Crazy blower setup last night at a Cruise. Possible HAMBer?

Went to the first cruise of the season last night. This thing was there. Owner of the car was wearing the same Jalopy Drags shirt I was, and we exchanged banter. Check this thing out though.

 

cool stuff. those air cleaners look like coffee cans.

 

Almost sure it said "Latham Axial Supercharger" on it, but I was kinda tired by the time it was time for the show.

 

That is mighty damned cool right there.

 

Looks like it was designed to be ugly, and he did a fantastic job. Thumbing your nose at beauty is a life statement

Jethro Bodine would be proud

 

Yes, that is indeed a Latham...

 

Sorry... Wish I could say I liked it.

Blown Hemi
Open pipes
Pre WWII tin.

It's got all the right parts, but that car just dont do it for me.

 

Looks like a little Lycoming sitting on a hemi. Sorry...lots of ingenuity there.

 

Next time you see it, see if you can find out more about the carburetors.

 

Lathems used Carter YF side draft carburators same as '54 Corvets and turbocharged Corvairs, I believe. They are normaly a very clean looking installation. This guy in his quest to look "Traditional" put rusty cans on his for air cleaners and otherwise gooked up what should be a nice car.

 

I LIKE IT !!!!!
if it aint broke then don't fix it, looks good the way it is..

 

Thats Insane!! i love the coffee can looking filters, the aged look really fits prefect.

 

I saw this car at the Glen Burnie, Maryland JalopyRama this past fall. Very interesting setup!

 

A first I thought they were coffee cans, but I don't think they are. They were too "smooth" and had those chrome lips you can see, not really jagged edges. I remember seeing a setup like this on some old commercial lawnmowers my neighbor used to have. Maybe they are actually from some kind of commercial/industrial engine?

 

HAHHAAH! Looks like he was right about us....oh shit.

Bitchin ride man. Rough around the edges, but cool.

 

And those coffee cans look like shit! He had a decent idea, then went and subscribed to OSR for a month or two.

 

Why didn't you just ask him if he was on the hamb?

 

Interesting!!!

 

to each his own I guess, wish it was mine, I'd change some things, but who am I to comment, his is running and going to shows, mines still sitting in my shop patiently.
kudos for him, if your not standing on the edge, your taking up to much room.

 

Those are Coffee Cans. I shot that car last year for Blacktop Graffiti but never got around to getting it published. When I shot it the cans were crispy clean, I guess they've corroded a bit over the last year. I talked to the owner for about 30 minutes after I shot the car. It's an auto, so his wife could drive it, and he had the dumps open leaving the shoot and man oh man, what a sound.

oh, and the edge of the cans is just that cheap plastic trim you can buy at Pepboys that you'd line your door jamb with.

 

Yes it is a Latham axial supercharger. Large, ugly, old, and not much performance,. But that should surely make it HAMB approved.

 

"Large, ugly, old, and not much performance" Hey you just described me!

 

That was my first thought!! Interesting and good looking the Lathams are, but ultimately not much good.
The 'soup' cans just..................er...................well................

 

How sad some ricer is going with out tail pipes...........

 

Lathams were neat blowers, built like a turbine engine; stator/rotor;stator/rotor etc....very quiet in operation and were popular for awhile because of the low profile.

 

'Car was at Rumblers show in Brooklyn last August - cool.

 

That's only the fourth Latham I've ever actually seen on a RUNNING car. I'll forgive everything else just for that.

 

There does seem to be about 4 on eBay for every 1 you see running. It would be interesting to see some dyno results. They do look awfully cool and I only missed out on your 435 Lincoln Latham by about 100 bucks (assuming the other guy stopped of course). Of course it probably would have sat on a shelf for years before I got around to putting on our boat.

 

i think mazdaslam or sdfs10 had some pics of that car from last years goodguys show.

 

Yes they are coffee can and that is a Lathems Charger. He is a good friend of mine. The car started out as a bunch of 27 Chrysler body parts laying on his garage floor.

He drives that car all over. He built it to drive. He drives it in the rain and I believe even in the snow once. So far The car survive one Deer about a mile from is house. Yes he was in Maryland with it.

He also has a Flathead ford setting in his garage with a Lathems charger on it.

I know if you can find him at the car he will tell you anything you want to know about. The hard part is finding him there. He likes to walk around and look at other cars.