Hot Rods Fastest V8-60 ?

Hey all. I'm sitting here killing time by surfing CL ads. Found a 1937 Ford V8-60 hood ornament for sale. I got to wondering what was the fastest a car with this little engine went ? Prolly a Tanker on the lakes. Any idea ?????????????????????????

 

I think that Alex X had one in a streamliner, but I've been wrong before.
Pete

 

The V8-60 was anemic at best, I remember a local guy building a T bucket with a 60 hp V8 and he had purchased a nice set of heads and it still wouldn't get out of it's own way. HRP

 

Certainly not the one someone put in the OT '50 MGTD I had before I got drafted.

 

My avatar had a V8 60 in it and was a dog up to about 2500 rpm's and had no torque. They were popular in midgets and crackerbox racing boats but were wrapped tight in both of those. I think there were several that ran at the lakes and probably ran good on the long straight runs.

 

He ran a little over 145mph at Bonneville with a V8-60 in his lakester before putting in a bigger engine.

 

Yeah so they're slow... They still look neat. And are different.

 

My great grandfather had a 37 V8-60 as a young teen and always said that it would never blow your hat off your head when you held it wide open.

 

Had a V60 in my 3/4 scale 32 roadster. It would run about 80 in 4th gear, but die like a slug when I went into 5th gear. Wasn't stock. Traded it for a 4 cyl. chevy with pg.

 

My 29 Tudor, built in the 50's, has a V8 60. Totally gutless, smooth as silk, and I've never had to cleanbugs off windshield. Priceless.

 

In midgets they were real Offy stompers in the late 50's.

 

When i was 15 ...a long long time ago, my cousin had an A 2dr sedan with a"built 60" in it. Seemed fairly
quick till 3rd gear where it might hit 75 or 80 mph. I used to tell guys the A had a Hemi in it and they wouldn't even try to race. Cousin said someone will cal your bluf, and i'll have to kick your a--.........he sold it & got a 40 2 dr......

 

Kenny Foster (Master Upholsterer) from the Sacramento area, ran a V-8 60 in a Dragster, cool little car !

 

Have heard of stupid high rpms with 180 cranks in midgets.

 

No more than 118 mph if you throw one off a cliff.

 

They look pretty quick to me-

 

Here we go again.

Is that why there were commonly separate V8-60 heats, races or organizations?

 

Yes, there were most places because like most racing, the average guy couldn't afford to put enough money into an engine to beat the Offy's. Not too many could even afford a Kurtis chassis. Very few Ford powered midgets were owned by people that could afford to compete at the USAC level. There were only about 3 or 4 real Offy stompers in the 50's and they did not run the full schedule. On the west coast, Vic Edelbrock had one and we had one.

 

7600 twice a lap with a 90 degree billet crank.

 

Thank you for answering the OP's question, some real ignorant posts in this thread. The V8-60 displaces 135 cubic inches, or about 3 cylinders of a 350 SBC if you want to compare performance equally, though it's a flathead of decades older design. Mine, which I drive regularly, in a corresponding light 1,600 lb. truck with traditional upgrades, tuning and gearing, is anything but slow. It won't match the 454 in my Corvette of course, but then I know better.

 

Alex Xydias Streamliner 152.82 mph in May 1950.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-1301-the-first-200-mph-hot-rod-so-cal-streamliner/
Edit: 156.39 mph. not 152.82 mph.

 

and a fast little car, Kenny is a kool dude! he went 113 low 11's and was cooking 8100 through the traps, not bad for a the first Small Block

 

Bert McNeese in Denver, and Palmer Crowell in Gordon Reeley's car in the Northwest, along with Johnny Baldwin, from the Bay Area. All would run with the Offys from time to time.

 

We built the engine and maintained Gordon Reeley's car.

 

Wasn't it a 180 degree crank ?

 

No, actually it had the crank from the old 22 car engine. A billet.

 

When Dad and I were running with the WRA, we put on vintage "exhibition" shows all over California. On 1/4 mile, or less tracks, the QC gear we used was a 6.40:1. Considering gear, tire size, and lap times, our 60's were turning 7000 to 7500 RPM at the end of the straits. They may have only 3 main bearings, but the bottom end of a 60 is pretty stout. The rods look like they came out of an SBC. A sharp 60 with a Clay Smith M3 cam, 10:1 forged pistons, good heads and a Clay Smith port job, can give an Offy all it wants on a slick dirt track. I realized 60's were fast when I got to turn 3 at ASCOT running WFO!!

 

We ran 6.40's on most 1/4 mile pavement tracks. 404jr radius lifer cam, 14:1 compression.
I often wonder what we could have done with 13 inch wheels and 12 wide rubber.
I used to get to warm the car up and hot lap it. That was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.

 

My memory may be completely wrong but I seem to remember Pete & Jake (one or the other) running a little yellow dragster w/a V8 60 in it at a Nostalgia Drag event at Tulsa Int'l. It appeared to be very well built but about 2/3rd the size of a top fuel car. Seems like it would turn the 1/4 in the mid 14s.
I have probably tangled several facts into one memory but I clearly remember the car

 

Amen brother!