“Those who do not know their history…”
Most college engineering students have an opportunity to supplement their core course work with a select number of elective classes, ostensibly intended to provide some “well-roundedness” to the sociological effects of hard-core engineering topics. I made the classic mistake of including Economics 101 in my curriculum. And while I can only recall a few axiomatic learnings that emerged from that one-semester “experience,” I vividly remember a quote that headed the final exam. It read, “Those who do not know their history are destined to re-live it.” It tattooed itself on my brain. Now, as you keep that quote and its implications in mind, let’s rewind the course of history that has cradled the high performance automotive industry, dating back to December 16, 1953.
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It was then that a particular document was penned, deep within the bowels of GM…Chevrolet, to be more specific. The author had spent a number of years as a budding engineer with the Allard corporation in England. This company and its by-products were the breeding ground for road-hungry race cars that populated both European and US tracks, particularly in the 50s, including Le Mans. With an intelligent and highly-motivated wife who had a strong dislike for the damp and cold of the UK, this politically-connected and youngish engineer opted for a job with Chevrolet, primarily as a chassis developer. However, he had already gotten a sense for the “fork in the road” Chevrolet was attempting to navigate, largely because he’d glimpsed a new breed of car that had then recently been unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the Corvette.
Reaction to the aforementioned document was, according to its author, “not much of anything…at least at first.” And then, to quote him, “All ‘hal’ broke loose.” The essence of the document was abundantly clear. It cited the fact Ford had become the preeminent symbol of high performance, particularly among the youth market, as it was known in those days. On the heels of the flat-head’s successes, largely in the hands of pioneering hot-rodders who were veterans of WWII itching for something to keep their post-war testosterone flowing, Ford was on the threshold of introducing an OHV version of engine that would presumably keep the flat-head performance momentum intact. But then came the document.
In it, the author also pointed out that the “hop-up industry is geared to Ford,” enthusiast “loyalty and experience with Ford,” and “thousands will be working on Fords to active competition.” He also noted that “when a superior line of GM V8s had earlier appeared (notably Oldsmobile and Cadillac), there were remarkably few attempts to develop these and none too successful.” He was hitting multiple nails on the head with every swing of his grammatical hammer.
