Hey RM,
I too started at the same time you did, also with
a stove bolt in a town full of flatheads. I
eventually became president of our hot rod club -
only one other stovebolt ever showed up. Through
all those early years, I never beat a flathead
beyond first gear with my chev. I guess I envied
them and that's why I got into flat motors at
this stage in my life. They had such a neat sound
- - although my old Chev blasting through a
home-made split exhaust manifold with a pair of
Smithys and two 2" cast iron sewer pipes (my dad
was a contractor) had a very unique song of it's
own.
Dick J
--- Finishline Coatings
<lona@finishlinecoatings.com> wrote:
> Well Doug, I went back over my e-mail several
> times to see what I had
> said that warranted the put-down from you. I
> expected to get the kind
> of answers that I did from Mike in LA and Dick
> J., but not a put-down.
> Sorry if I offended you, I won't let it happen
> again as I learned a long
> time ago that if I'm going to be offensive to
> someone and be frustrated
> in the process, that it's best that I don't
> become involved with
> them...so I'll be gone.
> But let me share with you a couple of things
> before I go.
> Fifty years ago when I got my first car in
> 1951, it was a 48 chev, 6
> cyl. I have had a love affair with sixes ever
> since. I lived in a town
> that had 10 flat motor powered hot rods for
> every six cyl. Even the
> local
> car club was dominated by flat head powered
> cars. The name of the club
> was the "Head Hunters"! The club plaque was in
> the shape of a finned
> Ford flathead. Needless to say, I took a lot
> of ribbing being the only
> 6 cyl. guy in town, far from the fastest but
> definitely the loudest!
> (With split manifold and straight pipes) Well,
> to this day that good
> natured rivalry still exists. The guys I run
> with still tease me about
> having only 3/4 of a v-8 and I tease them right
> back about it taking
> them 8 pistons to do the job of 6 and all the
> other clichés that go
> along with racing. Since 1964, I've followed
> the flat motors and sixes
> at B-ville. Having friends that were running on
> the salt since sixty, I
> finally started building my car in 1967. It's
> been a long journey,
> every single piece of this car I built with my
> own two hands-except for
> the front wheels,tires, engine block & head and
> 3rd member and some
> other parts-like the fire bottles, etc. This
> doesn't make the car any
> better than yours, or anyone else's. It's what
> I chose to do. I even
> ran it on the drag strip for several years
> before getting it done enough
> to run on the salt. Finally made it to B-ville
> in 9/98. First pass at
> 116 mph. Four passes later, we managed to go
> 125. I was in heaven!! The
> times didn't really matter. After 32 years of
> working on the car, I
> finally got there. That same year, I got to go
> to El Mirage in
> November. Three runs later, we got it up to
> 138 mph. Finally felt like
> I was learning how to make the injection work.
> Got to go to Muroc last
> year and got it to 150 for 4 passes. Went to
> B-ville last year and the
> best was 138. Then I managed to make it run
> slower every pass!!..that's
> life. But if you re-read my e-mail, you will
> find that this is what I
> said... "It does not matter how fast I go, it's
> about having fun with
> people that enjoy the same thing that I enjoy."
> Last year, my son, Cedric, drove the car and
> this year my daughter wants
> to drive and try to get Ced's record. The neat
> thing to me is that my
> kids are getting to enjoy this too.
> Maybe you just didn't understand what I was
> saying. I don't know..but it
> won't happen again cause I'm gone.
> I wish you the best of luck in your racing,
> Doug, and to all those going
> to Muroc - drive safely but have fun and go
> fast.
> RM
=====
.............................
..........Dick J.............
......(In East Texas)........
..........# 729..............
........Roadsters............
.Hemis and Flatheads Forever.
.............................
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