Flatheads In The Park

I would like to focus your attention on the engine that started it all; the Ford V8, a.k.a. the flathead.

October 11, 2009 was the annual Throttlers Car Club car show at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank. It’s the best local show and that attracts the best in traditional hot rodding from surrounding neighborhoods. A smallish show… under two hundred cars. But what it lacks in size it makes up in nostalgia.

Above, two great looking V8s from members of the Burbank Choppers car club. A lot of effort has to be spent keeping polished aluminum engine parts bright.

This one is in Vern Hammond’s ’34 chopped coupe, also a member of the Choppers. His car has got to be one of the more famous of the traditional cars of today. The 4x2 Sharp brand intake means business. And those Evans heads were one of the better performing heads of the day.

Here’s a pre ’39 V8-60, 21-stud engine with a Thickstun intake. It was in front of a 26/27 Model T roadster body on a 1932 frame, with a chopped ‘28/29 Model A grill. A daring combination, and worth some attention. He’s got all the right parts for a correct vintage rod.

This looks like a ’49-53 8BA engine with 59A type cylinder heads. I like the Mallory distributor. This was in a channeled ’28 A-bone with a truck grill. It would look better with an old radiator cap and vintage looking ignition wires.

Here is a great looking 21-stud engine with polished stock heads, likely a 1937 or ’38. Evans triple intake manifold, Stromberg 97s, and a Spalding magneto. I don’t mean to be picky, but the radiator overflow is totally out of place.

The engine on the left has a Edmunds intake with stands that elevate the Holley 94 carbs, and Eddie Meyer heads. The engine on the right has Edmunds heads combined with the Edmunds intake with 97 carbs, as wells as a Fil-Cool-Ator oil filter unit on the firewall.