...Not done yet. Not getting closer very fast either. I am getting faster at indoor karts...I think. No money, no time, no matter.

This week just almost over has been awfully fun. On Monday night I was up till 11pm listening to Ed Iskenderian talk to a body shop bay full of mostly old hot rodders. I perused an Isky catalog when I was a kid back in the 70's, and I enjoyed the flavor of his marketing. Well all these years later he's a 92 year old man who resembles nothing so much as a kindly grandfather...er Camfather. The way he related his old stories was so modest and charming, but with enough stick that you couldn't doubt his competitiveness.

One of the meta things that really stood out was how long ago many of the basics of science and observation pointed to the future we now live in and think so modern. Ed Winfield was referred to alot and my resulting reading has me wanting to learn more.

He had a story about how Lance Reventlow's guys got to tear into the Mercedes desmo motor in the Grand Prix car loaned to the Ford museum, and that he had ground the cams for the Scarab's desmo setup. He mentioned that the Scarab didn't perform and expressed residual perplexity as to why. During Q&A I told him that I was pretty sure I'd read that that mystery had been solved when the car was run at a modern vintage event and during prep it was discovered that Goosen had drawn an error that got executed and went undiscovered till now (resulting in lower than intended compression ratio? Something like that), and that it should have and now did make acceptable power.

He also related the story of the advertising war over "the 5th cycle". I remember something about that from his catalog, but I never got it. I do now. He explained that with Hillborn constant flow injection (and nitro) the pooling fuel behind the closed intake blew out the exhaust with lots of overlap to provide essential cooling - like about half of the fuel went toward that purpose. The 5th cycle. Well one of his competitors called bullshit on it with a magazine add that had a string of four bicycles with riders and a 5th one on a dumb bike in a clown suit. When Isky's setup won the national championship later that year in top eliminator or whatever Isky took out an add showing the winning car on it's transporter with a clown bike strapped on the back and a clown holding the championship trophy and waving.

Great Stuff. One of the most enjoyable talks I've ever heard. I'd have stayed as long as he kept talking. So funny how a man becomes a legend and a legend is just a man.

Then last night I went to a celebration of Oregon State's multiple championship winning FSAE team and a showing of a promotional/documentary film about them and the program. And I got to chat with a bunch of my local race engineer friends who also happened to attend.

Scott, whose emotions are trying to tell me that these events are catalytic: "Get to work!"

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun going from the past into the future with a pioneer who paved the way for us today?

You have to embrace those moments and hold on to them forever...
Who knows, when your his age you might be one of them legend guys telling stories like you had the privilege to hear first hand.
You'll pass them down to a new group of young whipper snappers who will stand there mesmerized anxiously awaiting your next word.
I love history ,and the more I can find out about this world, and the people in it ,the more my life becomes enriched.

In love listening to the older generations tell me stories of when they were young they used to play whack a mole with real moles

 

They are etched into the walls of the honda-tech RR/AutoX forum for generations to explore.

However it's too bad nobody will ever be able to find them because of the obscure thread names.....

p.s. get to wrenchin'

 

Good stuff. My dad learned a lot from Isky when he got some help during the drag race stint he did. This was his car. Had some good stories and things to pass on to me that are pretty cool. He wants to build another one eventually, just like it so he can revisit his youth again.

 

It's soooooooooo cool when you see stuff like this come out of nowhere!
History for sure. What is that a cutlass?
Help your dad with that dream man. thats priceless!

 

I believe it was a 65 Olds, an F85 body with a 427 chevy rat motor.

 

Very cool. Revisting one's youth...refusing to grow out of it (the fun stuff)...it's all good. Machines are neat. They're just machines. But they take us to places in other realms. Nothing like popping back into the zone after a hiatus...the doubt and uncertainty resemble the early days of youth...and the validation of success in the effort is reward indeed. If you can help your Dad do all that, do it. What I wouldn't give to do that.

Scott, who...Does it Have to have dual quads on a tunnel ram?...

 

Yes dual quads on a tunnel ram indeed.

One day I will get him another F85 and help him build it. He helps me enough at the race track and everyone there knows he loves what we do. If it wasnt for him draggin me to Riverside to see IMSA and NASCAR, to Ascot for the dirt, and LBGP when I was in diapers I would never be into cars...