[tubman]

Must have been in the early eighties. I was out of the hobby from the late sixties to 1987 when I bought my '51 coupe. By then, used flahead speed equipment was already going up in price; a decent set of used heads was $200, and a dual manifold was $75-$100. I got tired of looking at corrosion and stripped threads, so I bought a new set of Offenhauser's from Speedway for $475, I think it was. They're $1600 a pair now. They're still on the shelf because I found a set of Edmunds heads, learned about their superior plug location, and never looked back. Paid $300 for the first set I bought and $800 last year.

Used early hemi stiff was still pretty cheap, though. By the time I got one of those, that was over, too.