DIAMOND ENGINEERING

[olredalert]

----Des,,,the original founder of Diamond was Jim Cavallaro. Butch Elkins did all the head work. Nick Plantis was the machinist and after Diamond went west to work at Venolia (pistons).Fritz Kayle was the assembler and after Diamond went to MacLaren and then went on to found Katech. Quite a group with an amazing amount of knowledge. Jim (the guy I was with yesterday) sold the company a while back and my friend, Mark, couldnt remember who has it today but apparently they have changed thier focus in the last few years. Mark left there in 1972 but still has good friends from Diamond that he sees regularly. Diamond did a lot of development work on Hemi heads and 440 stuff. A good portion of that was done with input from Koffel of Flintstone Flyer fame. Mark didnt think that Chrysler used them directly however.......Bill S

[Tracker1]

Thanks Bill - anybody who may remember Werner's car? Guess you know where I am going with this.

[olredalert]

----Des,,,Im guessing that no one would remember the car as I think they only built the motor and didnt install it, but I could be wrong......Bill S

[Salvatore]

I thought Diamond-Elkins hooked up sometime back then. Des, like Bill said most engine shops had nothing to do with the cars themselves.

[olredalert]

----Mark didnt mention it but Butch Elkins may have become a minority partner at some point. He apparently was a really talented guy with headwork.....Bill S

[njsteve]

I remember a few decades ago when I bought a flat red painted, LO23 1968 Hemi Dart. It came with an NOS 1970 426 hemi block and a bunch of stuff from Diamond Engineering including a magnesium crossram still in the box from them. It appeared to have been cut open, modified and welded up again.

I bought the Dart just to keep the NOS engine. I sold the Dart a couple weeks later for twice what I paid....

...it later turned out to be Dick Landy's 4-speed Hemi Dart.

DOH!

[Tracker1]

Steve, you still got that box the cross-ram came in? per chance...

[olredalert]

----I would like to have been a fly on the wall watching that Magnesium manifold get welded back together! Mark did remember the guys at Diamond working on the magnesium cross-rams......Bill S

[olredalert]

----Steve,,,I just found out that a guy named Chuck Kurzawa did the welding job on that magnesium intake. He must have been some welder!!! Also, my friend Mark remembered a 68 Hemi Dart that looked very much like the one you had that was around the Detroit area prior to you owning it, but he wasnt absolutely sure.......Bill S