While Turbonique certainly get the nod as the most wild speed part of the 1960s, we think that the Latham blower may actually be second. These were axial flow superchargers that were tremendously expensive and made in very small volume before the company folded up. Unlike a roots blower or a screw blower, an axial flow supercharger uses a drum with hundreds of small fins on it that are staggered in rows.
Basically what you have here is a belt driven turbine that was sucking fuel through those side draft carbs and smashing that fuel along with the air into the incredibly crude intake manifold you see in the photos below.
Norm Latham is the guy who designed and manufactured these starting in 1956. The original version of the company was in business until 1965. Apparently the lead times for manufacturing the blowers was very, very long and that hurt business. The other thing to think about is that because there were no CNC machines in the 1950s and 1960s (yes there were mills, we know) the fins were welded to the drum which would then be spun at huge RPM. See how small the pulley is on the front of the supercharger? Not the idler, the actual pulley. This baby may have been spinning at a 3:1 ratio to the crank pulley to see RPMs in the 10-20,000 range!
The craziest part of this thing is how complete it is. Less than 1,000 of these were ever made and the ones that do come up for sale are usually just bare. Seeing one with carbs is cool. Seeing one with the intake manifold is totally awesome.
Speaking of that intake manifold, it looks like the most fugly and rudimentary possible next to the very handsome blower. It almost looks like it was hewn out of stone!
This kit it missing the crank pulley and a belt. In today’s world, having a crank pulley built wouldn’t be too bad a job. Rebuilding the blower may be an interesting exercise for sure. How much? The asking price is into the five digit range.
CLICK HERE FOR THE EBAY LISTING FOR THIS LATHAM BLOWER!
I remember an article in Hot Rod Magazine back in the day about this supercharger and a picture of Norm Latham and his ’58 Pontiac at Bonneville. That’s back when supercharging was a black art and they were expensive.
I too remember this being featured in a Hot Rod Magazine from the stone age!
All this needs is to be fitted to a very early Allard and being entered in the Lands End Trial. Which incidentally is a very slow and ancient ancestor of rock racing where the cars are usually quite powerless but unleashed on hills running totally stock tyres at 4-5 PSI. Some of them even make it up the hills, but most generate such banks of smoke from burning rubber and clutch linings that they obliterate the sun for weeks on end….
Hi guys here’s a link to one fitted to a Olds Rocket last year http://www.stanceiseverything.com/category/builds/taylord-dodge/
Crazy old things!
I’m thinking that crude, likely homemade, intake is for a Ford Y-Block.
I recall that Gary Howard used one of those on Jimmie Vaughan’s 1961 Cadillac custom. The car was well done, but the engine, with that supercharger, was really crazy.