Is anyone knowledgable about the origins of the "MP" stamped on my Thickstun PM-7? I have found the same stamp on one other random PM-7 that has no relation to my knowledge with previous owner of mine. I have asked several people and been told that guys used to stamp their initials on their parts. But the stamp on mine and the stamp on the one other I found are identical and it would be a significant coincidence that these 2 intakes were owned by the same guy with "MP" for initials. I had another guy tell me that he has seen "MP" stamped on many, but so far I have only found two with this stamp. Some did have other initials, but not "MP". I searched google pics and found no Matches either. So After some research I have come up with the theory that possibly it was done by thickstun and stood for "Marine Parts" or Marine Production" since they made Marine Parts for boat engines as well. I don't know, but that is my current theory, can anyone shed some light on this for me? Any assistance will be much appreciated! Thanks!
Alchemy, no problem everything is for sale, it can be your parts. Chris you used "Them", How many do you have? I'm looking for an early pre-war if you know of any.
Hard to believe there isn't more information on Thickstun stuff out there.....sad but true. Perhaps it's a foundry identifier ??
In Tommy Thickstons early career he worked with Vic Edelbrock Sr. They sold and installed Thickstons equipment until 1939 when Edelbrock designed his own manifolds. Edelbrocks new design featured matched port runners which Thickston disagreed would improve performance. By 1945 when he came out with the PM-7 manifold he also cast them as a matched port design. Could not find any proof but possibly it stands for matched port. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I used to be a big fan of Thickstun stuff.Thickstun produced2/2 tall intakes with matching finned alum teardrop air cleaner.Thickstun used to race boats(hydroplanes) and had trouble with water getting on the plugs so he designed finned alum head covers that made a flathead look like a hemi along with heads with "bosses" cast in them to accept the head covers.I have probably owned 3-4 Thickstuns and 3 Tattecrsfield intakes until I read the HotRod mag shootouts about 18 months ago that took about 4-6 intakes on a mule motor to evaluate them.The THICKSTUN being the coolest looking was 18 hp less than the Edelbrock slingshot.18 hp is a great loss on a motor that generally produces less than 150 hp so I sold all my stock and will never buy another one.
Flatheadjohn47, thanks for the info, I read all that same stuff prior ever purchasing a Thickstun, however I did not purchase his intake for the plus or minus 14 horsepower, even though for the time period when it came on the scene it was the best, case in point, Vic Edlerbrock, as you know, did set the speed record at Bonneville in 1941 utilizing a Thickstun, I believe from what I have read Tommy Thickstun and Vic Edlebrock's differences following that performance did lead to Vic's design and production of the edlebrock slingshot that you and the article speak of. With that said, no one today, in 2014 runs a Thickstun and/or a slingshot, and for that matter a flathead motor even, for plus or minus 14 horsepower, but rather to pay homage and respect to what and who, (Tommy and Vic) who got us where we are today, if it was strictly about horsepower, we would all be driving street rods, running perimeter frames/chassis, and Chevy Small Blocks vs. flatheads, original stock bodies and frames. Just my 2 cents
Correction: 3 weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Vic was clocked at the speed of 121.42 mph in his '32 at Rosamond Dry Lake
What I have always been told is that the "MP" stands for Matched Port. Tommy was an engineer who merged his talent with Ernest Tattersfield's company "Electric & Carburetor Engineering Co.". Tommy's company became the Thickstun Manifold Division and he was the head engineer.
I'm with you and love flatheads for what they are and what they represent. Not to sound like a know it all, I think your incorrect about Vic. According to the Edelbrock book (pg. 71), Vic set the time of 121.42 @ Muroc on 09/28/41 using his Slingshot manifold. From what I recall reading, this is what caused the riff between Tommy and Vic when Vic proved that Tommy's manifold design had some design flaws. That said, I have a fully polished PM-7, air cleaner, and head covers that will be going on my Dad's '32 Tudor.
I don't think there was any particular riff between the two guys. Vic Sr. had been working on a design for a manifold for a long time so he made suggestions to Tommy and Tommy basically just didn't think a change was enough of an improvement to warrant making a new manifold. If Vic Sr. couldn't get someone to make one like he wanted, the only recourse was to make his own. The other problem was that Tommy was working for Ernest by then and couldn't just up & change things without permission from the boss. After the war, when Tommy came back from work at North American Aviation, he changed his manifold to the PM-7 which put it back into a competitive product slot. Of course, most folks are generally aware that Tommy wasn't around long enough to make any further changes.
Are you guys sure it was a sling shot and not an edelbrock "regular" , as I understood Vic wanted to round the ports and tommy thickstun wouldn't listen to him.. Pm-7 is post war , squared runner thickstun is pre-war, tattersfield has a lot more in common with the pm-7 than the early thickstun, I was told that tattersfield is post pm-7
I have a short pm-7 and it has mp stamped on it. Any of yall have a tall pm-7 you would trade for a short and some boot? Or outright sell? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Is your short PM-7 actually marked Pm-7? The reason I ask is at one time, I had two Thickstun manifolds for sale in the classifieds. The short one was only marked Thickstun and the tall one was marked Thickstun PM-7. A lot of people commented that the short one was a cut down PM-7. Both had square runners but the short one's were shaped differently from the tall one. I did a lot of research and finally found a website called The Flat Spot which had pictures of different manifolds listed by the people who invented them. My cutdown PM-7 turned out to be a PM-6 which is more rare than the PM-7 and was used by Tommy Thickstun and Frank Barron when they were designing and building a supercharger. There is a picture of the two of them with their project. Interestingly enough, after I re-posted my ad with the new information I had, a fellow HAMBer saw the ad and bought the PM-6 because he had the actual supercharger that was in the picture.
The Jalopy Journal
