On the leading edge of the supercharger industry, you'll find Magnuson Products and its MagnaCharger lineup. With many bolt- on blower systems on the market, and new ones coming out daily, the focus seems to be on newer, fuel-injected engines. Changes in the winds led Jerry Magnuson to build a Ford flathead engine supercharger kit. The system was designed by Tom Robert's Designs of Ventura, California, and delivers complete driveability and a neck-snapping performance at an affordable price. For all of you tech and hip hot-rodders, the unit can run either carbureted or fuel-injected.
With such a fresh fitment in its catalog, Magnuson needed an old Ford truck to display its supercharger system, and it needed to be wearing a flathead engine between the 'rails. With slim pickings on original equipment, the team decided to start fresh. A Pete & Jake's frame was procured, as was a narrowed '40 Ford axle stuffed with 3.73 gears. The rear was hung under the frame with stock radius rods, a Model A spring, and Pete & Jake's shocks. Up front, a Magnum axle sees duty with leaf springs, tube shocks, and hairpin radius rods. Stock drums do the braking rearward with So Cal Speed Shop discs up front. Fifteen-inch Wheel Vintique wheels have the perfect look, powder-coated red with chrome, baby-moon center caps.
Fulfilling the position of the new engine is a 265ci V-8 that began its life sometime in 1951. Inside the mill swings a '50 Merc 4-inch crank and '51 Merc 7-inch rods. Edge Machine pistons hold the compression to a blower-friendly 7.5 to 1 with the help of Sealed Power rings. An Isky camshaft tickles the air in and out of the cylinders. The flathead heads on the big-block cover each "V" of the V-8, and the requisite MP112 supercharger sits center stage, topped by a Holley 390-cfm carburetor. Firing the cylinders is a MSD billet distributor and completely electronic MSD ignition system. Output of the blown 265ci engine is 170 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque.
Covering the hot-rod's chassis is a Brookville roadster cab with a 2-inch chop. The top is fully removable, and, additional air can be ventilated into the cab through the safari-style windshield. Brookville was also sourced for the steel bed and fenders. A stock '29 Ford grille and radiator account for the nose of the truck. Original-style lights were hung, front and rear. Truck owner Jerry Magnuson, himself, created the wooden running boards before having them painted by Phil Wetsone of Miracle Design. The rest of the truck is layered in one of PPG's Yellows, and credit goes to Tim Beard for the labor. Lacquered wood panels and stainless strips customize the bed's floor, and the truck's spun aluminum fuel tank can be found in the bed, too. Additionally, Custom Auto Interiors of Bloomington, California, handily stitched a simple pair of door panels and a bench seat in tan leather, while complementary tan German-weave carpet covers the floor. When out on the boulevard, Jerry cruises with a So Cal Speed Shop steering wheel and keeps tabs on the force-injected flathead through Stewart-Warner gauges set in an engine-turned panel. Of course, nothing says hot rod like the 8-ball shifter.
Being an easy upgrade, it won't be long before the rod guys will be topping their engines with the MagnaCharger blowers. Maybe the early days of customizing will arise to the top of this whole industry and the Sunset Strip will be alive with the staccato beat of straight sixes, cammed up V-8s, glass packs, and Lakes pipes. Until that day comes, riding around with a flathead Ford topped with a supercharger will be pretty close. The classics will never die.