Folks Of Interest Another great one gone, R.I.P. Doug Thorley

That was the coolest thing I had on my high school '57 Chevy was a set of Doug's headers. RIP sir.

 

Had heard of him over the years, and a couple years ago during my search for flathead parts, I came across a local hot rodder who was working amongst various things a 64 Polara with a 440, and newly installed 4sp. One of his joys was locating a set of Doug Thorley headers. What a wild thing I beheld. Large cutouts in the inner fenders were required to install them. Found a vid of his car on YT.

Seems Doug lived life enjoying what he loved, which is all we can ask. RIP.

 

We already have them. Cole Foster, Jimmy White. Brian Bass, Steve Szymanski etc... you can find them here and on Instagram.

 

Hello,

The loss will be another part of history of our drag racing/hot rod world. There are many different stories concerning Doug Thorley. As the years go by from the beginning and continued on into the drag racing world with race cars and such, different stories made up the era and styles. Those headers were just the beginning for many racers and street guys. If they could afford them.

We knew that if we put on a set of headers on any street legal hot rod or factory sedan, it would automatically move that hot rod into the gas coupe/sedan class or into the altered coupe/sedan classes. So, headers as much as they would improve the performance, were, for us, a no-no. once that hood was opened for inspection, it was definitely the first thing an tech-inspector did to justify what class he would mark on the windows.

When we got to the stage of a street legal 1940 Willys Coupe for the Gas Coupe/Sedan classes, headers were allowed. Only if they hooked up to the stock exhaust or an exhaust system with legal mufflers and pipes. At the time of the build in 1959-60, there were some header builders that were making names for themselves and were a part of setting records in those "allowed header" classes. We still could not afford the custom headers for our 283 to 292 SBC builds.

Jnaki

As late as 2017, I was walking around the newly constructed wing of the Price Transfer Automobilia Complex. It was the beginning of the original Lion’s Dragstrip Museum. Display cars were rolling in to the wing and the showcase designs were being put in place. Luckily, my old Lion’s Dragstrip films were given permission to run on a giant screen monitor displayed high on a prominent wall for all to see, when the museum was finished.

As I was walking around, I met a great old guy that worked in the restoration shop. He was taking a break and we walked around talking about old history and events in his early hot rod/drag racing era. He was one of the original fabricators in the early shops of Doug Thorley in Los Angeles.

He had done what he could in the various moves in that industry and worked for different companies including “Headers by Doug” and “Doug Thorley Headers.” If you bought a set of Headers by Doug or the move to Garden Grove for the Doug Thorley Headers, you may have purchased one made by this nice character, I had the pleasure of talking with, at the museum. His name was/is Mike Hamm.

It was a pleasure talking to him and my research into that portion of drag racing/hot rod world, from back in those early times, was absorbing as much as I could.

Thanks, Mike...

AN OLDER POST:

Hello,

In 2017, prior to the opening of the Price Transfer Automobilia, Lions Dragstrip Museum, I was able to wander around the whole complex visiting the awesome place. I met a wonderful gentleman, now, retired after working for Price Transfer in the restoration area. He worked at both of those places (Thorley and Jardine) when they were in So Cal. He told me a lot of stories about his early involvement in the header industry. Several weeks ago, I found out he is not well and is resting at home. Get well, M. Watch those old drag racing movies I sent you, that will get you going…

Custom measuring, cutting, welding and making all sorts of headers, equal length Tri-Y, etc. was the process. Originally, they went under the cars, but then the fender well headers became so popular and that took over the industry for years. He told me of the original shop (Headers by Doug) in LA and then the name change and so on, into the Orange County history before he left the company.

Jnaki

But, in researching this topic, here is the best explanation of the early Thorley/Jardine header story. HAMB's @hotroddon said it best:


“Actually here is the real scoop. The original company that Doug Thorley started was a muffler shop back in 1958 in East LA. In the early 60's Doug started to make headers and "Headers by Doug" stickers started showing up on winning drag cars. Doug and wife Betty sold the company and got divorced and new owner Micky called it Doug Thorley Headers. A number of years went by and Micky got sick and asked for help. Betty came back in to run things and Micky got worse. He ended up selling the company back to Betty, Doug and a third partner. Doug mainly did R&D and was an investor.

Eventually He and Betty had another falling out and she agreed to buy him out. Doug kind of stayed away at this time, occasionally coming around to help out with a little R&D and collect his payments. Betty then got sick and at this time Doug started doing custom headers again under the Doug's Headers name. During this time Doug Thorley Headers was mainly making truck and motor home headers, not muscle car or performance parts. Betty passed and Doug started making production headers again for the classic and muscle car markets.

After about another year, the surviving partner sold Doug Thorley Headers to Summit Industries (not the mail order guys) in Corona, Ca who previously had bought out Jerry Jardine of Jardine Headers. PerTronix, who had previously acquired Ermie Immerso Ind and Thunderbird Headers bought Doug's Headers and Doug worked to help keep the Doug's Headers line a top quality product. PerTronix sells and manufactures them as a premium line to compliment their Patriot Header line.

They are currently made in Rancho Dominguez (think north Long Beach) CA.
Doug was also famous for his drag cars - The Chevy II Much that is in the NHRA museum, the Funny Car Corvair that Joe Pisano ended up with, and the pair of rear/mid-engined Javelin's.”


THANKS @hotroddon...

 

R.I.P. Doug. Still have a set of Doug headers on my Comet GT.

 

R I P GOD bless the family

 

RIP DOUG. I never got to meet ya but loved your workmanship on your headers. I even built a set for my 57 Chev back in the 60s from a drawing I made off of a set of his. They somewhat looked like his until ya looked at the welds. But I sure liked them.