when did blowers show up on hot rods?

Very cool history and article...thanks for posting.

 

Thanx for sharing that!
Great read... Legend

 

At the dry lakes.

 

Mercedes SSK from 1928 300hp (100hp over factory)

 

You are correct, they didn't get on the salt until 1948.

 

The first recorded use of one on a hot rod was by Bill and Tom Spalding who fitted a Mercedes unit to a Riley ohv Ford V-8 in 1938. With a homemade intake and two Stromberg carbs, the Spaulding’s Modified ran about 120mph. The supercharger apparently cost $100 from a foreign car wrecking yard in Los Angles. It possibly came from a Mercedes 500K (K for kompressor) that had been introduced in 1934 at the Berlin Motor Show.



You can see it in action this movie:

 

this thread is so old, its not even necroposting, its archeoloposting!

but you wanna know something even funnier, 2007 was forever ago to me, but there are people who posted in this thread, that still are active on the HAMB. To many members, it might not feel like that long ago.

 

The addition of super chargers must have been somewhat "mainstream" by the mid 50's. My father in law (RIP) put a
McCulloch on his 53 Flathead Ford, took it off when he sold the car to buy a new 57 Ford and then put the blower on the 57. He gave me these scanned articles a number of years ago. Sorry they are a little difficult to read.

 

Most of this has already been said but, you may want to check out this thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...read-to-end-all-supercharger-threads.1167037/

 

We should thank @BJR for resuscitating it too.
And the post from @moparboy440 may be the definitive, that thing is so cool.

 

Depends where you were. 1944 ?


Mike

 

Showed up on mine around 2005....LOL...

 

interesting ....................

 

The Roots style blower was developed in Connersville, Indiana in the 1860s by the Roots brothers. Original uses included ventilation for mines and in foundry blast furnaces to help melt iron. They preceded hot rods by nearly 100 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_Blower_Company

 

I posted this on another Thread in
Of Top ,
Looks to be Gm 71 series on street driven H-R
Dual Tires rear for drag or Timing Association, But maybe Competing for king of the street title ?
Food / Rent !

 

Pic I posted is pre 56
By vehicles in the background.
By thread Title Hot Rod
Means Street Driven ,
Not Race Car .

 

As soon as GIs got back and recovered from WWII! They mechanic'd on GM diesels and it dawned on them a '71 GM diesel scavenger pump would make a derned fine air pump on a V8.

 

Here’s a T race car in the late 20’s… wonder how the carb got all the way over there…?! Blowers were a thing since very early on. They just weren’t affordable or reliable till after the war

 

The one's that may not know of Daytona
Racing , land speed on beach before 1935 , There was some Amazing things going on , People coming from over sea's to Test Pushing Limits on Monster Experiments Be for Hot Rod's

 

Malcolm Campbell broke the LSR multiple times at Pendine Sands (UK) and then at Daytona Beach but on this day in 1935 he upped it again to over 300mph at Bonneville, engine was a blown Rolls Royce V12

 

@Oneball
Never been to S -Flats
Wonder , between the two type of
Surface are they Equal in density,?
If not witch with less wheel drag?

 

Hello,

My brother and I were all caught up in the Hemi motors with 671 superchargers on top, huffing loud sounds and blasting by at speed, when we went to Lion’s Dragstrip. My brother and I instantly liked the set up and power developed by those builds. The history of Hemi motors goes back beyond our days and as teenagers, we liked that they were being used for something as cool as real drag racing.

The Summer of 1959 was a good year for us in drag racing. We saw the developments taking place right down the street in our own Westside of Long Beach neighborhood. Then when we saw the race car at the dragstrip, it was a wonderful sight and “sound.” The Sidewinder: Hemi 671 sound from 1959.


Jnaki

But, as we lived near the Long Beach/Los Angeles Harbor facilities, we saw plenty of large semi trucks hauling “stuff” from the harbors and heading to the Los Angeles area. Those diesel trucks were heard as well as taking up many lanes on the local streets and freeway when it was built. They still do that today.

So, when it came time to continue our hot rod/drag racing build of a motor for racing in the Gas Coupe/Sedan Classes, we knew the first edition 283 SBC with carburetors would be good for both street and the drags on the weekends. But, then some of the top racers had the supercharged motors that made more power and were definitely faster.

We visited several neighboring shops near our house. There were a ton of shops catering to the diesel truck drivers for parts, service and new builds. It was a highly competitive business and the shops had tons of customers driving those huge trucks on the streets heading to and from the harbor areas.

Now, we had our choice of any new 671 superchargers. All of the shops had them in stock. My brother did not want a used 671 for obvious reasons. A new one, then race car prepped by Reath Automotive was the preferred way to go at the time. So, we were ready to buy a new, out of the box 671 supercharger. But, the salesman remembered us from another visit and said he had the right (new) supercharger for us. He pointed out a natural finish 671 on a floor model diesel motor.

He said he had another new 671 supercharger and it was getting polished to mount on the floor display motor. That way, it could be seen from the street and showroom walk-in customers. But, since he had the new display supercharger on the motor, it would take a few minutes to disassemble it that day.

So, we walked out of the shop with a new 671 supercharger at the price of a used one, although ours was brand new, never run… YRMV

Reath Automotive was surprised that we walked in with a new 671 supercharger. They took it apart, and started the rebuild with race spec assembly. We already had the new Isky-Gilmer Belt drive kit with the Edlebrock manifold waiting at home on the workbench.

Kit #2 A 671 for the SBC motors…

 

Another example of a blower during the T era. This one built by Green Engineering

 

OP title

WHEN DID BLOWERS SHOW UP ON HOT RODS?

Maybe I am thinking to Specific ?

Then In Op first post , the Op also asked Race car ,
So Two Questions ,

Race car I would think by Mid 1920s ,
Maybe 1900 ,
Because there a thread here about race cars I believe like 1880s to 1930 ? Title
The Year , I am sure we will Never Know the First person , Racer who did So !
But maybe close to a Year ..
Now other Question Op asked ,

Hot Rod / Go Bug /jalopy to me meaning
Street Driven & Tagged .
Not a race Car Nor Supper Charger / Blower Cars /vehicles in production .
Am I
thinking to deep upon?
My Question are we seeking a Supper charger , Blower or
A GM series 6-71 Or
Any GM 71 series
Blower / Supper Charger,
Not in a Kit form set up sold threw a company / person .
@gassergarage says father had / used 6:71 in 1948 .
The One I posted Looks
1950 , Tag shown so We see it was street driven , Not a 6:71 but Looks like
a GM 71 series size ?
I do not know the years of
All vehicles in background .
I am sure There was
Gm 71 series before 1950
But was OP asking
Any blower / Supercharger specifically on Hot Rod ,,
thread close to 20 years Old

 

Before the term “hot rod” was commonplace, folks built racers from stock cars, and drove them to (and hopefully from) the track. Superchargers have always been there, rare at first, and have grown in popularity as cost/availability/reliability have improved

 

The "Roots" Of Supercharging

A Bit Of Blower Background

HOT ROD StaffWriterSep 20, 2005



"The period between the two World Wars was the heyday of supercharging. Not only did the major racecars of the time run blowers but, as you might expect, so did several of the more racy production models, both here and in Europe. However, the economic Depression and then WW II finally put an end to supercharged luxury sports cars and, shortly after war's end, the changing of rules put a stop to the supercharger's advantage in racing. Consequently, after the 1940s, superchargers virtually disappeared from the automotive scene."

From
Here:
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/0510sc-principles

 

Yep. The old 71s (371, 471, 671, 871) GM Roots air pumps were designed to blow exhaust out of the cylinder with fresh air before the down-stroking piston shoved diesel and air in the cylinder in industrial 2-stroke engines. Not very sexy but once they migrated to sit on top of hemi engines, the rest is history.
The pump was designed by Francis and Philander Roots of Indiana in the 1850s to pump water, but soon it was recognized they pump gasses very efficiently too. The 71 stands for the displacement of one cylinder, all the engines in the series have the same bore and stroke. Thus a 671 was designed for a 6x71= 426cuin engine and is best suited for the typical V8 engine.

 

thanks for bringing this back up