Folks Of Interest REED Cams Decatur Avondale Georgia

Just thinking if there is anyone here that has had REED Cams experiences they would like to share. I will start with the short version and if there is interest I will share more. I lived in the same neighborhood as John Reeds sister and was able to get a job there. This was 1974 or maybe 1975. I ground cams and did shipping at first and eventually worked in the machine shop. I remember working late one night running the dyno with a Bobby Allison engine on it when we heard a very loud bang on the door. Opened it up and found a man in his bathrobe and slippers that was mad because he could not sleep. Eventually the Police were called but the man was informed that we were in an industrial building and that the law stated we could continue. By the way John Reed was friends with all the Police and this guy was a race fan.
I worked with some great people there and still think of all the great experiences

 

I had a Mercruiser 470 cam reground when they were still by P'tree DeKalb airport.

 

Excellent camshafts. Excellent tech. Excellent service.

 

Do you guys remember Jimmy Wilson?
he worked there too,way back .
Nascar and indy car guy.

 

I have one in my 355 ci stock car engine that I built 20 years ago. I still run it once in awhile. It's a damn good cam.

 

I do not remember him. When did he work there? My time was on New Street before the Peachtree Dekalb airport days

 

John died when his WWII trainer plane hit the ground. He was an avid airplane builder and pilot. When I was working there he bought a NOS radial engine that I had the pleasure of removing from the olive drab crate. It was something to see. I believe this was the engine in the plane he crashed but not sure.

 

We ran Reed Cams in Pro Com in the 70's. JC

 

I remember that New St. in front of his shop looked like the starting line at the strip with all the tire marks...LOL

 

I sold cam cores to John back in the early 80's and had occasion to go to the SEMA show banquet with John, his wife Linda, and Charlie his sales guy. We had a great time and Willie Nelson was the entertainment after the awards presentation.

I still have bunch of BBC roller stuff he did for me. John was a great guy.

Charlie

 

I literally called all over the world trying to find a company that could grind a 4/4 firing order roller for my BBC supermod engine. Tried Reed, a shot in the dark as they didnt sell "cams", they sold lobes on a stick...

They were the greatest people to deal with. I remember a nice older woman that handled the phone, and she handed me off directly to a fine southern gentleman who was the head of engineering. He know exactly what I was talking about! I got exactly what I needed, exactly when it was promised. Cam wasn't cheap, but I wasn't expecting it to be.

I'm guessing they are now out of business?

 

I ran a Reed cam in my first dirt stock car, handed in down to a friend when I moved up to late model. It was a hell of good solid lifter cam.

 

Charlie Chops Guessin if you were from Muskegon back then you also did biz with Wolverine Gear I worked for them in 60s and made quite a few trips to pick up lifters. Don't remember where our cam blanks came from but know most were ground at Camshaft Machine in Jackson,

 

Years ago Waddel Wilson wrote an excellent book on building race engines and John Reed wrote the section on cam selection and in talked in depth about ramp speeds, center lines, and a number of other very interesting things about cams.

I still have the book to this day.

Excellent reading for anyone interested in cam design and looking for a better understanding of cams.

Jimbo

 

I bought 4 camshafts a few years ago when I was racing, still have 3 in running engines. Best camshaft purchase(s) ever. The last one that they made for me the guy on the phone called me back and told me he wanted to do something different than what he previously told me he designed. I was pleased with the results. IIRC; his name was Dennis. Great service. What ever happened to the company? <O</O

 

Ran a couple in my VW offroad racer back in the 70-80s. Great performance.

 

If you had a circle track car in the Alabama / Tennessee/ Georgia area you had a reed cam. Birmingham international/ Huntsville and Nashville Tenn on Asphalt. He used several dirt teams from atlanta and the macon Ga area for dirt devolment. These were all his test beds.

 

My Dad used Reed cams exclusively. We had a shelf full of them at one time. After John died we had Comp copy a few of them that we still use in our dirt racers to this day.

The cam designs for oval track stuff is legendary.... I have one of his short track (Martinsville) roller cams in my 358 Hot Rod engine right now.

Glad to see this thread dedicated to a really smart guy.

 

Back in the eighties I had a friend who decided to take his 67 Camaro back to completely stock. He had tricked out his 327 with a custom grind cam setup from Reed. He sold it to me for next to nothing. I loved that cam as it had the bet sound and performance of any other cam I have had before or since.

RGG

 

I had Dennis work up a profile for me several years ago for a super light long rod combo for a limited sprint car engine. A kick ass camshaft..sure miss those guys at reed...was a quality deal from the get-go...

 

i've got a friend, john lee that worked there also, i had a 65 chevell in the 80's that me and a friend raced at the athens ga, speedway , john reed cut us a cam just for our motor and the 3/8 mile dirt track. 355 iron double hump heads 2 bolt main . ran it for 3 years. my partner kept the car after we quit racing, about 3 years ago i decided to buy a 31 sedan and build a street/drag car, called my friend and to bs some and he said i still got our old motor, it's in my car now and still sounds great, we lost the cam card so i dont know the specs but im going to drag race it some this year......

 

Had Reed do a solid lifter "blower grind" cam a few years ago for the 261 motor in my avatar. I think it was Dennis I talked with...great guy and I got a great cam. Was very pleased with the way it ran.

Is Reed no longer in business? I was going to hit them up on my next motor, a 389 Pontiac blower cam.

 

Dayna,,,,,
was bill hughes aka "swing belly" there when you were?
got to know him when he was doing heads for petty and such later on. he used to talk about when he was at reeds also ron thaker aka "krome cranks" we were all neighbors.

 

when i was involved in racing in the 70s- 80s several of the motors had Reed cams in them. i believe one those cams was handed down to me and ended up in a 301 chevy

 

John Reed moved to Mallard Landing in Locust grove, a fly in neighborhood. Plane crash on 7/2/97. After takeoff, a witness observed a puff of black smoke coming from the engine. Shortly thereafter, the airplane nosed down and descended rapidly. During the on-site examination of the engine, it was observed that the #6 cylinder head was separated from the engine. Metallurgical testing on the cylinder head revealed that the fracture was indicative of high temperature separation or overstress.

 

always wondered wht happened

 

Yes I Bill was there then. He could fall asleep at a red light but wake back up and drive off. I did not know where he went to later on though .

 

I had not heard that part of the story. Thanks for the info

 

I ran Reed Cams in the 70's in my big block and I sold my FED to a guy that worked at Reed in the 70's Don't remember his name.But a couple years ago had Reed grind me a cam for my flathead since they are in Henry Co.Would like to know what happen to the dragster

 

Back in the 60's and 70's I ran dirt ovals around the GA/AL area on a limited basis, and mostly in limited late model sportsman. Started out with a cheap Chet Herbert grind cam and later used the Z28 'optional' 140 cam.
Roscoe Smith, a local racer who also had a speed shop business finally talked me into installing a cam from John Reed. Did it during the week in mid season.
First time out with Reed cam was 3/8 mile banked track @ Douglasville GA. The limiteds and top class late models warmed up and hot lapped at the same time after the track was ironed out by everybody in all classes. We always cruised around till everyone was out on the track and had a couple laps warm up, then the green flag flew. The hot dogs in top class wouldn't hesitate to playfully tap, or push you if you got in their way during these hot laps, just reminding you to let them by. Didn't happen too often to the fastest of us in limited though, cause our tires were better suited to the still wet track.
That night I was on the backstretch when the green came out and I dove into 3rd turn and worked the throttle till I got around to come off 4th turn and punched it like always.
The car hooked up on the track and pushed me back in the seat so hard that I thought one of the hot dogs wanted by and was giving me a push! A look in the mirror revealed no one close behind! The engine was just that much stronger! And all I had done was change the cam.
Another friend of mine has always said his cams were rough on valve train parts, but I never had any trouble with that setup. Ran it for the rest of the time I raced till other factors forced me to quit racing.