The car was for sale at Hershey in 2005,
The for sale sign read:
1935 ARDUN
One off car, built in Florida, probably for racing at Sebring, etc.
Set up for ARDUN OHV conversion (not on car)
Runs and drives great.
Have some documentation from Zora Arkus Duntov concerning car.
$27,500.00
I'm not sure that's the same car, or it might imply that it's based on a 1935 Ford chassis. I found what I believe is Thorax's source and it states "The Count of Monte Real won the National Championship in 1952 Ramps manning a Ford Ardun. This was a specially designed racing car and which was equipped with a Ford V8 engine to which two Ardun aluminum heads are adapted." Translation from Portuguese is my re-wording of Google Translate's output.
What had/has me confused is the description of the car as a "1935 Ardun" which tends to lead the reader to believe that the car was built with the Ardun headed-flathead motor in 1935, when in fact, the Ardun heads weren't developed until 1947.
What I didn't know is that the heads were originally marketed for use in trucks, rather than as a performance product, since they were too wide to fit under a stock 32 Ford hood. But they had some problems: "Its cast-steel pushrods weighed the same as a connecting rod, and valve seats came loose from expansion differences of the aluminum and bronze materials. The stock Ardun valves were too heavy. Exhaust manifolds were constricted and head gaskets were a common failure. The coke bottle shaped lifters were originally made from Buick components and had a tendancy to gall. Valve springs were inadequate. The two intake manifolds had no balance tube between them and were poorly designed. The spark plug tubes were a menace and the stock Ford ignition was not up to the task."
Other than that, they were great.
I can't imagine cast-steel pushrods.
Here's another quote from the Ferguson website (The Fergusons manufacture re-pop Arduns which are just slightly expensive (sarcasm implied)): "Early Ardun heads were flawed in several areas – cast steel push rods were too heavy, valve seats came loose due to expansion differences of aluminum and bronze, the stock valves were too heavy and exhaust manifolds were constricted. It goes on - A heavy valve spring didn't’t allow the higher rpm, the stock Ford ignition was inadequate and more problems needed to be solved by a pair of young California racers in the early ‘50’s.
Many if these future refinements were a result of C & T Automotive, located in North Hollywood, California. Don Clark and Clem Tebow (more than mere engine builders) were credited with taking the flawed Ardun mechanicals and eliminating the many imperfections – thus evolving the engineering and the unique head’s presence in the racing community. Drag cars like Safeway Sandblasting, lakesters like The Lakewood Muffler Special and the SoCal Special coupe, and a number of very quick sprint car racers proved the Ardun-made horsepower in massive quantities, when the gremlins were held at bay. The C & T Ardun engines were capable of 300 horsepower in full-race configuration – they powered many vehicles to speed-event glory and top speed record-book history."
Bottom line: Based on the quote from the Portugese site, I'd say that Thorax has solved the puzzle, but that's just my opinion.
RtR
