It was coool but it made me ill.....

[Skoontz]

Tuna:

Great story! My brother in law ran a 50's midget powered by a model 60 Ford V-8 and I watched him run against 89 cubic inch V-4 OMC motors at Illiana Speedway. They would run away from the pack until they hit lap traffic, or the field came under yellow, and they just could not accelerate as fast as the four strokers.

As far as Lyons goes, one of the greats, like Oswego went by the wayside. Another great track falls victim to NIBMBY's who knew damn wel that track was their before they bought their house, owned their beemer or got their first boob job.....

You would have enjoyed this.... Last year out in Fallbrook, the two guys who owned Dragmaster opened their shop for a car show. Many photos of their chassis. Since Don Prudohme lived about a miles from our house at the time, he appeared, his shop is just over in Vista. Along with the cars were a few select vintage race boats from that golden age. The boats were getting more looks than the cars it seemed

[Tuneafish]

Who built the car? My dad was the foreman at Kurtis for a number of years. He then went on to open his own "repair shop" only to have customers demand that he build them NEW cars with his new ideas. If your 'bil' had a driver operated weight jacker for the front axle, he can thank my dad.

[Skoontz]

Who built the car?

It was a Kurtis frame. 60 cubic inch Ford flat head V-8 out of a '32 B Ford roadster. Later they ran Sesco (sp) Chevies, which are still fairly competitive today.

[Roy Hodges]

Who built the car?

It was a Kurtis frame. 60 cubic inch Ford flat head V-8 out of a '32 B Ford roadster. Later they ran Sesco (sp) Chevies, which are still fairly competitive today.

Sorry, but it would have been a V-8 - 60 with 134 cubic inches (when stock)
( 60 horse power )

[Skoontz]

Got my numbers invewrted AGAIN! 60 HP, 134 cubes, right??? Funny engines those flatties. I saw a 327 cubic inch 350 HP flatty in a '49 Merc truck at cruise night. Only 300 of them ever built. That from a 134 cuber...Pretty crazy!

[Tuneafish]

That's funny, I always thought there were "V8 60's", 60 degree V block, and the larger "V8 90's" like the "big Merc 239" 90 degree motor. The "V8 90's" became the "Y block motors" (OHV) in 1954/55.

[Skoontz]

Ok Tuna, maybe I'm off here, but if the numbers you mention correspond to the degree of the Vee, then how would a model 85, model 100 and 120 fit in? We were at Cruise Night last night in Escondido, usually over 3000 cars every Friday. The Ford truck club was there, and among them were, a 60 in a '32 Ford pick up. Then jump a few years, a guy had a '39 Ford standard, that's the grille kind of oval with slats running horizontaly, that truck had a midel 85 in it. Then, the same guy had a '39 Ford Super Deluxe truck and the grille began looking like that famous '40 Grille, except, the slats ran horizonatally, and, it had a model 90 in it. Go to a '40 Super Deluxe, and it had a model 100 flatty. Jump to a '49 Merc pick up, it had a model 120, 327 factory cubes, 350 factory HP, 8 Stromberg 97's on a hand cast manifold, all factory....

I'm confuzzeled!

In 1944, Ed Iskanderian hand built and designed his own overhead valved heads for a flat head Ford V-8, which he sold as a hop up kit through Hot Rod magazine. Later, Ford bought rights to that kit or subcontracted him and that first group of overhead Ford Y blocks were actually converted flatty's. By '55, Chevy made the ever so popular 265 with it's rochester 4 barrel and dualies, and Ford had to make a real overhead to keep up. Chryselr had been making the Hemi since 1951, even though it was on Horace Dodges drafting table in 1935.

You can see Ed's creation at the Peterson museum in Pomona, and if you are at the races, it's free. There's some vry cool stuff there, including a couple very early blown SK boats.

[Pop990]

I raced a 40 ford coupe stock car when I was in high school, 1951. The first flathead ford came out in 1932. It was 21 stud (headbolt) and was 85 horse (3 1/16 bore-3 3/8 stroke) til 1946 when it became 100 horse with 3 3/16 bore. It stayed a flathead til 1954 when Ford made their first lame OHV motor. The hemi head conversions for the flathead were designed and built by Zora Arkus Duntov who later designed the small block Chevy and helped design the Corvette. The V/8 60 looked just like the others only was little bitty, I could pick one up. The only ones I ever saw in cars were in Bell Telephone 39 Ford coupes. They had a 4.44-1 rear end which we all wanted for stock cars. Bill Curtis

[Skoontz]

Bill:

Did you run up against the Hudson Hornets or were they in a different class? Dad had a friend who ran one. They had to get the car approved by the track officials and had no money, so they stole a swing set out of someones back yard and made a roll bar then padded it until they could afford a real one!

[Pop990]

I raced them in '57 with my '56 Ford at Missippi Valley State Fair in Davenport, Iowa, but my Dad's Dodge D-500 beat everybody back then. I lived in Illinois but a guy by the name of Bobby Christy from Grant's Pass, Or. came back there and really ran good with a Hornet. Those Hudson's ran amazing for a flathead 6.