Folks Of Interest Wayne Manufacturing Co. Petaluma CA

Has anyone heard of this company? Established in '45 in Petaluma CA. Was near downtown on D Street. Long gone now.

 

Manufacturer of the famous Wayne 12 port heads for Chevy and GMC inline sixes.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/wayne-speed-equipment.281605/

 

yes

 

Yes also.

 

Of course I know of Wayne 12 port head. I didn't know they were in Petaluma

 

Ahh. I searched Wayne Manufacturing and got no hits here. Wayne speed gets this thread. Thanks for the link!

My uncle found the fridge magnet in his collection and sent it to me.

Cheers!

 

Manufacturer of the holy grail 12 port head for GMC and Chevy sixes.

 

Looks like that was printed 50+ years after Horning sold the business ...

 

" Very well known indeed "
"Miss ya Too Tall "

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cody-walls-builds-32-ford-3-window-coupe-“the-ardun-killer-“.1161976/

Hamber @Cody Walls has one on his Wild Deuce 3W...

​

 

Nope, we never heard of them.

 

What's a luma, and is it safe to pet one?

 

When I see him I’ll ask Dan Warner…. He’s Harry Warner’s son. Owner of the Wayne Manufacturing Company after Wayne F. Horning and Harry Warner split up. I don’t think Harry had an area code in 1945.

The Company came back by a fellow Inliner for a few years in the 90’s. I believe Don Ferguson has the patterns now.

 

@jimmy six " I don’t think Harry had an area code in 1945. "

Or a website!

 

1310 D Street is towards the Westerly city limits of Petaluma. A man named Nick Zillion (spelling?) had allegedly bought the Wayne head patterns in the 80's or 90's and produced a few heads and several other 6 cylinder speed parts. I think financial difficulty's and other marketing problems arose and the business disappeared. Some of the Northern Ca 6 cylinder buffs may be able to add to the story

 

Last entry referring to them on the stovebolt forum dated 2005:

 

Nick Zaillian was running Wayne Mfg. Co. from this address back in the early 2000's. He offered McGurk pieces as well as Howard GMC 12 port and Wayne Chevy 12 port heads - still have his catalog and price list, it was quite extensive. A real inliner's wish list! I purchased a number of items from him by 2005 but later that year he wasn't returning my inquiries. Don't know what happened to him or the inventory.

 

Welcome to the Hamb @sixy...if you could scan the catalog and share the relevant goods that would really bring this Thread up a notch...unless its still a force...not really that up on the Wayne stuff other than knowing its performance and sought after...

 

As @Liberty Garage said, the reincarnated company ran into financial problems and couldn't deliver products that were purchased. My understanding is that their Chevy 12 port heads got tied up in courts because of financial disputes, this left customers hanging. I personally negotiated to get Arias GMC parts that they had in stock in lieu of the Chevy stuff I had paid for. I'm not sure how it played out for others that were on my situation. It's been quite a while now and I hope all the others that were in my situation were able to come to a resolution.

 

Nick bought a bunch of inliner stuff, but production never quiet matched his marketing.

The Wayne Chev pattens have bounced around, and are presently with another Northern Californian, who has other business interests that are of a higher priority.

There are some heads that come onto the market now and again - but they are limited, and not readily available.

 

stogy requested the catalog pages. These were from 2004.

The price sheet contained a couple hundred items but as reported, not all were actually available.

 

Easier on the eyes-

 

I read a story in Auto Aficionado magazine that the Fergeson foundry owned the Patent on the Wayne 6 head as well as original casting molds. This was awhile back and my memory was never good.

 

I think Ferguson has all the brands molds. I’ve talked to him about casting but the market is not ready so time will tell when will make a run. Chevrolet’s were only Wayne’s. All the rest plus Wayne were GMC’s.

 

I believe the Wayne or Horning, or both operated for a time out of central Iowa, don't recall all the details but an indepth article appeared in I believe Hotrod magazine a number of years ago. not sure how things transpired to prompt a west coast move & can only speculate deeper pockets & a marketing decision perhaps.

 

You are thinking about 12 Port Charlie in Nevada, Iowa. Not sure what brand he was building.

 

Waiting for my order at the time that Wayne Mfg collapsed, I was told that a batch of Chevy heads, including my paid in full order, were in the final phases of machining when everything got tied up in the courts. As stated above, I was able to negotiate for GMC Arias stuff they had in stock in lieu of the Chevy parts. Does anybody know what ever happened to the batch of Chevy heads that got tied up on the courts? As I understand only 1 or 2 heads that were ordered unfinished made it out from that venture before the collapse.

 

Charlie Baker in Iowa was casting the Horning GMC before he passed away. After Wayne F. Horning and Harry Warner split up Wayne changed the port arrangement but not the firing order. It was also the first with a combustion chamber. The Algon also had one.

 

Thanks alchemy, I was hoping someone would chime in, I know I've the magazine article somewhere, as I now think about it (age related thing) I do recall health issues was a concern of his business, whether a dealer &/or a separate venture all his own I'm uncertain, hopefully that particular article may make print here on the Hamb.

 

I met 12 Port Charlie once. Many years ago, in his shop. He was in a wheelchair, but I think that it didn’t hold him back from much.

Youda thought a guy building killer GMC stuff would have a shop full of GM products, but the only car I saw was a Ford T.