I just love these engines. Oh, I know, the sbc has more power and is the go to for many, but, the looks, the sound, nothing can compare to a flattie.
At the pta meeting: Teacher talking, teacher talking, teacher talking.... Ryan: yeah yeah yeah. Are you into flatheads or what......
Now that I've built an engine and a car I really appreciate up close pics so I can get ideas of how to secure and route wires & hoses cleanly.
The dreaded Parent/Teacher Conference is a one-on-one meeting, where the teacher tells you your kid is NOT "working up to his/her potential" ...and it's probably your fault
and there is no greater feeling than to be 1500 miles from home in a flathead ya built yourself and she is just purring down the road........
Real Hotrod’s don’t have valve covers. Nothing beats the sound of them running on a country road at speed and the look of envy passing by those who are not familiar with them. I love explaining them to the young guys. And the sound of a hot cam at idle is to die for. I recently let my 15 year old grandson take my 34 pickup for a run. He’d never driven a standard transmission. Another hot Rodder for life.
yes but has been reworked. should be a later 4.2/255 marmon like mine but built under license, so still ford
On the second day of this post, I went back again and looked closely at each image and came to the conclusion in an automotive engine beauty contest, the flathead would win the crown hands down over a Chevy LS distributorless, plastic intake cyclops looking air intake with wires all over the valve covers. Long live the timeless flathead.
I'm wondering why the top pics are what looks like Hemi orange and the bottom pics are copper. My guess is some creative editing, as in "What if..."
There’s nothing like rebuilding a flathead ford v8 as I did in my 1953 Victoria. I smoothed the block and put a mild cam in it. Other than that it was simply bored once over and ran stock heads, stock manifolds, split running glass pack’s. It was connected to the stock two speed automatic. It was my daily driver for two years which was interesting with Ohio’s snow and hot humid summers. Still have warm memories of that car.
More likely that the top pic was taken in direct lighting while the pics at the end were taken in ambient lighting. Any metallic paint is going to show different shades and tones in different light. I believe the only "editing" done here was done in the moment with exposure and aperture choices. ~Peter
'51 Block .030 over, decked, polished Merc crank, Eddie Meyer intake, 94's, Mallory Distributor, EAB heads cut .010, Isky cam, 10 inch clutch, nothing fancy, just a hell of alot of money for not much power, but hey, you can't beat the looks of a Flathead!!
Inspiration! I have an old ‘49 8BA (locked up) under my work bench. The bride want it to go, I’m thinking my retirement project. Hmm...
Hello, It was not always SBC or a 348 chevy motor in our lives. If the original first hot rod deal had gone through, there would not have been a 80 h.p. flathead motor in my teenage adventures. It was a long eye opener as to the never ending travels all over the So Cal coastline. Funky? You bet... Reliable? right on cue with no repairs or break downs for the whole time i drove it all over the place. Ever since I bought a Flathead Ford 1940 sedan delivery, I was the happiest kid in the whole area. It was my first real car that I paid for with my own saved up money. It once had a 348 Chevy that a friend built up and ran, but circumstances moved him to want to sell the newly created sedan delivery. It was supposed to look like this color and stance. (as we learned, later…) It was painted the night before we all saw it for the first time on a late Friday night. He just got it running and in the late++ hours, he had to get it painted prior to the “big show” at the local hot spot drive-in restaurant parking lot hangout in Bixby Knolls. The color was not the first thing we noticed. When it rolled into the driveway, we heard it before we saw it and all heads turned to look. The 348 was not quiet. It rumbled with authority and we all had know about a 348 Chevy motor in a black 58 Impala. So, as it goes, that night and the next weekends, word got out that the sedan delivery was for sale. WHY? Straight from the owner’s mouth, the comments over the initial cruise in and parking lot discussions, it was spreading around about the color of the sedan delivery. When asked that night, my friend told everyone that it was a “Racer Orange” color he just sprayed on late last night, Thursday. Of course everyone was impressed that he painted the whole car by himself. But, the color in the daylight did not look like the color under the parking lot lights. The word was spreading that the color was a “Salmon Pink.” So, from that point on, when someone saw the sedan delivery in the lot or cruising around, it was called the “Salmon Pink” hot rod. That label was the main reason he wanted to sell it immediately. The odd thing was, it was a fast hot rod, unusual that no one wanted it, no one else had one and it was unusual to say the least. Jnaki For a budding surf teenager with big ideas rolling around, the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery was just my kind of old hot rod. We needed a cool car to continue our surf forays weekly and after school road trips, so, this cool looking hot rod was perfect. The asking price was outrageous and he did not get any offers. I offered a good price, but he laughed and said no. Then a few weeks later, he accepted my offer and we made a deal. But, one exception: The 348 motor was coming out and a simple Flathead was going to be put in its place. It was stock, and running well, so, I was the new owner. At first, the lack of power from the Flathead was daunting. From the 280 hp Impala to the 80 hp sedan delivery, it was a whole different attitude when driving. The Flathead was one of the most reliable motors around for us. It took us all over So Cal coastlines for exciting new adventures. It just did not have the power to go up into the local mountains or struggled to go up the steep coastal hills on our weekly surf trips. But, what a fun hot rod and the experiences it gave me as a teenager. The Flathead motor by Tardel looks like what was offered to me by Reath Automotive. They liked the sedan delivery and instantly, showed me the Flathead motor in the garage area. It would have made the coastal hill climbs like driving around in a 280 hp Impala. Power to stay in 3rd gear fully loaded with teenagers, longboards and surf stuff. No more downshifting to 2nd or on the steepest hills, first gear. Yowza! (the built up Flathead motor may have allowed me + the 40 sedan delivery, to rise up in the slowest Cherry Avenue hot rod races a few notches… too) HA!
The Jalopy Journal
