The Ford Barn

rotorwrench · 06-27-2016, 01:01 PM

Even the price of the SoCal/SF Flathead/French blocks are over $2K now but they had to add in the cost of the changes they made to them. They have been for sale on flea-pay for some time now so it's not exactly like they're selling like hot cakes. I think the 4-inch cranks & rods sold fairly well but the blocks, more slowly. I'm sure they will eventually get them all sold though. After that, a new block might get more attention than it does now. By then, the price will likely be higher still.

The photo of the internal cores gives a good idea of the complexity but the shell core is missing from the photo. I'm sure it was the first one that went into the box and formed the outer shell of the block. It may also have been more than one piece but most folks will get the idea anyway. I wish FoMoCo had included some of these casting procedures in there films of engine manufacture. It would be real interesting to watch them wire all that stuff in there. Ford probably wouldn't have wanted anyone to see that stuff since it was proprietary information. At least not until the engines were superseded but by then, no one would have cared one way or the other.

weemark · 06-27-2016, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Even the price of the SoCal/SF Flathead/French blocks are over $2K now but they had to add in the cost of the changes they made to them. They have been for sale on flea-pay for some time now so it's not exactly like they're selling like hot cakes. I think the 4-inch cranks & rods sold fairly well but the blocks, more slowly. I'm sure they will eventually get them all sold though. After that, a new block might get more attention than it does now. By then, the price will likely be higher still.

I think there are several reasons people don't buy those French blocks.

1. They are a bit of a strange mix and match of different internal parts and people tend to shy away from them because of that.

2. They bought those blocks cheap and have added a lot of mark up to them - it wasn't that long ago when you could buy them in the crate from source and they were only a few $100 absolutely complete, I can't believe what they sell the block and the parts for - they are making an absolute killing on them.

V8COOPMAN · 06-27-2016, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weemark

I think there are several reasons people don't buy those French blocks.

They bought those blocks cheap and have added a lot of mark up to them - it wasn't that long ago when you could buy them in the crate from source and they were only a few $100 absolutely complete, I can't believe what they sell the block and the parts for - they are making an absolute killing on them.

"A few $100, absolutely complete", eh? Where do some of you folks get your first-hand info from? My wife bought one of the very originals...bare block in a crate from Richard LeJeurrne himself at Halibrand....as a surprise Christmas gift for me just after Richard imported the whole lot, sixteen or so years ago now. It was $1,500 for a bare block. Complete 3-3/4" crankshaft engines were $2,300-ish. NONE of these things have ever been offered by a commercial peddler for a few hundred bucks COMPLETE! DD

weemark · 06-27-2016, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

"A few $100, absolutely complete", eh? Where do some of you folks get your first-hand info from? My wife bought one of the very originals...bare block in a crate from Richard LeJeurrne himself at Halibrand....as a surprise Christmas gift for me just after Richard imported the whole lot, sixteen or so years ago now. It was $1,500 for a bare block. Complete 3-3/4" crankshaft engines were $2,300-ish. NONE of these things have ever been offered by a commercial peddler for a few hundred bucks COMPLETE! DD

My information is first hand, we were buying them in the uk many many years ago, I know someone who was paying less than £50 for a complete engine maybe 35 years ago racing them in bangers - they would blow them up, throw them away and start again they were so cheap, there was literally 100s of them kicking about. I've seen trailers full of them and seen them sitting in their original crates stacked up on top of each other complete and they were only a few 100 dollars, I've seen them sent to Sweden and and all over Europe - a lot of them directly from France. Chap over her called Wally Wheatley of Nordian used to sell them for years in his old sheds - he used to go round buying all the old ford parts and sell them on.

Here is a post about them in 2008 where I said exactly the same thing http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...theads.265378/

06-27-2016, 01:01 PM	#1
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 17,405	Re: New block, a further discussion Even the price of the SoCal/SF Flathead/French blocks are over $2K now but they had to add in the cost of the changes they made to them. They have been for sale on flea-pay for some time now so it's not exactly like they're selling like hot cakes. I think the 4-inch cranks & rods sold fairly well but the blocks, more slowly. I'm sure they will eventually get them all sold though. After that, a new block might get more attention than it does now. By then, the price will likely be higher still. The photo of the internal cores gives a good idea of the complexity but the shell core is missing from the photo. I'm sure it was the first one that went into the box and formed the outer shell of the block. It may also have been more than one piece but most folks will get the idea anyway. I wish FoMoCo had included some of these casting procedures in there films of engine manufacture. It would be real interesting to watch them wire all that stuff in there. Ford probably wouldn't have wanted anyone to see that stuff since it was proprietary information. At least not until the engines were superseded but by then, no one would have cared one way or the other. Last edited by rotorwrench; 06-27-2016 at 01:18 PM.