60 Year Old Flathead Hot Rodding Letter

[corn boy]

Thanks for sharing the letter. Takes you back, even though I'm too young to have ever been there.

[19Fordy]

Originally Posted by Fe26

That is a nice letter.

A 3/8 x 3/8 (killer) flathead for $300.00. Oh Man! Now where did I put that time machine.

Here's my 1963 Almquist reciept for complete 3/3 x 3/8 flathead stroker kit made by Crankshaft Co. Check out the price.

[OldDad]

Here's a pair of 1966 water pumps to go with that 1963 stroker kit from Almquist. We picked these up when BOTH pumps gave it up on a trip in the '40 when I was six years old. Found the receipt in the glove box:



Goes along with this 1959 receipt from another disastrous road trip, when the fan blew through the radiator. Towing, salvage yard radiator and labor for $21.00 plus tax!

[OldDad]

And, to beat an old horse, here's an article from March of 1955, promoting the engine balancing service at Tim's Precision Engines. Note the ad for "Blair's Auto Parts" on the lower left (Midas, anyone?), and the article about the upcoming 6th running of the Pebble Beach road race at the top left. A short mention of the little car show they were throwing out on the lawn there, too!



Here's another one from the same time frame. Old man told me he basically wrote these articles himself -- a little free advertising for the business. The white coat made it all official, I guess!



And finally, here's a couple shots of my uncle Dick in 1955, to whom the letter was addressed. He had a friend who worked at the jail in Eureka CA, who made these two shots possible. Hope I haven't bored you all too much with all this!

[dude]

Really enjoyed the posting. First thought was to frame that letter.

[Fordors]

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Bored us? It was a refreshing thread-no bickering, back-biting, or complaints about a lousy vendor. What's not to like? I especially got a kick out of the Uncle Dick deal, and like dude said I'd frame that stuff for sure.

[jim galli]

LOL. I understood all the flathead lingo perfect. But...what does keep a stiff up'er...mean...exactly?

[Pete]

[QUOTE=OldDad;507094]And, to beat an old horse, here's an article from March of 1955, promoting the engine balancing service at Tim's Precision Engines. Note the ad for "Blair's Auto Parts" on the lower left (Midas, anyone?), and the article about the upcoming 6th running of the Pebble Beach road race at the top left. A short mention of the little car show they were throwing out on the lawn there, too!



They may have called it a Merrill balancer but it was made by Stewart Warner....
We bought one in January of 1955 and immediatly started modifying it.
As they came, the bed was not long enough to handle big diesel truck and tractor cranks..A simple fabricated extension fixed that.
We balanced most of the blower impellers for the unlimited hydro's and
the amplifier was not sensitive enough for that job so we added a preamplifier that increased the sensitivity by 10 times. That was done with vacuum tubes in those days. Frankenstien technology by today's standards.

[RobC]

Originally Posted by jim galli

LOL. I understood all the flathead lingo perfect. But...what does keep a stiff up'er...mean...exactly?

Keep a stiff upper lip is the full quote. The simple explanation is to remain firm, don't show emotion. Supposedly the first sign of fear or emotion is the tremblingof your upper lip or so the story goes.

Great letter and receipts guys, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Rob

[farmer]

"looked like a cat-o-nine tails" lol