Quincy's 90 ci King Looper Beast
Did you know that Quincy Welding actually made three 90 ci king Looper Beasts?
There may still be one of these 90 ci King Looper Beasts out there somewhere, possibly in Illinois or Missouri. Many people are searching for it but it has not surfaced as far as I know.
Believe it or not, the motor was used on a mini pulling tractor. I never saw it run on that tractor, but the noise it made supposedly drew more crowds than a funny car at the tractor pulls. Of the three 90 ci engines total -- 1 was on the tractor, 1 was at Mercury in Wisconsin and 1 was always at the shop being rebuilt as a core engine.
One thing I do remember distinctly, my junior high school was 2 miles from the river on Maine street and one spring day in 1966, I literally heard it screeching on the river all the way from my school. It was so funny because none of the other kids could figure out what the heck that noise was, except me.
Dad had it on a 14 foot wood pleasure boat. My dad told me he, Frank Volker, Earl Hull and my brother, John, were in the boat and at 70 mph they had to be careful because when he opened the throttle fully too fast, it had so much torque it tried to barrel roll the boat (that's with 4 people on board).
A wealthy local hotel owner in Quincy had a California V8 drag boat that he thought was the hottest thing on the river, and dad blew him off so bad that the guy tried to ram dad's boat later out of frustration.
Those were the days......
Pictures of the Beast to follow.
thanks,
Paul A. Christner
