where Lou Meyer won.
The wins were a signal of what was to come as the V-8 picked up speed and became the darling of the hot rodders. Ford V-8s found themselves hopped and swapped into every conceivable style of race vehicle, from P-38 “drop” tanks to “cracker box” racing boats, and from the dry lakes of California to the beach at Daytona. There, in December 1947, “Big Bill” France organized a meeting to discuss the problems facing stock car racing. At that meeting the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was born. A scant two months later, on February 15, 1948, “Red” Byron won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race on Daytona Beach in his Modified division flathead V-8–powered Ford Coupe. Byron went on to win the Strictly Stock race the following year, but in an Oldsmobile. The flathead had had its day in the sun.
You can’t stand in the way of technology, and the flathead is definitely old school, but it remains the touchstone of the hot rod fraternity, and for that we are all truly thankful.
Some of the most prized cars in my collection are powered by vintage flathead Fords. When driving those cars, I swear I can feel the ghosts of all those old racers, hot rodders, and maybe even a bank robber or two looking right over my shoulder. The true spirit of man’s search for speed still lives in the rumble of a flathead Ford V-8, and nobody understands that spirit better than the guys at H&H.
(Photo Courtesy Ray Evernham)
Born in England, Tony Thacker grew up loving automobiles. Heck, in 1950s England, there was not much else to love. It was gray skies, gray cars, and gray faces. However, somebody on his paper route subscribed Hot Rod magazine, and Tony was exposed to red and yellow cars and the clear blue skies of California.
It took a long time to get there, but eventually, as an accredited automotive journalist, author, and book publisher, he made the move to the Golden State to work for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), the trade association for the automotive performance industry. There, as editor of SEMA News, he learned the secret of networking and met everybody from George H. W. Bush to bearded ZZ Top front man, Billy F Gibbons.
After eight years and several positions at SEMA, Tony realized a dream to launch his own auto book publishing company. However, when he had nine books under his belt, a call from legendary racer Alex Xydias caused him to shelve the books and become marketing director at the famed SO-CAL Speed Shop.
At SO-CAL, Tony was instrumental in launching the company’s influential clothing line as well as numerous other products. Meanwhile, he and partner Jimmy Shine rebuilt a 1929 Model A Ford to go 200 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats, where they set a record at 206.454 mph.
A call from General Motors initiated SO-CAL’s return to the Bonneville Salt Flats almost 60 years after the company had set numerous land speed records there. Over a period of six years General Motors and SO-CAL set even more land speed records.
Thacker’s recognition in the hot rod field initiated a call from Wally Parks, founder of the National Hot Rod Association, and an offer to run the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. Within three years, Tony and his small team were able to turn the ailing not-for-profit into a viable and active international destination.
As exciting as that task was, Tony received an offer in 2012 that he couldn’t refuse: to move to Portland, Oregon, to help plan and build a new educational motorsports museum. The World of Speed opened April 24, 2015. The experiential edutainment venue uses the excitement of motorsports to educate young people about career possibilities in the auto and motorsports industries.
After successfully opening the World of Speed, Tony retired and moved back to Los Angeles. Even in retirement, however, he is as busy as ever, consulting for a number of clients and back in front of a computer working on his first love, book projects.
Around 2000, Mike Herman started at H&H Flatheads, where Tony Thacker really admired his drive, energy, and marketing savvy, as he always worked hard to get the H&H name to the forefront. Mike’s grandfather Max Herman Sr. and his father, Max Herman Jr. founded the company. They started in their current location in 1972 rebuilding T, A, B, and V-8 flathead engines, and their reputation continues worldwide. Since Mike took over the V-8 flathead side of the business in 2002, he has built and shipped more than 1,200 engines, more or less two every week.
Even in the early days, Mike was quick to see the potential, and as industry founders such as Barney Navarro, Al Sharp, and Ken Austin retired from active business, he purchased their assets and diligently put their innovative products back into production. In most cases, when he could, he used the original pattern makers and the original foundries. And although his degree is in management and marketing, he knows every job in the shop, from sweeping the floor to management and machining the blocks, his work ethic and techniques instilled by his knowledgeable father.
I’m not sure when Mike Herman and I became acquainted, but it seems as if it was in the early 2000s, when I was marketing director at SO-CAL Speed Shop and he was just starting out at H&H Flatheads.
We had intended to collaborate on this book some years ago, but circumstances dictated otherwise. However, the planet gears recently aligned, and we were able to work together to make it happen. It wasn’t easy.
Although I had written books about the 1932 Ford, originally in 1982 and then a revised edition to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Deuce in 2007, they were primarily a historical reflection and to some extent a socioeconomic history of the 1932 V-8 and its impact on society. I didn’t get too much into bearing sizes.
Flathead Ford V-8 rebuilding: piece of cake, I thought. However, I quickly realized that while the flathead is a simple enough engine, its idiosyncrasies, changes, and development are in fact quite complicated.
Henry Ford’s stubbornness resulted in the first V-8 being less than its potential. The water pumps literally sucked. The engine overheated and used oil, but nevertheless it had potential. Over the ensuing years, Ford engineers, with and without Henry’s permission, tweaked the eight until it was great and in so doing gave the enthusiast the world’s first affordable performance V-8, much as Ford’s Model T had given the farmer the means of liberating himself from the land.
Over the years, numerous books have addressed the flathead, its restoration, tuning, and even supercharging, but none has covered it all; the subject is just too big. Likewise, we had to compromise and concentrate on the most popular engine: the 1949–1953 8BA.
Why the 8BA? Well, it was the culmination of the flathead’s development. Ford had done as much as it could to refine the concept, but the overheads were coming as technology moved on. Only overseas did development continue. Consequently, the 8BA is as good as a flathead gets. Plenty of these are available, as are parts and speed equipment. It’s a great hot rod engine.
