I just got back from the Philippines and thought I'd share a few snaps of an old friend of mines garage. He has all this stuff laying around, pleads poverty, but refuses to sell anything. He was a USAF plane mechanic, retired 34 years ago, and hasn't left the Philippines since! Any ideas how much any of this stuff is worth, or exactly what the blower device is? Sorry about the picture quality, but everything is covered in dust and crap.
Another pic of his Big Block rail. That's a spare BBC in the corner, and the walls are covered in old valve covers, oil pans, tools, memorabilia. This guy is 64 and still races a 10 second Camaro.
I was in the PI off and on in '65 & '66. I don't remember any hot rod action other than one chevy powered Jitney. Some of the air force guys had their corvettes and mustangs shipped there. They usually got a very good price for them when they returned to the states after their tour was up.
AMT used to offer that Lathem blower setup with their heavily chopped T 3 in 1 model, sat on a Lincoln motor. That is the first one I have actually seen for real.
those Lathams are still around somewhere. I got dusted by a 57 ford ranch wagon with a latham blown 430 lincoln back in 1959 when my triumph bonneville was brand new and I was 128 lb 17 year old the bikes gone and I'm not 128 pounds or 17 but the memories will last a lifetime
That is definitely a Latham-says so right on the thing, by golly. Seriously, they definitely were aftermarket, but were used on factory cars such as the previously mentioned '57 Fords, as well as some Studebakers. For instance, they were used on the Avanti line and some of the Hawks and some of the Larks. I think, and I could be wrong here caused by brain calcification, that Andy Granatelli set quite a few records at Bonneville with his Latham equipped Avanti. Am I wrong in my remembrance, anybody?
How does the thing work though? Some kind of centrifugal single rotor, like a turbo intake? Doesn't appear to have room for a conventional blower twin rotor setup. Is it worth anything, as the old man said he was interested in selling that, but definitly not the hemis? There is a drag race club in Angeles City where he lives, (and I lived for ten years) Have a look in the members gallery and you can see a few of the cars over there. http://www.1320pi.com/ There is quite a large American car following, and more cars are found in barns and restored on a regular basis.
Hmmmm, now that you mention it, I can't say for sure. I'm going to have t ogo back to some of my old sources to find out for certain.
McCulla [sp] was the blower used on ford and studes... Latham was an aftermarket blower alright but to my knowledge, it wasn't ever used on factory engines. The old AMT 27 T kit also had a Latham on a Lincoln V/8.
The blower has many, many little blades on the rotor. Very similar to a steam driven turbine or jet engine. Air flows from front to back between the outer skin of the rotor - driven by the turbine blades - and the inner skin of the case. That's why the carbs are to the front and the outlet on the bottom is near the rear. They spin at a fairly high rpm. Note the blowers small pulley diameter. I'm fairly sure one of the reasons the Lathams worked so well is that they didn't heat the air as badly as the Roots type blowers do. They were on the market for quite a while and I think eventually went down the tubes due to poor business management. Not to mention they were expensive to manufacture. The other nice part about them was their very low profile which meant they could slip under the low hoods of many cars.
Well, by the time I looked around and came up with an answer, C9 had already posted the explanation. There is more to be found by simply typing in a search request for "latham superchargers." Some really interesting stuff.
[ QUOTE ] I just got back from the Philippines and thought I'd share a few snaps of an old friend of mines garage. He has all this stuff laying around, pleads poverty, but refuses to sell anything. He was a USAF plane mechanic, retired 34 years ago, and hasn't left the Philippines since! Any ideas how much any of this stuff is worth, or exactly what the blower device is? Sorry about the picture quality, but everything is covered in dust and crap. [/ QUOTE ]Run across any TSMGs there?
10 second Camaro in the Philippines? Cant imagine there would be a lot of competition! Did he race that front engine dragster there too? Looks like he has a pretty good collection of stuff.
I thought Mt. Pinatubo pretty much covered Clark and Angeles City. Still lots of ash in those photos. Glad to see the AHRA is still active. I haven't been there since 77/78. Here's some patches I got while stationed in Olongapo.
Yup, I heard it was a free for all when that eartquake hit, I don't know when, but alot of my old freinds that work w/ me say they lost everything, they couldn't take shit when they got evacuated and could not go back, ther was alot of looting, of the bases there!!!!
[ QUOTE ] Am I wrong in my remembrance, anybody? [/ QUOTE ] I think so... Andy Granitelli was involved with Paxton/ mcCulloch.
Apparently, as soon as the USAF evacuated their personnel, the Filipinos moved into Clark and took EVERYTHING. Even dumb stuff such as door frames, wall sockets, and all. There was a frenzy and trucks were rolling out the main gate for weeks after. You can still buy the stuff up in Mabalacat market, complete with chunks of Air Force grey wall paint hanging on them If you want some avionics, gauges and stuff, they are for sale too, ripped out of the planes that were crushed by the volcanic ash. Those badges are cool. I never went to Olongapo until after the volcano, but the 'perfumed river' was still there. Olongapo is a ghost town now, for night life, though there are still a lot of empty bars there, unused, memorials to a thousand nights of fun and games in a bygone era. Subic city has a few bars still rocking, but nothing like the mayhem that was 'normal' twenty years ago. For a couple of years the fastest car in the Philippines was a 10.6 second Hon*a Civ*c! I shit thee not. Now it owned is a Camaro again, a 9 second car, running a big block and massive slicks. Owned and built by another ex USAF dude, Ken Kepner. This was going to be my 'fastest car in the Philippines', but it never got finished
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