The Cal-look Lounge

Mike Fritz brought up a good topic about the  (missing) photo of Dean Lowry that was supposed to be on the back cover of Bill Fisher's famous book. When Keith Seume chimed in and suggested that Vittone perhaps leaned on Fisher to omit Lowry, it caught my interest. Ken Lowry did tell me that they (he and Dean), had some sort of falling out with Bill Fisher, so I picked up my ancient copy of How to Hotrod Volkswagen Engines, and took a look at the contents. To my surprise, there is NO mention of Dean Lowry or Deano Dyno-Soars in that book, despite being published in 1970 - the heyday of the Lowry empire. And it is very pro Empi, and 88mm pistons, and basically slams 92s. In the brief mention of 92s, Bill did not give Deano's credit for the product, but only gave KAL Enterprises credit (whoever they are), and no photos of the 92s. It goes right into the weak points of these pistons (broken ring lands), and how they weaken the case, and break heads when boring them too much. I can't find Dean Lowry's name anywhere in that book, unless I missed it. In the list of 1970 suppliers, no Deano Dyno-Soars - a clear message from Bill Fisher!

So, there you have it. That must have really pissed off Dean and Ken Lowry when that book came out!

And also the Empi display-engine on the front cover. I read the book several times this autumn for my engine project, now you say this I didn't remember any words about DDS too.

It is odd there is no mention of DDS. It seems like DDS got the short end of the stick in many ways, with the Fisher book thing, NPR ripping off their designs, the photographer red light thing....hopefully they at least made some $ in the end after all their innovations.