Thread: Ardun Heads
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Old 12-03-2017, 10:25 PM   #13
Bored&Stroked
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Default Re: Ardun Heads

To the best of my knowledge, Ford didn't contract to build the Ardun and had nothing to do with it's design or production. The same is true of Chrysler and their Hemi that followed.

Plenty of folks seem to believe that the Ardun was the first Hemi design - therefore Chrysler must have copied it. This is very far from the truth - as a hemispherical chamber design goes back many decades before the Ardun heads were designed. In the end, the Ardun heads were a case of too little, too late . . . all the major US manufacturers were already heavily involved in their own OHV V8 designs, with Cadillac and Olds being the first to the table.

Also, the Ardun heads were an aftermarket product from day #1 - so the chances of any of the Big 3 manufacturers picking up a product like this (regardless of capability) - was pretty much slim and none. Detroit was not waiting around for the Ardun to be built - they were heavily under way with their own designs by the time the Ardun was designed and manufactured (at least on the GM and Chrysler side of the business).
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