Rare Hilborn fuel injection
I had a couple of folks walk up to the car at the Grand National Roadster Show, and they were looking very closely at the engine. I asked if they had any questions and they said they were the Hilborn family - Edris and Duane, daughter and son to Stuart Hilborn. Most car people know the Hilborn name, but in case you don't, Stuart was the person that put fuel injection on the map. Here is a history of Stuart's life:
Hilborn History article on Holley Equipment website
Regarding the injection system on the Wicked Shoebox engine, they said they were not sure they had seen this system before. I told them the rumor that it may be one of 3 or 4 that were made back in the 1950s for racing. Supposedly, Bruce Leven (the original owner of this build) said someone at Hilborn found this injection unit in the "back room" at Hilborn's shop. Edris and Duane were very interested in finding out the history and said they would look through their father's old paperwork to try and find the original invoices.
Well about a month later I got an email from Edris that they indeed found the paperwork! She sent over a picture of 3 orders, handwritten in 1956. You can see them below for serial numbers 101, 102, and 103:
I started looking up the history of these 3 units as the paperwork shows who they were sold to. It turns out unit 101 was in the famous 1956 Mercury Mermaid built by Bill Stroppe and raced on the beach at Daytona Speed Week. I didn't find any information on 102, and I found that Hart's Auto in Cecil, OH still exists, though no information on the injection system.
Bill Stroppe’s Mermaid - article on Mac’s Motor City Garage
The key was to find a 3-digit serial number on the manifold installed on the car. Could it be serial number 101, 102, or 103 as on the original orders? I found some numbers/letters in the casting "358-L-8", which Edris confirmed would mean "358 cubic inch", "Lincoln", "8 cylinder". We are not clear why 358 as there was not a 358 cubic inch Y-block made, but maybe one of the initial builds was for a bored-out Y-block that happened to be 358 cubic inches, or it was just a mistake and was meant to be 368. Continuing to look closer, I found "126" stamped on both left and right manifolds.
I provided the pictures to Edris and they went to work. Eventually Don Enriquez found the original build page for unit 126. Turns out it was built in 1960 and originally sold to ATR Power & Speed. I could not find too much information online about ATR Power & Speed, but did run across some mentions of them having a dragster in 1960 racing at Thunderbird Raceway in Henderson, NV.
So, the outcome is that there were at least 26 of these Lincoln Y-block fuel injection units created in the 1950s and 1960s, possibly more. The serial numbers started with 101, and since these were handwritten in a notebook, it would be very difficult to know exactly how many were made. They are rare to come by, but if by chance you are reading this, and you have one, contact me using our contact page and let me know your serial number and I can keep updating this blog article.
Special thanks to Edris Hilborn Snipes, Duane Hilborn, and Don Enriquez for all of their time in researching this!