companies copying one another, poaching employees and lifting installation instructions and forgetting to remove the other company's address or logo! So, it must me traditional!