[Bored&Stroked]

Interesting that in at least a couple of the pictures you show, they are of later 49-53 flathead blocks - not the earlier ones. Did Allard put any of those engines in these cars?

A '99A' block is pre-war (first came out in the 39 Mercury) . . . the designation was used for the original 239 cubic inch blocks. I'm not aware of any 99A blocks being produced after 1942.

In the letter where Zora talks about the 99A block, this was probably just following the numerous wives-tales that the 99A block was the best and thickest of the flathead blocks -- I've not found that to be true . . . but it was passed on through the gossip channels for many years. I've sonic tested a lot of blocks and the various claims that "this XXX block was the thickest" . . . or "this was a high nickel casting" claims are just that - stories to pass on.

I have a NOS 99A type block in my 32 Cabriolet - and the only reason is that I wanted to rebuild the car as the pre-war HotRod that is was - so I needed a large displacement pre-war block . . . hence the Mercury or WWII production blocks.

Are you racing it on any of the vintage meets? Is that a goal of yours? If so, I'm sure it would run a lot better with a Hilborn fuel injection setup - but they are really hard to find and very expensive. This is what I'd run with the car - as long as the goal wasn't to make it a street driver.

My suggestion is that if you really desire to put an Ardun back in this car, that you talk to RonnieRoadster or myself at some point - and get an idea as to what the build specs could be, the approximate budgetary costs, etc.. I would definitely try to put an original Ardun in it - as that will be the best as far as value and authenticity is concerned. As many find out, they can "invest" a lot in an Ardun - but few are sorry that they did. (As long as the cost doesn't cause a divorce!). LOL