Just read the obit in the paper today, Bobby Meeks passed away Tuesday 8/8 in Sun City (Calif). He was 85. For everyone scratching their head, read the Edelbrock history book or go admire a hotrod flathead V-8, thats him.
Bummer to hear that! Bobby was with Vic Sr. since the late 30's. In fact he used to sweep the floor. Vic bought him his 1st car - A Model T that he had to put together himself. I'm sure that Jr. & the family feel a hell of a loss! That would be like losing Sr. all over again. Another long time Edelbrock employee lives around the corner from me in the house where he grew up. Don Waite. I rarely see him around & can honesty say that I have never seen him driving a recently completed deuce roadster that John Carambia painted in 02. I feel that we are losing a part of history with the passing of every pioneer. I will say that I am happy to have made their aquaintance though. RIP Bobby! Sr. nds ya ta build a D Class Flatty upthere! Use the block lettered heads though,ok?
What another one? From everything I have read about bobby meeks, he was a flathead GENIUS who could squeeze phenomenal power from flatheads with his nous and understanding of them. We seem to be losing more and more of the pioneers but lets understand that at 85, its a great innings any way you look at it !! RIP Bobby Rat
A sad day indeed.Although I never knew him,my wife's ex-father in law worked with him and Vic Sr. back in the late 40's and early 50's. His name is Fran Hernandez.I shall have to go over and see him tomorrow to give him the news.
that sucks. always is a bad thing when a legend, or any hot rod guy passes away, especially someone with his accomplishments and knowhow. RIP man, theres a bigger and better car scene up there than down here I know that much.
I've seen Bobby Meeks name in hot rod magazines since I started reading them in the mid 50's. Another great one gone but never forgotten. RIP Bobby. Frank
Wow! 85, no one in my gene-pool has made it past 64... It's interesting that some of these icons live as long as they do. I remember the stuff we used to use in the 70's that were real killers. Stuff like trichloroethelene to clean our floors and car parts, without gloves and respirators. Carb cleaner that would deform your hands after an hour, etc, etc. Mr. Meeks was a nitro guy, so he shouldn't have made it as long as he did (smile). I asked my doctor to check my liver, and he said "what liver??" I think in another 20 years (after I'm dead and gone) people will all remember the days of gas stations, and internal combustion engines. Some will even build those motors and run it on $40 a gallon gasoline, on sections of the old interstate that no one uses anymore, while all the kids and their electric Vespa air scooters stare in disbelief... Route 66 will mean nothing to them.
I had a friend tell me that while he was in the gas station in his 32 ford roadster, one of the attendants asked him what it was. He could not believe it was a Ford. Then he asked, "Is it a Mustang?"
What a great loss,he was there at the beginning of what we call traditional.The Edelbrock family,will especially feel the loss. He helped build the legend they became.My thoughts are with them.
The man that beat Offies with a V-8 60(plus a little bit of nitro-which nobody else even knew about at the time).
He was the very first flathead guru I heard of, I think in one of the 1952 Huntington books I latched onto about 1962 as a teenager. He was a big part of Edelbrock's survival and growth in a time when most of the speed equipment pioneers failed commercially...
Vic senior was only 42 when he died and Vic Jr was young ... Bobby Meeks was a mentor to young Vic and was indeed very instrumental in the sucess of Edelbrock. Hopefully he and Vic Senior are bench racing with all the other good ones ...
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