J. C. Whitney Catalog 1980 thru 1985

[Marshall V. Daut]

Ah, memories, memories! The first Model A parts my father and I ever ordered for the new addition to the family in 1966 came from J.C. Whitney: two 19" tires and tubes. A friend had loaned me a copy of the Whitney catalog to browse through during high school study hour (O.K.! So I wasn't the most dedicated student in the school!) earlier that year. I came across those Model A pages and became entranced. The seed had already been planted when I had seen my friend's older brother's 1929 Model A Tudor in pieces. But until I saw that so many parts were available, only then did I decide I HAD to get a Model A of my own. That catalog sure was a source of dreams for me for a long, long time. Too bad most of the parts were cr*p and wouldn't fit or function properly. Newcomers to the hobby in the past 25 years have no idea what a dearth of parts houses and information there was at that time. Boy, did THAT ever change since the mid-1980's - for the better!
Anyway, to the poster's question. The high performance camshaft was advertised as a "3/4 grind" in the J. C. Whitney and Warscharski catalogs (same company). I remember this all these years later because I never understood what "3/4 grind" meant. It didn't matter, though. Until a year or two later, I couldn't have even told you where the camshaft was located!
By the way, I ended up ordering one of those high compression heads in 1968. It appears on one of the catalog page thumbnails in the original poster's message. I never could keep a head gasket, but while one held, that poor old 1931 Coupe sure flew! My father reamed me a new one when he found out that I spent so much money on a car part. We never did see eye to eye on antique cars after that.
Marshall