Very nice. Of course when you do use them it will have to be a high winding screamer just to fit the story.
I can't give away gifts for the life of me, I'm too sentimental. Plus,those are cool as heck and might be rareware. So, I'd hang them proudly on a wall so that others can enjoy them and someday, you'll find out the rest of the story.
That story is wrong. Those were made in 1961 by Ron Paul Miltenberger, a wannabe speed merchant in Florida. As you can imagine his stuff is very rare, not because it was slow, but because of the alloy he used. His day job was working for a private defense contractor, and he would occasionally carry home some scrap alloys in his lunchbox to use on his speed projects. He inadvertently mixed some uranium in with the aluminum. It's said that when the parts got up to operating temp they glowed.
I'm in the same boat as FLATHEADPETE, my 16 yo daughters initials are RPM. If I could find another pair of those, it would be the ultimate start of her new car........Mitch.
The story I've heard is those were cast for RuPaul Motors. He used to have a drag racing show. Or maybe I'm confused..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuPaul's_Drag_Race
Robert Patrick Moran. 'Pat' worked for my friend Bill, who owned RPM transmissions in Campbell (San Jose) CA. Pat was a wild story teller, one day claimed that Bill was merely a 'signee' on the building lease. He 'allowed' he was the owner, as his drivers license had his full name, synonymous with Pat's initials. He also laid claim to all tachometers ever produced, claiming he got a royalty check for every tach ever sold! (they all said "RPM") Pat is probably the caster of those covers.
I have actually seen those valvecovers before at swapmeets. Not sure of the maker just know that I have seen them and noticed them. Not many though.
Just be sure they're used with a 3/4 race cam, a distributor supercharger kit from J.C. Whitney, and a set of tri-Y headers (don't ask me "Y" about those), otherwise, they won't live up to the RPM name. Are they for the staggered bolt pattern heads? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I can honestly say I've never fondled a valve cover. But there was that time with the L79 air cleaner.
Ryan.....Think about a trade that we can do for those valve covers! I have three sons and named them Robert, Patrick, and Matthew. RPM.... would love to put them on my 55 210!
In my minds eye I could hear Mr. Norwell wryly saying "I secretly touched your special valve covers." in a"what you gonna do about that now?" tone.
Also... Those are super cool, and I would be glad to store them on a small block for you. Just until you need them of course.