Flathead V8 Tapestries
Description: The Ardun OHV conversion for the venerable Ford flathead was designed by Zora Arkus-Duntov and his brother Yuri as the “Ardun Engine Company of New York” in the late forties. By then the “old flatty” had become the engine of choice for the burgeoning hot rod craze and dry lake racers recognized the potential to extract some additional power from their flatheads. In 1951 a group of hot rodders took their black deuce to Bonneville setting a C/Street Roadster record of 162.61 Mph and the unofficial title of noisiest car on the salt. Later that year, an engine dyno test recorded 303 Hp @ 5250 rpm with 25% fuel which were big numbers for the day.
Description: Back in the mid '40s, racers and hot rodders Red Wilson and Tony Capana joined forces to start a speed shop in Los Angeles. They called it WILCAP – the first three letters of their last names – and before too long, their shop was well known by gear heads in So Cal and beyond thanks to their innovative products and extensive mail order catalog. In addition to distributing a wide array of speed parts, WILCAP was probably best known for their machining their own line of custom flywheels, transmission adapters, and engine hardware. Eventually, WILCAP was also the place to get nitromethane and alcohol fuels. They made their own custom blends and sold them by the gallon and by the barrel, making getting out to the track that much easier.
Description: Speed-O-Motive got their start manufacturing custom pistons for flathead racing engines, but eventually began distributing speed parts and offering high-performance engine rebuild kits for pretty much every V8 application out there. If you couldn't swing by their Los Angeles area shop, you could mail order your parts, even complete engines after they begin offering turn key balanced and blueprinted crate racing engines. These crate strokers all ran Speed-O-Motive racing pistons, and the rest of the build leveraged top shelf goodies from other manufacturers.
Description: Robert Paxton McCulloch formed McCulloch Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the city in which his grandfather made millions as an early pioneer of electric utilities and manufacturer of electric trolleys. McCulloch hired on a number of engineers at the firm, including Francis L. Colburn, who designed a simple, easy-to-install centrifugal supercharger. McCulloch began offering the superchargers as kits for Ford’s flathead V-8 engine, advertising them to truck owners as well as racers and owners of every day street-driven cars. The crankshaft-driven supercharger had a fixed 6:1 ratio and was seated horizontally between the carburetor and intake manifold. McCulloch first offered the kit in 1937 and by 1942, his sales topped $3 million.
Description: Johnny's Speed & Chrome got their start in Buena Park, California as a traditional speed shop selling all kinds of go fast parts and dress up goodies for street racing enthusiasts. From hot rods to muscle cars, Johnny's had it all, including used parts, some of which were still warm when placed on the shelf. Towards the late '70s and throughout the '80s, they changed their focus to air cooled imports and dune buggies, giving Johnny's Speed & Chrome it's second wind. While the quality of their chrome earned them the nickname 'Johnny's Flake & Peel' locally, Johnny's was a southern California institution that still holds a special place in the hearts of many old school enthusiasts.
Description: Based in the town of Norphlet in Union County, Arkansas, Macmillan Oil Company began producing their Ring Free line of motor oils in 1923. The company was highly successful in promoting their products through sponsorships of motorsports ranging from flat track motorcycle racing and powerboats, to air racing and grand prix events, leveraging them to make their 'race proven' claims. Ring Free products continued to be popular throughout the '60s and '70s, but in as more high-tech formulas from new companies arrived in the '80s, Macmillan Oil Company's fortunes began to wane, and by the end of the decade, they had ceased operations.
Description: E. E. Lohn. Co., or EELCO, was founded in 1956 in Inglewood, California and started out specializing in hardware for hot rods and dry lake racers. They eventually had a whole line of speed parts, but many remember them for their fuel tanks and fuel delivery hardware among other things.
Description: While he had been making hot rod parts for several years prior, Bill Von Esser opened his speed shop at 3307 West Irving Park Road in Chicago back in 1947. He expanded his reach beyond the local scene through ads in national hot rod magazines that had people sending away for his first catalog in 1948. While he stocked go fast goodies from many manufacturers, his house machined parts were without question his biggest sellers. From high-performance heads for your flatty to custom Offy throttle bodies, Von Esser's parts were highly desirable, something that has only increased decades later.
