It seems as though we touched off a flathead horsepower war! Yesterday we ran video of a blown, Ardun headed Ford flattie making about 450hp on a dyno and then we got tipped off to a video from John Beck’s Pro Machine engine building shop in California with an even more pissed Caddie flathead. Beck’s shop is 100% bad ass and his work has been showcased on projects like the first 300mph roadster at Bonneville and most recently Beck was one of the men responsible for the awesome early Hemi that competed at the Popular Hot Rodding Engine Masters Challenge. That engine will compete again and in the coming weeks, you are going to get an inside look at how a group of men from all over the country are working together to elevate this ancient mill to compete with far more modern engines.

Back to the story at hand. This little Caddy flathead sports a blower, fuel injection, and a port layout that is crazy weird but effective as you will see. It looks like the intake and exhaust ports have been swapped for one another as the exhaust headers are way up high, actually above the cylinder heads.  Despite the crazy looks, this very old and nearly forgotten engine makes 496hp and more than 500 ft/lbs while revving to a pretty crazy (for an old flathead) 5,000 RPM!

Bonneville guys are some crazy dudes, making stupid power with these old engines. We cannot get enough of it. Guys like Beck rule because they can be working on this old thing one day and then on a super zooty modern LS engine the next, making more power on both than we could ever dream of.

Press play below and watch the true melding of modern technology and antique equipment!