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Greetings 405 listener!
The 405 airs over KMMR Radio Station. At 5 Minutes past 4 PM each M-F week day of the year. Here on the website we strive to have it posted within a few hours afterwards.
Your neighbor and website maintainer,
D.J. Rasmussen
Thanks for stopping by and listening to the shows.
I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys new week, the weather's warm enough. Get you a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottled water. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $5.49 a bushel, but it won't do you much good, because the elevator is still froze up. 550lb steer calf $4.15 Butcher hog in Iowa, 63¢ a pound. And a 100lb fat lamb in Billing $2.20 on the top end, but guys theres more, much more.
OK Solberg:Now listen to my story about a man named Jedd He really was a genius in his head. He took a Ford flathead and he sure did make a thing. Turned that old V8 motor into something that would sing. Gold that is filled with oil an engines for the masses.
OK Solberg:Now welcome to Jay and Joe's Motor Monday. Today, we look at horsepower one Monday at a time. Today, not a day. we'll highlight a flathead Ford V8 engine. And more precisely, the flathead V8 inside a 1953 Ford Wait. You can also talk about the 1953 Ford Crestline Sunliner convertible. In fact, it was that year, 1953, that the Indianapolis 500 choose that car, as the pace car.
OK Solberg:Okay, this car wath a flathead V8 was an iconic American engine that was in production. Listen, guys, from 1932 all the way up to 1953, and this Indy pace card crowned its final US production year for the banner moment in motorsport history. Now, you might say, why is the Flathead so special? Think about it.
OK Solberg:From 1932 all the way to 1953, do you remember your history class in high school? That's a long time and a lot of things happened in 1932. Guys, we were still under prohibition. It was during the Great Depression where everyone was poor. Almost everyone.
OK Solberg:Now it got set aside during World War II, but got right back into production in 1946. It was the first large engine available to the masses. Old Henry Ford, he may have had some not so great characteristics, but I'll tell you this. He wanted everyone. He wanted everyone to be able to afford an automobile.
OK Solberg:So I made them price realistic. So count the years. Twenty two years, the Flathead was in production in a car that you could buy down at your local dealership. Have you ever seen people who love cars? Well, there were so many that they ended up in junkyards across America.
OK Solberg:And the weekend mechanic, well, he could rob a part or buy a part and get their car running. I love it. Hands on. Make it work. So that last year, the year 1953, the engine had been refined and refined.
OK Solberg:Police and moonshiners alike trusted it. Hot Rodders hunted those engines and guys that didn't quit suddenly. It warned you. Listen. Hey, Joey.
OK Solberg:You got a rod knocking. I know, says Jill. I heard it myself. I'll overhaul it this weekend. But the night is young.
OK Solberg:Don't worry. We'll take her easy, and I still get it home at closing time. Besides, I go over to Herbie's junkyard and do the work without spending much money. You have to know that the Ford Flathead V8 trained a generation of mechanics and hotroder's before it was retired. Now, I could do a whole episode on this interesting tidbit.
OK Solberg:Did you know did you know that in 1938, a man named Edelbrock built an aluminum intake manifold for the Ford Flathead V8. Did you know that? Have you heard the name Edelbrock? Well, you see, Edelbrock's design flowed air better and reduced weight.
OK Solberg:So in 1941, when Edelbrock won a big race at Dry Lake, the razors come around and they wanted his intake manifold. This man named Edelbrock began making parts at night after work, orders spread by word-of-mouth. Bottom line, Edelbrock didn't invent the aftermarket through the Ford V8 Flathead. He proved it worked. He proved it worked.
OK Solberg:So mark one up for Edelbrock. If you wouldn't have if it wouldn't have been for the flathead, we couldn't go online today to order an Edelbrock carburetor or an intake manifold or an Edelbrock performance RPM series fuel pump or on and on and on it goes. So today, we tip our hats to the Ford Flathead V8. You have done your work well, girl. You have done your work well.
OK Solberg:Yeah. I don't know if anyone out there is fond of the Flathead, but I took a shot in the dark.
OK Solberg:Here's a bible verse that honors honest labor, which is exactly what mechanics and hot rodders did with the Flathead. Listen. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in shield. Ecclesiastes 9:10
OK Solberg:Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. Until next time, as you go out there, remember now. Don't be bitter.