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Technical Gran Cor heads advise

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by chopped30, Apr 22, 2021.

  1. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    I have been helping a very good friend...94 years young downsize to move to assisted living. This is the same fellow I bought my glass lens business from. I consider him one of the original Hot rodders. He had a 1932 Ford with Ardun head conversion. I have 3 pistons for that conversion. Also these (pictures) Granatelli corporation heads. I will get better pictures if anyone is interested. They have been hanging on his garage wall for over 40 years..
    I have done some research but I really do not know alot at flatheads. Any help would be appreciated..
    Thanks
    Jon
     

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  2. Bird man
    Joined: Dec 28, 2009
    Posts: 894

    Bird man
    Member
    from Milwaukee

    Those heads are bad arse!
     
  3. Fordors
    Joined: Sep 22, 2016
    Posts: 5,372

    Fordors
    Member

    Post pictures of the other side so we can see the water passages. The water neck areas look pretty rough.
     
    Nicholas Coe likes this.
  4. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    I will post some better pictures this weekend. I think they are neat and may just hang them on the wall. They look decent and I am sure if they are desirable anything that may be wrong could be repaired. Like I said they have been on a garage wall for over 40 years and technology in repair has changed alot since then. Or just neat as hell on the wall.
     
    chryslerfan55 and Nicholas Coe like this.

  5. xlr8
    Joined: Jun 26, 2006
    Posts: 700

    xlr8
    Member
    from Idaho

    They have to be worth $$$$, just as art even if not to actually be used. The name alone would seem to make them valuable.
     
  6. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,404

    alchemy
    Member

    Made by Andy Granatelli, and rather sought after. I have a really nice pair of them to fit the 59A style, and I wouldn't sell mine for $2,000. The late model style are just as sought after. The real judge of the value is how nice they are on the underside. We need some nice close pics of the backs. Also look them over in the plug holes for stripped threads or inserts.

    Is your friend Dick Blaine?
     
  7. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    My friend is Lloyd "Mac" McWilliams. He are his wife Mary Ellen owned M&M glass. They had vintage original headlight and tail light molds for glass lenses and supplied many dealers and individuals at swap meets up and down the east coast and shipped to the west. They were part of the group of original vendors of Carlisle and were always at Hershy. They were also very active in the Auburn, Dusenberg and Cord Club. They had the tooling for the old glass shift knobs, Ford and Chevy lenses and the original glass blue dots. They sold the Ford, Chevy and shift knob tooling years ago to some well know parts suppliers. They pretty much retired until I talked him into starting making lenses again with the tooling they had left, Auburn, early Plymouth and Dodge stuff along with original Harley and Indian tooling and many more. I took over the business about 3 years ago and I have most of the lenses I offer are listed in a different post here on the HAMB. I also still produce the real deal dots in blue, amber and red.
    Sorry this post is not a plug for me. These two are a wonderful older couple with stories that are great to hear and someday those stories will be lost. I met Speedy Bill Smith once at a show and mentioned the McWilliams and he started laughing and said "Sit down here and let me tell you some stories" These people are the real deal and they and started what we enjoy today... There will be alot of history lost when they are gone.
     
  8. catdad49
    Joined: Sep 25, 2005
    Posts: 6,397

    catdad49
    Member

    Maybe you could “interview” them, many of Us would Love to hear their recollections. Just a thought, Carp.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2021
  9. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    I do have there stories but I felt bad about rambling on in my last post.. I ask a couple questions then wrote a book as answers. Sorry about that
     
  10. belair
    Joined: Jul 10, 2006
    Posts: 9,013

    belair
    Member

    Life is not made up of car parts. It's made up of stories, stories ABOUT car parts. Tell us more stories.
     
  11. harpo1313
    Joined: Jan 4, 2008
    Posts: 2,584

    harpo1313
    Member
    from wareham,ma

    What he said.
     
    alanp561 and kidcampbell71 like this.
  12. As many stories and knowledge that can be saved from these older folks is a benefit to many and helps to keep the torch alive.
     
    alanp561 likes this.
  13. Yea, the older I get, the more I have come to understand that what I love most about this whole car deal is the people I have met and the stories that have been told along the way. Very cool heads, by the way. :cool:
     
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  14. Gearhead Graphics
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 3,890

    Gearhead Graphics
    Member
    from Denver Co

    I've got an intake that would love to have those on both sides of it
     
  15. mickeyc
    Joined: Jul 8, 2008
    Posts: 1,363

    mickeyc
    Member

    If you can find a copy of Andy Granatelli's autobiography titled "They call
    me Mister 500" you can learn much about the brothers early enterprises
    including the development of these heads. I had a copy but it fell apart from
    age and use. It was a paperback and at least 40 years old.
     
  16. My father bought a pair of those heads for his '49 Ford from the Granatelli's. He saved the receipt.

    Grancor jpeg file.jpg
     
  17. That’s COOL!
     
  18. noboD
    Joined: Jan 29, 2004
    Posts: 8,456

    noboD
    Member

    Didn't they also cast heads in bronze?
     
  19. I believe you may be thinking of Federal Mogul....

    photo2.jpg

     
  20. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    You guys are really helping me out. I appreciate it. I will not get to my shop until tomorrow and I will take some better pictures. Thanks for your help!
     
    chryslerfan55 and loudbang like this.
  21. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,404

    alchemy
    Member

    I usta have a Grancor intake for the late flathead with an odd carb combo. It was a three carb intake, the outer two with three mounting bolts for Stromberg style carbs, and the center with four mounting bolts for the '49 Merc style carb. Nobody else ever made them like this.
     
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  22. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Tom McCahill did an article on the Granatelli speed shop called How To Hop Up Your Car in the February 1950 Mechanix Illustrated magazine. He took his 49 Ford to Grancor and had them soup up the motor in stages, describing each stage, what they did, why they did it that way and what the result was. In the end they had a Ford that would do 112MPH and 0 - 60 in 10 seconds vs 15.9 in stock form. I can't find the article online but you might be able to buy the magazine online.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2021
  23. Stan Back
    Joined: Mar 9, 2007
    Posts: 2,178

    Stan Back
    Member
    from California

    Mr. 500?

    When I saw him in '82 on the salt wearing an "aluminized" fire suit, it look like 500 was a fair estimate.

    His class competitors saw the lens covers on his Camaro and doubted their "stockness". I had them on my street car, too. We got them from GM using a Saudi Arabian ID number.
     
  24. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Around 1959 my family moved into a house on Olympus Beach on Bainbridge Island. In the hall
    cubby hole of a closet there was about five years of Mechanics Illustrated from the early 50's including the issue that had Tom McCahill's trip to Granatelli's garage where they installed their speed equipment on a new Ford. I carefully read all of those magazines a number of times while we lived in the house.
     
  25. Dak Rat
    Joined: Mar 8, 2006
    Posts: 547

    Dak Rat
    Member
    from NoDak

    The prices on that invoice look dirt cheap today but that was some serious cash in 1950!
     
  26. J. A. Miller
    Joined: Dec 30, 2010
    Posts: 2,057

    J. A. Miller
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Central NY

    The story about the rocket car they built would be worth the trouble of finding this book!!
     
  27. tubman
    Joined: May 16, 2007
    Posts: 6,913

    tubman
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Aha! I think that explains the line for a "1CM" carburetor on the invoice.:cool: ("1CM" is the prefix for '51 Mercury.)
     
  28. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    Well I cleaned the heads up. Some of the water ports have issues and probably the reason they were hung on the wall well over 40 years ago. I do not know if they are desirable enough for someone to have the fixed to use or hand on my wall. I may take the to Goodguys Columbus or Fall Carlisle. I would not feel right selling them unless someone actually looking at them. Thanks for all your help. I will post some more ab 20210424_113511.jpg 20210424_113511.jpg 20210424_112935.jpg 20210424_112930.jpg 20210424_112907.jpg 20210424_112854.jpg 20210424_112848.jpg 20210424_112842.jpg 20210424_112831.jpg 20210424_112825.jpg 20210424_112935.jpg 20210424_112935.jpg 20210424_112935.jpg 20210424_112842.jpg out the McWilliams when I put some info together
     
  29. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    Couple more
     
    chryslerfan55 and loudbang like this.
  30. chopped30
    Joined: Mar 1, 2007
    Posts: 258

    chopped30
    Member
    from ohio

    Picts. Not all of then are bad? 20210424_112919.jpg


    20210424_112854.jpg
     

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