Gang- I included this question in a post yesterday with some pictures taken at the recent CHRR, but I think it got overlooked a****st the photos - so I'm giving it another try all by itself. Some of you flathead gurus must know the details. Looking at this motor was the equivilent of paging through a Thickstun catalog. Virtually every bolt-on part was Thickstun brand stuff. I was especially intrigued by the heads - or head covers - shown in the accompanying photo. At the time, I sort of ***umed these were some sort of "dress-up" covers. Is that the case? Nobody was around to ask, and I couldn't find the car when I returned later to check it out further. If they are just covers, wouldn't they retain lots of heat (a situation I understand the flatties really don't need)? What's the deal? Also, I'd be interested in hearing any general background about the Thickstun company (who, when, where, etc.) that any of you may be aware of. Thanks.
The Thickstun covers are made to go over their aluminum heads to protect against water in marine use. The heads themselves aren't very pretty. Even though the covers are rare, the heads are 10 or 20 times rarer. The car in the pic probably has the covers over some stock Ford heads since you can see red paint at the water neck. A homemade mount would be needed to attach the covers since the Fords wouldn't have the bosses for attachment studs like the Thickstuns would.
Ol Tommy Thickston made some great stuff back in the day and worked with Vic Edelbrock for a bit. His PM-7 high-rise intake is great for the street block off the heat risers for racing. Some originals are around and Tony Barron is re-popping them. Unfortunately, he died fairly young. The only picture Ive seen of him and additional information is in Hot Rod Pioneers by Ed Almquist. Theres also a pic of him running on the dry lakes on the cover of Albert Drakes Flat Out book.
I have a pair of those original Thickstun cylinder head covers that I run on my '38 Ford 4-door convert. They attach to the stock head with a metal strap and 5/16" threaded stud. Never caused any heating problem. As you were already told, they were decorative parts for boat engines that hot rodders starting using. I have one Thickstun cylinder head, 24 stud, that was designed to be used with these covers. The head is aluminum with no fins. To mount the cylinder head cover it has a cast raised mounting provision with a threaded female hole. It's not NOS, but it's so close to it, I could p*** it off as such. I picked it up at an old racer auction a couple of years back. I'd love to find it's mate . I heard they reproduced the head covers for a short period of time. Thought they were available through SPEEDWAY. The entire set-up really dresses up a flathead and leaves a lot of folks not knowing what kind of engine they're looking at . If I go to my shop tonight I'll take a few pics of the covers and head. Right now I have them off the '38 while I'm making some changes to it. I don't know how to post pics here, so maybe a fellow HAMBer could help me out.
Frank, I just happen to have a picture of your engine that I took while visiting you last spring. Here ya go, thought I'd save you a trip to the garage. Paul
WOW, What a pretty engine . OOPS, There goes my shorts . Ya' did it to me again . Still want to take a pic of that single cylinder head. Might provide some interesting results. I relocated the convert to my workshop. I'll send ya' a few pics.
Gang- Here are the photos from Modifieddriver. Looks like these pretty much tell the whole story. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to send these Mod.
Hey! Those are some neat looking parts. Are they supposed to make a SBC look like a Flathead . It was a pleasure to send'm to ya'. Also, I'm still hunting another Thickstun cylinder head .
I have a complete set of orginal Thickstun heads, I'll try and take some pictures for everbody. I think their cool.--TV
Just saying that they are marine items might be a little misleading. I have always heard that their purpose was to shield the water spray from the plugs during the boat races held on the lakes in California. You didn't need them to water ski on the lake but if you were in close compe***ion with another racer they may be reason you finished the race while others didn't. Everyday flathead powered boats probably had an engine cover to protect the riders and wouldn't need them. They, along with the heads, were racing equipment made for open ****pit racing boats. I've been told that the first reproduction covers (probably what we are all seeing) didn't fit as well as the originals. The guy doing the new repros. says that that has been corrected.
They were a couple of years ago. I did not see the guy this year at Carlisle or Hershey. He was from the mid-west I believe.
That's interesting. Do ya' know when the first repops were made? I've been able to track the history of pair of head covers back 31 years, maybe even farther if I tried harder. They have been on the same original California car since 1977. I bought it there in 1994 and had it shipped east. Think I might have a pair of repops? I'd like to find out more.
They could be. I can't put a definate year to them and I don't know how to tell them apart. It's got to be over 20 years ago though. They repoped the tear drop aircleaner at the same time.(not the cheap **** on Ebay now) A friend had a farmer give him a Thickstun air cleaner. I said it's probably a repop. It wasn't...it has the old "hogs hair" filter element and I think it had a sheetmetal retainer inside. He's got the filter...I've got the manifold. I can only hope.... Jay Fitzhugh, who wrote the article on Thickstun for The Rodders Journal, has an original set and he told me the first repops don't fit like the originals. He didn't go into specifics. When I asked the guy doing the current repops he claimed that it was all new tooling. Who knows? I just remember that the new covers cost more than a new set of finned heads but they are rarer.
I don't know how they relate to the originals but C.W. Moss carries these: http://www.cwmoss.com/acces****/22.htm
Saw a pair in the Early Ford store in San Dimas a few months back, i seem to recall they weren't that expensive! might be worth a call 909-305-1955 Kev.
I've been told that the first reproduction covers (probably what we are all seeing) didn't fit as well as the originals. The guy doing the new repros. says that that has been corrected.[/QUOTE] As I mentioned, the car in the top photos (from the CHRR) had EVERYTHING Thickston on its motor - and all in beautiful condition. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all re-pops. Still, there's so much cool old **** in Cal, you never know. I could't believe the quan***y of flattie and hemi stuff at the swapmeet there - and I know its a comparitively small meet for that area. Even so, there was 20 times the old stuff I'm used to seeing at swap meets out here in the sticks.
Modified, if those pictures are your heads and covers, I'd be pretty sure that they are originals. I've never seen the heads reproduced. Just the covers to be used as dress ups for stock headed flatties. There must be more than one person doing them now. The cover repros alone that I saw cost more than the 3 pieces that C.W. Moss advertizes.
our favorite place: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/50s-style-flathead-covers-Hot-Rat-Rod-Ford-pre-48-1932_W0QQitemZ8006633879QQcategoryZ33627QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Is there any way to determine if you have an early reproduction as opposed to an original? I just came into possession of a set from a guy who's grandfather had them on his barn wall for almost 40 years. How long ago did they stop making the originals and when did they start making the copies and roughly what are each version worth? Matt
The cheapo eBay copies like in myke's link do not have 'Thickstun' cast into them (head covers or air cleaner) and they are a rather nasty casting quality - but better than nothing if you want that look and don't mind some work cleaning and squaring them up. If yours were on a wall for forty years they are certainly not from this source, and I would guess at being original.
Steve, there is a guy on the EBay that has these and the carb covers as well as some other items.........They are not expensive at all and he usually has a going ad at any given time. If you can't find him, give a holler and I will get you there. **** PS.Meg-lite is the guys handle and he has this stuff cast in Mexico. But for the money you can do a little work and get them lookin killer.
I always thought they'd hold in heat too, especially on an engine with stock heads. Any input on that?
Matt. If the covers have been hanging in a garage for 40 years they're most likely originals. I have a pair of Thickstun heads that each have two water temp sending unit bosses. I asked Jay Fitzhugh who I consider to be the authority on all things Thickstun and he said he had never seen a pair like them. He thinks they were made by Tattersfield/Barron after Tommy Thickstun p***ed away in '46. So head covers could have also been made for a while after his death. C.W. Moss was selling repo covers and air cleaners starting in about the 70's or 80's until the late 90's. They stopped because the patterns were so worn that the Thickstun logos were no longer recognizable. I wonder if those are the patterns that are used to make the "no names" that have been showing up on Ebay recently. A fellow named Rick Williams in Orange California was reproducing head covers in limited quan***es a few years ago. I got a pair from him and they are beautiful pieces but they do not fit Thickstun heads. He said that he didn't have a Thickstun head to use to fit them up so he used a stock Ford cast iron head. You should have no trouble selling your head covers. I know a few guys who have been looking for originals for years and have only found wall hangers that weren't for sale. And as was mentioned earlier Thickstun heads seem to be rarer than the covers. It is very difficult to find heads that are not warped. Hope this helps. Steve---Flatheads, Erie Pa.
No reason the Thickstun Head Covers wouldn't fit a 37-38 21-stud engine just as well as the 38-48 24-stud engines. All the NOS Thickstun stuff I've seen, and quite a lot of the painted used stuff that hasn't been polished, was painted a bright red, the entire piece except the machined surfaces. No, not even the raised name was polished or sanded to aluminum finish. Thickstun made a really crazy looking Art Deco style 2 carb manifold for Chevy 216 sixes, one of his few pieces for non-Fords. Also painted bright red.
I've seen, and owned, some original manifolds with the red paint on them, and saw a pair of head covers that had what looked like an original gold paint on them. Or maybe they were painted gold by the original owner 60-some years ago. My early hirise (forget the model #) has original dark green paint on it. The similar Tattersfield stuff seems to have come with a blue hammertone paint on it.
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