At the time of our program, Kong was advertising his "new and different ignition design, using dual high-speed points," as well as selling Winfield cams. Ed Winfield, of course, was one of the greatest of the early cam designers and also made what was considered the finest racing carburetors of the four-banger period. Kong advertised the precision four-lobe breaker cams in his ignitions as being by Winfield as well. His ignition was unique in that it came with a manual cable, so the driver could change the advance "on the fly" to find the sweet spot on the racecourse. Kong continued making and improving his ignitions, and later in life, when Flatheads started a resurgence, he made CNC-machined, heavy-duty aluminum heads and intakes for Flathead racers. He continued attending lakes meets at El Mirage until his death in 2002. As a member of the Super-Fours SCTA Club, I got to know him from the '80s on. Never at a loss for a politically incorrect statement at any time, he was a true character, part of the colorful fabric of the dry lakes racing and early speed business.
Speed shops and engine buildersIn those heady days before mass merchandising and multi-tier marketing, there were small speed shops all over the country. The proprietors often made the equipment themselves, but also sold parts made by other guys to go along with their own heads, manifolds, or ignitions. Regular auto parts stores often carried speed parts as a sideline, since the rodders were coming in for parts anyway. Given the intensity of racing action at this postwar boom period, it's no wonder usable original Flathead blocks are hard to come by today. Guys were grenading both the V-8s and the little-brother V8-60s in lakes cars, street racers, track roadsters, Midgets, and every kind of racing boat they could fit a Henry in. Suddenly, small manufacturers found an increasing market and started to expand. Making a living with a speed shop wasn't easy in the early days, but got better as the motorsports and the variety of equipment grew rapidly. Without how-to car magazines, hot rodders had to learn from guys at the lakes or by hangin' out at the local speed shop.
In our source program, the two names of speed merchants we should all recognize today are Bell Auto Parts (Bell, California) and the SO-CAL Speed Shop (Burbank, California). As the name implied, Bell had been a regular parts store run by Roy Richter. At the time of our program, he had an illustrated catalog of speed parts, and the Bell story is really too big to give justice to here. Among other things, Bell Auto had been well known for keeping the old Cragar OHV 'banger conversions available after Cragar went out of business, and for the Bell axles. You think it's a new thing to call up and order a stroker kit sent to your house, all balanced? Among others at the time, Bell would put you into a 3/8-inch stroker kit with crank, rebuilt rods, JE pistons, and Grant rings for $200.
Likewise, the SO-CAL Speed Shop story is larger than life, but fortunately well documented. Much can be learned from the current SO-CAL's excellent Web site. Anyone old or young who hasn't heard of Alex Xydias isn't into cars! His success started humbly enough with a small shop in 1946, but the cars he ran, the racers he sponsored, and the talent pool he associated with separated Alex from the many others in the speed business. In the year 1948 we're examining, he put together a little belly tank from a P-38 and powered it with a V8-60 that ran 136 at the lakes. This was followed a year later by a streamliner body crafted by Valley Custom, using the same T-based chassis. The 'liner went onto fame and many records at Bonneville with various-size engines, generally all running Edelbrock intake and heads, Kong ignitions, and Winfield cams.