Early Years
During World War II, Edelbrock's machinist skills were put to work welding in the Todd Shipyards in Long Beach hand fabricating aircraft parts. Because of a ban on auto racing by the Office of Defense Transportation, there was no racing during the war, but Edelbrock secretly designed and developed a new line of products. After the war, he produced aluminum racing cylinder heads, in addition to manifolds, which quickly gained him notability among hot rodding hobbyists. Parts to increase an engine's performance were not readily available, so racers built their own. Soon Edelbrock found himself building pieces first for his friends and then for customers.
To deal with the enormous amount of mail he was receiving, in 1946 Edelbrock created the company's first catalog, Edelbrock Power and Speed Equipment, with the help of Pete Petersen. This hastened the transformation of the Edelbrock company from a repair garage into a performance parts manufacturer. Then, in 1947, Edelbrock produced the first cylinder heads for the Ford flathead.
One of the first companies to use an engine dynamometer, Edelbrock moved to a 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) "purpose-built" shop in 1949 to develop more manifolds, cylinder heads and racing pistons. In the early 1950s, he continued to dominate the dry lakes and expanded his racing to the Bonneville Speedway.
Read more about this topic: Edelbrock
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“The science, the art, the jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern world have grown out of Greece and Rome—not by favor of, but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of this world were alike despicable.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“These native villages are as unchanging as the woman in one of their stories. When she was called before a local justice he asked her age. “I have 45 years.” “But,” said the justice, “you were forty-five when you appeared before me two years ago.” “Señor Judge,” she replied proudly, drawing herself to her full height, “I am not of those who are one thing today and another tomorrow!””
—State of New Mexico, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)