Hi to all I ended up with a nice set of Von Esser heads a while back and am interested to know a bit about them. Did he/they only make heads,were they any good,any idea what compression they should be etc etc. I'm sticking them on a 51 Merc flathead Thanks in advance Neil
DjNeil - Bill Von Esser was from the Chicago Illinois area and he sold both early and late style Ford flathead intakes and heads. I believe he operated an early speed shop in the Chicago area. The Von Esser intakes and heads that he sold were based on the Fenton patterns and were cast in California by Al Sharp. Al Sharp acquired all the Fenton patterns and left over Fenton speed parts at Aaron Fenton's bankruptcy auction. Al Sharp used the Fenton patterns to manufacture many different brands and names of Ford flathead heads and intakes such as Jet, Douglas, Ralph's Muffler Shop, Tom Cherry, and Von Esser. Remember times were tough when there parts were being cast and there was a lot of competition from other flathead speed equipment manufacturers and Al Sharp was just trying to make a buck where ever he could and he was trying to get his newly started casting business off and running. You didn't mention if your Von Esser heads are early or the later style but since you are installing them on a 1951 Merc engine then we will assume the heads you have are the later style. The compression ratio could range from 7:5 to 1 to 8 to 1. I would certainly put these heads on your engine as they should work quite well. I have even seen one set of later style Von Esser heads that were cast iron instead of aluminum.
For info on all things Von Esser, you need to get in touch with Showrod here on the HAMB. He is a club brother, the owner of the Von Esser Von-T, and a wealth of knowledge about the history of the hot rod / custom car scene in the Chicagoland area.
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