Doug Thorley still involved with what company?

Is Doug himself still involed with any header or exhaust companies?
A while back (early 90's)I bought some stuff from him just before the Doug Thorley Header Co.(Corona,Ca) and him had a split of sorts. That company was later sold to Pertronics and I thought that I heard that Doug was workin' with another exhaust shop at that time.
The name changes always had me confused. Doug Thorley Headers,Doug's Headers, and what was Douglass headers?
I need a west coast HAMBer to straighten me out on the whole deal. Where is Doug Thorley?
Could someone give me a brief Doug Thorley Headers history startin' in the 60's? ( not the race car drivin' stuff just his header company stuff)
Thanks,Smokey

 

Doug Thorley bought Jardine Headers, ages ago.
Have you done a google search?
I know they still make headers.
I just bought some from a dealer in Cal.

 

Don't know but lately there's a new brand of late model catbacks done under the Doug Thorley banner, being made by Jardine. Mufflers even have Jardine stamped on the case.

 

Doug Thorley and Jardine are together in Corona, CA. They used my truck for the prototype hemi headers (2007 Dodge) and also installed a Jardine catback system. My old neighbor is the cust serv manager. Call him up if you have any questions..... ask for Nick

 

Doug's Headers is now owned by Pertronix, they bought it a couple years ago.

 

doug started his header again. the compant is now called doug thorley headers.

 

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 Corviar that Joe Piasano ended up with, and the pair of rear/mid engined Javelin's.

 

thanks for the history. always wonder about that

 

Yes, it's quite the soap opera. We helped Betty with a little R&D also.

 

Thanks for the history. I've been eyeing a set of Doug's Tri-ys for early Chevy IIs. Supposed to fit better than anythign on the market.

 

The Harriston's(sp?) have tried to keep Doug's headers The Premium header of their stable(not that the others one they make aren't good)

 

Always a quality product.

 

Thanks everyone for the info on my old post.
Jerod, Welcome to the HAMB.
When did you guys move to Wyoming? Still doin' anything with headers? How did Jardine get into motorcycles?
Novadude, I built Tri Ys for my 34 coupe. I like the way Tri Ys look,work,and fit.
Smokey

 

Howard Douglas was often times confused with Doug Thorley, Howard did a big mail order business in header plates, bends, mufflers, etc. Jerry got into MC exhaust systems in the seventies. He had a big operation in Jackson Hole WY. doing motorhome headers. Jerry, Fast Eddie Schartman and I were having lunch one day and Eddie was bitching about has mileage on the tow truck. Jerry made some headers for the truck and Eddie raved about the increase in mileage and power. I convinced Jerry to build headers for Chevy and Ford Trucks. Ran an ad in TrailerLife and Camper Coachman magazines and damn near put Jerry out of business with the deluge of inquiries. Remember, this was during the first gas crunch in '73.

 

I have heard that Doug's were well made but PRICEY !

 

You heard correctly...............expensive but you wont find a better set of headers. I had a set on my '67 Malibu, they fit like a glove, looked great and sealed perfectly.

 

We moved to Wyoming in 1988. We moved to the street bike market in the early 70's. The automotive market was going away with the new epa stuff and a few header manufactures were whoring the market up soo bad we just decided to let them have it. We sold the company off in 1985 to Summit ind. My dad worked for them for about a 7 months and couldn't handle it. He leased a shop on the John Wayne airport runway and started building custom headers. My dads mothers family was from around montana and Wyoming and he was shipped up around that country when he was a kid to keep him outa trouble. The r.v. market was growing. Jackson is right under under yellowstone park so we moved the operation and started building kits for these trucks and motorhomes. We used Doug Thorly headers for these kits. We were run out of Jackson and moved to the beautifull town of Dubois, 70 miles east of jackson, pop 1000. The wind blows quite a bit here but I think it's because Colorado and Utah suck. We are doing alot of 4" diesel for the Ford Dodge And Chevy diesels. We are starting to build some headers again. I just finished up some fenderwells for the tri5s and just getting off the dyno for the 6.0 chevy trucks. www.pinnaclepowerexhaust.com
Thanks,
Jerod.

 

Well for the heck of it I priced both coated Hooker Headers and Doug's on Summit for my 65 Fairlane. ...Doug Tri Y $ 539.95 and the Hookers were $ 679.95

 

Check out this link to see Doug's "Chevy 2 Much" for sale and info

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/dougthorley/

 

Now I understand how I got Screwed by a Company I thought was above doing that sort of thing. I bought a You build Kit a few years ago from them. I do a fair amount of one off stuff. I found what I needed on there web site and called in the order. When the box came it was short several bends. I called right away and Who ever I talked to said they were in a reconstruction stage of the web site and what I got was the new Kit. But it isn't enough to do what I need, I said and the price was the same as with more bends. The D.H. on the other end tells me He'd be glad to "SELL" me more bends if I wanted or I could send them back and get a credit minus the Shipping. What a way to run a business. I still have everything in there box with a Big red X on it. I had delt with Steve at S.P.D. some. He fixed me up with everything I needed and I use him all the time now. At the time it just didn't make cense why Thorley Headers would just tell me to pretty much to get screwed. What's a couple U-Bends to a major Co?
The Wizzard

 

If anyone is still following this thread.
Above, someone asked about Doug himself.
Well, Doug is still kicking at 89 yrs young. We just spent time at the recent US Nationals with Doug and his daughter Kerrie. While age has slowed him down some, when he's at the track, he's Sharp as ever, and can remember specific races that he ran. Especially is the first US Nats Funny Car trophy at that event in 1967. We were there with clones of both of his cars, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the historic win. The Nova is the clone that he and all of the original crew redid for the NHRA Museum. Nothing has been changed since he brought it out and put a running drivetrain back into it. The Corvair is a tribute and was built by combining both Corvairs he owned. The paint scheme is an exact duplicated of the original steel body car (the one that won the US Nats). The rest of the car is cloned from his second Corvair, which became the Bourgeois and Wade car. The steel body car was quicker and Doug said he wasn't going to drive it. Dick Bourgeois drove it for 4 or so months, and then bought it from Doug. Our clone is BBC iron block and heads. 671 vintage blower and a period correct Enderle injector. Behind that is a highly modified Chrysler torqueflite trans, which is exactly the same as what Doug ran in both of the cars.
Here's a couple pictures of Doug and the cars.
Oh, and we put him in the seat of the Corvair and cackled it for the fans. He climbed out and said "heck that was great. Haven't done that in 40 years. Let's go make a pass".
Paul Brown
Caretaker of the Doug's Headers Cars