Hi Folks this is my first serious post on the board. So here we go. In my younger days I was a serious motorcycle street racer. I had a garage full of race and other cool parts . I worked my way all the way up, to being the crew chief on a pro stock motorcycle team. But those days are gone. Lately I have fallen in love with Flathead Fords. I am looking for The GUY in the louisville Ky area. The man with all the parts and Know how on flatheads. Tell me about The Guy in your town . Weather Ford, Chevy, Buick, Olds, etc..... It can be present day or years ago.... "Ignorance can be cured by Ambition and Knowledge But Stupid is FOREVER....."
Being in California I can't recommend anyone but tell us more about the crew chief days - Who was the rider etc?
In Birmingham Alabama it would be Malcomb Cannon, he has a couple of real nice 40 Fords running flatheads, he is also famous for his tranmission building skills.
I used to live in Prairie Grove, Arkansas and George from George's body shop was the guy. He had a couple of old Model As restored that were pretty nice. Matter of fact, he's still there. I live in Lowell now and the guy or I should say guys is Williams car lot. They have been here forever and have quite a few old cars.
The one I knew in the San Jose CA area was Rod Furtado who sadly left us a few years back. He had an awesome shop and knew his stuff. I became a friend just before he passed. Then there was Flat Head Jack who retired… So I don't know who's the guy in norther CA anymore… And I'd like to.
I know of him I know he's the "Model A guy" but I didn't know he was also the "flat head guy" too! But thanks for that!
Round these parts is Ron Clark. He's got a hard on for vintage stock cars, but can talk Ford Flatheads all day long and has all kinds of parts and pieces. It never ceases to amaze me what he comes up with. People just give him these things too. He brought in 6 the other day for free and had every one of them in running condition in a week.
This is a long time ago (68-70). A kid I went to Jr high with told me his dad raced a flathead rail at Wichita International Raceway. At first I thought big deal, a flathead. I asked what it ran. He told me in the 10's! Pretty fast. That always made an impression on me. I worked with his dad at the Wichita airport years later. This is from a 35 year reunion at WIR This unrestored, straight from the '60s flathead dragster was raced by Ralph Brown, Sr. in the "good old days." Ralph Brown, Jr. and his son Chris brought it out of retirement for the day. <CENTER></CENTER> Since this is a real '60s car, it has no starter and, despite towing it up and down and all around, it just wouldn't fire this time. We tend to forget how easy it is to hover over a cranking engine with squirt bottle of gas, tweaking this and priming that. <CENTER></CENTER> <CENTER>[SIZE=+1]Back[/SIZE] </CENTER> <CENTER> </CENTER>
In Toledo, Ohio, in the 1940s-1950s, it had to be Lee "Pappy" Allen, who'd welded every possible accessory onto every possible chassis, along with every conceivable engine swapped into another car. His was the smallest, dirtiest shop you could find in north Toledo, where he'd come muttering out of a pile of random parts in the back to ask what you wanted taken out of what and transplanted into what. By nightfall, it'd be done. It was where I saw my first Kurtis 500 pull up, and where the owner shared a milk bottle full of "shine" while Pappy built my 1/4-inch scatter shield for my Hemi-powered 1940 Ford. Today, everything I just mentioned would be illegal and all three of us would be doing hard time for disturbing the political correctness. Thank God I grew up back in the 1950s .
Thanks for all the post so far .To answer the Question about the bike racing . We were privateers Back when bikes did not have fairings and airboxes. The big names were Terry Vance,Sid Pouge,Bob Carpenter. Superbike Mike Kyete, Dave Schultz was running a Two stroke. George Bryce and star racing were just gettin into the mix.Locally It was Us and the M&M boys Steve Miles and Mark Macintosh.That was a long time ago..But the times were Great . Ps I still want to hear from you all about The Guy....... Later Geezer....
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