Only true hot rodders will recognize the name of one of their greats.

Back in the day, having an Isky camshaft was nirvana for motorheads. A full kit was heaven.

My cousin had an Isky roller cam and kit in his 396 CI (bored and stroked 56 Oldsmobile 323) powered 32 Vicky. Virtually no one had a roller cam on the street in the 50s. Though he drove it on the street, the cam had so much overlap that it would not reliably start with the starter when the engine was hot because the dynamic compression was too low. Accordingly, he often parked it on a slope if not intending to be parked long.

Aside from the Isky cam and kit, it had 6 Stromberg 97s on a Weiland log manifold, home made headers, ported and polished heads, and as much displacement and static compression as possible given the engine design.

With only a HD 3 speed transmissioin from a Corvette and a rear axle from a 57 Oldsmobile (open differential), it ran in the 10s in 1958/9, and was the quickest car in the area driven on the street.

• Isky

I always wanted an Isky cam and kit back in the late 60's when I ran an I-Gas and I-Modified VW beetle. I ran with Empi and Crane cams, but always wanted an Isky.

I used a Crane SS-330 "Super Full" cam and kit in my 327 Chevy.

Crane Cams were considered the hot set up for Chevys in the late 60s.

The 330 was essentially a Duntov 30-30 with a bit more lift and a bit more duration. The kit included larger diameter springs with aluminum retainers.

My 327 with the SS-330, ported and polished Mondello heads, 2 550 CFM AFB carburetors, TRW 12.5:1 forged pistons, A Mallory Rev-Pol distributor with Mag Spark transformer (coil), and Doug Thorley headers made power above 7,000 RPM with the headers open.

I usually power shifted at 7,000 RPM but would occasioanally wind it to 7,500. At 18/19 years of age, I did not realize just how dangerous this was as it had the factory 40 Lb. cast iron flywheel and no scattershield.

After burning a piston, I bought a new LT-1 short block and assembled it with the Crane and all of the top end parts from the 327. The 350 CI version with 1/4" longer stroke would not wind as did the 327 (about 500 RPM lower) and never ran as well.

Apparently, my Uncle Bill knew Ed. He grew up in LA and was involved in hardtop racing with Tommy Ivo's brother. Back in the day when I put a Dempsy Wilson cam in my 41 Ford, I mentioned it to my mom who remarked: "I knew Dempsy Wilson in High School." In those days LA was pretty cool. Now it is a cesspool.

CA was, indeed, ground zero for the automotive speed industry after WWII.