Event Coverage Ardun heads/Flatheads sold at auction

Did anyone catch last weekend's VanderBrink auction in Michigan? One lot was 2 complete Flatheads, looked to be in a crate, and 2 sets of Ardun heads, $92,000! I guess I'll never own Ardun heads. Anyone there in person and fill in details for the rest of us?

 

Reproductions of v8-60 ardun heads

 

Really? Reproductions? I doubt it.

My little bro, who is an Ardun expert, said a single set of early production Ardun V8-60 heads went for something like $52K at the auction. Lots of other stuff was rather reasonable though. Still, all out of my price range.

 

Someone that has a flathead engine was willing to pay a lot of money to make it not a flathead!

 

Come on, most of us would love to have a Ardun powered flathead, they are a thing of beauty, but man are they expensive. HRP

 

Where's the @realdonaldtrump "WRONG!" GIF when you need it?

All three (!) of the V8-60 Arduns that were sold at this auction were OG. There are no reproductions available. This is why the V8-60 heads command 1% prices. They are extremely rare.

The big Ardun heads that were sold in another lot for $24k and change were reproductions. I suspect the high bidder may be disappointed when they discover this fact if they were not previously aware.

 

Check out the Ferguson's repro's, I think they sell through H&H, they are a thing of beauty.
I droll every time I am in their shop.

 

There had to be at least two people at that auction that didn't know that the $24,000 pair of Ardun reproduction heads were in fact reproductions. I looked at the pictures of those heads in the auction preview and I could tell right away that they were not originals. The V8 60 Ardun heads were indeed very much real.The buyer of those heads just threw $10.000 right out the window as anyone can get a pair of new Ardun heads from Don Ferguson for about $14,000. It really pays to do your research before you go yo these type of auctions. There was probably a hefty buyers premium on top of the hammer price as well.

 

Unfortunately I don't fall in the category of more money than brains but if I did I would pony up the cash, nothing screams old school hot rod like a Ardun powered car or truck. HRP

 

So those buyers beter not tell the missus . Otherwise they will have a real flathead .

 

One of the 'senior' rodders on our racing team (1955) bought a pair of Arduns, his machinist friend cast an intake for it, (4 X 2 Strombergs, in a row)
I recall the rocker arms being not 'installation friendly', misalignment in forgings was evident.
I also recall the used price, $400.00...but the condition was like new. (save for the rockers!)
We sort of stood there and worshipped it, can't recall the specifics of head installation, think he had that done ahead of time.
Don't remember him firing it, either. He ran at the drags, but had a flathead in the chopped & channeled '34.
He had passed in '64 or '65...no other info.

 

So, all of this leads me to what may be a stupid question
If the original Ardun heads are so rare and expensive why is it that no one has made reproductions of them ?

I'm talking reproductions that would be undistinguishable from the originals.
I know it has to be possible given that originals still exist.

 

That’s my question too. I mean something that is ‘reasonable ‘ in price, not the cost of an additional vehicle.
r


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

I would imagine they haven't been reproduced is because there isn't that great a market for V-8 60's as compared to the more common flatheads.

Mick

 

Someone who was at the auction, he laid hands on them and talked the the sellers told me they were brand new. Yes the v860

 

Maybe NOS? There's even a HAMBer who used to own a NOS set of V8-60 heads.

Blue One, are you talking about repro Arduns for 85"s or 60's? There are very nice repros for the 85's, but if a guy knows what he's looking at he can tell right away. The rest of the 99.99% of the population would never know.

If you are talking about repros of the 60's, it's probably because the undertaking would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to do, and they would sell ten sets. Not economically feasible.

 

Said in hand you could tell they were new castings using contemporary methods. Not NOS.

I’ll see if I can find the name of the place that made them

 

Tim, are you positive the guy was talking about the 60 heads and not the 85 heads? We've all agreed the 85's were repro. Oh well, it's all second hand info to me since I wasn't there to hold them in my hands. I'm done.

http://www.vanderbrinkauctions.com/lot-item/127tb/

http://www.vanderbrinkauctions.com/lot-item/127t/

 

I asked him specifically about the v8-60 heads.

I’m not trying to argue about it, I had the same reaction.

 

Cost, complexity, market demand. The V8-60 heads actually have more parts in them than the big heads due to the valve and rocker geometry. It's not cheap to tool-up to produce large, cored castings such as cylinder heads. It was able to be done for the big heads because Don Orosco had the desire/need and money to burn to get the ball rolling. Despite that, they're still expensive.

It'd certainly be possible to make reproductions that are indistinguishable from the originals. It'd take some "hands-on" work to the patterns to correct the castings' aesthetics, and some additional manual labor steps (and parts) to add the necessary features that are missing from the reproductions.

I would put money down that the V8-60s in this auction were not reproductions. NOS, perhaps, but not reproductions. IIRC, the listing for the single lot included some story about one of the heads being NOS.

Your friend is thinking of the big heads he saw, which are Orosco/Ferguson reproductions.

 

I never knew you guys were brothers, I know you both have been on here for a long time and Chickenridgerods has given me some good Ardun info in the past. Do you guys go to the Meltdown drags ( Glory Days now) or the HAMB drags? I’d love to meet you guys sometime.

 

Yes there is.

 

There is a 29RPU in this area with a V8 60 with Ardun heads. Have not seen it but the guy who has it is the real deal--others I know have seen it though. Another Dentist friend of mine has a friend in So Cal with an Ardun in a rail and another in a 39 coupe as well-both for regular flathead--neither have run for many years as I understand it.

 

even if I won the lottery of 500 million dollars I would not have $50,000.00 heads on a flathead. saw a cool model A touring with a SBC with "Ardun heads" on it. I bet that is much cheaper and much faster.

 

High priced or not, if I wanted a set of Ardoons I would want repos. I'm sure weak places were improved just like all the Chevy6 and GMC6 12 ports. I damn sure wouldn't want to race a set of originals unless you know they never had a load of nitro in them or raced hard..

 

I don’t know how you would confuse the v8-60 and the full size heads. They look totally different.

Maybe @Joshua Shaw will chime in. He is who had his hands on them and said the v8-60’s were new

 

Have always wanted a 40 with a set of Ardun heads. There are a couple of cars here that are running arduns and I assume they are the new ones-don't know but they seem to run quite well. A flathead with arduns would be pricey but I did a 40 for a guy with a 375 HP Rochester FI motor and that wasn't cheap. The unit fresh with the dist was $11.5K and the real 375HP 327 was expensive as well. Guessing that package was $28K plus when done. Maybe $35K for a streetable flathead with new ardun heads-just a guess though. I have a fresh 47 flathead here-mild cam etc This is out of my area of expertise though-327's no problem.

 

Maybe I could now get Ardun parts to replace the DeSoto parts . . .

 

AMEN

 

fuckin ugly