Re: 1955-56 V-8 headers?

Posted by Craig Hendrickson On 2013/6/17 19:18:57

cli55er Quote:

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Before I post the mockup D-side, I should explain something.

Many of the old posters on PackardInfo know my background, but probably many more recent posters do not.

Among other things, from 1974 to 1981, I was the owner, operator and "chief floor sweeper" for H-O Racing Specialties, a high performance Pontiac aftermarket parts supplier. H-O also had their own line of HiPo parts.

During that time, H-O was a national warehouse distributor of J.R. Headers, a well known and respected company making headers for many brands. H-O Racing specialized in Pontiacs and that's what we sold: mostly GTOs and Trans Am Firebirds, a couple of very popular muscle cars of the era.

H-O probably sold thousands of J.R. headers to Pontiac enthusiasts during that time. In addition, due to my relationship with J.R., I could have them make custom headers for all sorts of race cars and odd ball combos, which I did.

H-O also had a small install shop (not our main business) in which we installed many headers into mostly Firebirds and there were some custom ones too, most from J.R. under my engineering direction.

Later, in 1977, I realized that there was a need for a low profile header for the Trans Ams of the era because every production header, including J.R., would get the bottom tubes smashed in whenever the driver went over a speed bump or some similar obstacle.

So, I used my 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4-speed as the prototype vehicle to locally and custom develop a set of headers which would not protrude below the front subframe of the Gen-2 Firebird and therefore would not be worthless after the first encounter with same.

As a small company, H-O had to fund the development and production of those headers, called "H-O Tri-Ys", no inexpensive feat for a self-funded company. H-O then sold about 200 of those headers to Gen-2 Firebird/Trans Am customers with 100% satisfaction. BUT, we could only order those "Tri-Ys" in batches of 50!!!

Given the above, I say:

1) I know about high performance headers from hard earned hands on and business experience.

2) I know that it takes to develop and then sell custom headers.

3) I have no illusion about maybe selling a bunch of Packard V-8 headers to make money. I'm not doing this project for that reason. I'm doing this project because I want a set for my Panther. If others want to tag along and help reduce the unit cost, then that's great.

My next post will be about the D-side mockup.

Craig