Manafre intake?

[White Stripe]

MAN-A -FRE 292 230 250 CHEVROLET 6 CYLINDER MANIFOLD WITH MAN-A-FRE CARBURETORS | eBay

This is a 3 x 2's MAN A FRE intake manifold and MAN A FRE LARGE modified Rochester carburetors to fit a 194 through 292 Chevrolet 6 cylinder. The carbs will all need to be rebuilt as this has been setting on a shelf since the early 70's.

www.ebay.com

Is this for a 2f?

 

[pjohnson]

That's cool. Put it on one of those Mosely Motors hot rod 2f motors.

I never heard of Man a fre making anything not Toyota.

 

[JohnnyC]

For a Chevy ... man-a-fre during 60’s early 70’s did more than lcs... it was a bit flooded with others doing Chevy and other USA make hot rod stuff ... they went Lc and dropped the other stuff in 80’s afaik

@Downey would have the whole scoop most likely

 

[pjohnson]

Thanks @JohnnyC
I started my LC habit in the late 90s.

 

[POTATO LAUNCHER]

Been around a long time. Cool history with Man A Fre. Rumor has it that this was the intake manifold on Milners Coupe from American Graffiti.

 

[Downey]

Actually I believe Harold Graves (original Man-A-Fre owner) worked for/or with Offenhauser, and I known he did Chevy stuff before Landcruiser stuff.

 

[65swb45]

I never met Harold, but when I met Mary Lou (his widow) in 1985, she told me he learned sand casting in the army, and named his business for MANifold-FREe induction sysytems. All types.

 

[Rocky_LC]

Here's the "Real Deal" on Harold Graves' start up of Man-A-Fre… This is from a guy named Tim Bowman (Timbow) who worked with Harold back in the day. After seeing a similar induction system to the one described above on Hemmings, I emailed and asked...

"Hi Tim...

I’m a Land Cruiser guy and I never knew that Man-A-Fre made these multi-carburetor carburetor setups. I guess this is what started the company?

How did it branch out to supporting Land Cruisers?

Thanks"

He (Timbow) replied with this information:


MAF started in about 1957.

California emissions restrictions were rearing their heads by the very late sixties. These restrictions would put a damper on the multiple carburetor field. Harold Graves, Man-A-Fre owner, saw the writing on the wall and branched out to the Toyota Land Cruiser off road accessories. By 1977 when Harold died, MAF was entrenched in the off road business and operating in Simi Valley, CA. by family members.

The family sold the business later to what is now the company operating in Henderson Nevada. (ed. now B.T.B.)

I worked and trained alongside Harold from 1964-1969, then military service, then part time until 1977. I’ve never lost interest in the Man-A-Fre and continue to build them (ed. the original Multi-Carburetor Inductions for the old school hot-rod motors) today here in Lincoln, Nebraska. Harold’s son worked for the company later after Man-A-Fre plate production had stopped so he did not build any. I’m the last surviving employee of the original Man-A-Fre that worked for Harold.

I have a nice blog about him at oldschoolinduction.com.

951-377-2245

See some of my goodies there too. Thank you.

Timbow


I asked about inductions for a couple of different engines (351 Cleveland, and a 440 Chrysler), and got some more good & interesting information:


They (ed. Multi-Carburetor Inductions) were made for the 289, 302’s. Nowadays you can get a 347” Ford block from a rebuilder that is based on an acceptable 289/302 core. Lots of these around, MAF’s really wake them up. They bore and/or stroke it. The windsors and clevelands were altered. A Man-A-Fre plate doesn’t fit.

The only Chrysler unit I have is an 8 deuce unit to fit a Hemi. I have two up at Hemmings that are similar to those on my website.

There was a MAF made for the old Toyota but I’ve not seen one in years. I’ve got pictures somewhere. If you find any MAF assemblies or plates feel free to contact me, I can appraise pics. Especially Pontiac V-8’s or the old Ford 427 V-8.

Bear in mind that Harold Graves died in 1977 and with him all that knowledge. So now fifty+ years later the scoffers and naysayers are numerous.

Pick through the community smartly - there are some out there with correct information.




Anyway - if people are interested, I thought the oldschoolinduction.com website was a good one!

Rocky

 

[JohnnyC]

@Rocky_LC

Great information.... thanks for sharing all that... look forward to reading over the site you posted !!!

Thank you

 

[65swb45]

MAF moved from Northridge CA to Agoura. Simi did not happen until the late 90s, maybe even early 2000s. When I met Mary Lou in the late 80’s, she was in the process of selling MAF to Paul Branham. I may even yet have a catalogue that says “Paul Branham’s ManAFre”

Anyhow, the sale to Paul didn’t work out. That’s when Al came in, Mary Lou’s other son in law. @lcwizard can take it from there.

 

[lcwizard]

I started selling to Al shortly after he took over. The daughters, Kaye and Laura, had split into competing businesses. Kaye married Marv Specter, Laura married Al .
Marv had worked for Man-a-fre while Mary Lou was still running it. He and Kaye went their own way to start Specter. Al and Laura continued with Man-a-fre.
I was already a 40 owner and building my own stuff because, frankly, the aftermarket situation for 40s was bare. Outside of a few ConFerr products most was pretty boring. I didn't want Land Cruisers going the way of the Scout so I introduced the Aussie Grill guard and a simple rear bumper rear. I approached Downey, Man-a-fre
and Specter. Only Al was responsive. Marv still leaned toward stock parts. Al's catalog was so lean when he took over, he jumped at the chance. I continued adding product every year for the next 20 years until the bank crash. I was building as many as 125 different items for him. The crash set the industry back a couple decades.
Downey closed , Al sold. BTB has held on with the Man-a-fre name and slowly built it back into contention but not without a lot of struggle. The future of the Cruiser industry will probably be in small shops. The day of the mega store is numbered. Manufacturing here is too expensive and the kids aren't looking at a day
of welding, grinding and sweating the same way they did 20 years ago. The internet has opened up a whole new way of working without the exercise. Every time i talk to my 19 y/o employee it scares the hell out of me.....sugar babies aren't just a candy anymore

 

[Downey]

Adding to lcwizard's post above, We found that the Landcruiser aftermarket parts/accessory market always was sooooo limited that Landcruiser parts builders had to build in small quantities, like 20-40 pieces rather than 200-400 pieces. This made Landcruiser parts very expensive, and not made as well due to no automation.
About 6 months before Toyota introduced the new 1979 4WD mini pickup, they gave us two of them and asked us to produce a line of accessories for them, instant availability. Once Toyota started delivering the 4WD mini pickups in 1979, they sold 100,000's, and Downey got to grow up into full CNC automation. This did not increase the sales of our Landcruiser parts, but it radically increased the accuracy/speed of mfg./appearance, etc.. It then became the new start-up dot.com businesses (with zero overhead) that wiped out Downey Off Road Mfg.

 

[MoCoNative]

Good stuff guys, I wish I could meet, or could have met all of you.

My Dad bought his 73 FJ40 in about 1976, was his first 4x4, took him all over. Jump forward, it had become the sit most the year rotting snow plow truck in the yard. It was 1996, he said he would give it to me and help pay for parts if I would do the work. I was 14 at the time, and the plan was to have it done by my 16th bday. First thing we did was send off for all the catalogs, nearest Toyota dealer was 150 miles away. Dad said he used to have to get parts on the Greyhound bus from Denver when he first started driving the 40 cause no one in Craig carried some of the things you needed.

Soon we had the SOR, Man-A-Fre, and Downey catalogs and we poured through them. This is back when the price sheets were still separate pamphlets in some of them, tiny, hard to read font. Aside from those three outlets, we used NAPA for alot of parts, general supplies and such. Even had the infamous UPS strike hit right in the middle of the summer of restoration just days after a large order was put in with MAF. Slowly management moved the packages from CA to CO but it took awhile.

Dad did most the ordering and tech talking, I chatted with Kaye S. once, thought that was kind of cool. I was sad to see Marv go, I had just lost my dad to cancer a couple years before that. Things were just different then, there was no internet, no online resources, no chats, we just dug into the catalogs and the FSM and tore apart the 40 and put it back together. Took 16 months, just past my birthday, but in the end, it was more a restoration than a "resto-mod" Was really pretty the first few years, now 20 some years later, she is showing some age and rust cancer again, but I still drive it.

I see these guys on the board now, I know they are just trying to learn, but sometimes I think they got it so easy. OEM old stock parts are plentiful from multiple vendors now, with full color pictures, tons of unique aftermarket stuff, lots of resources, its just too easy now to find stuff, and get good shops and labor.

I salute you guys, I wouldn't be here in this cruiser addiction without you Jim, and Al and Marv.

 

[JohnnyC]

Marv was the goto for stock parts (dealers sucked back then more than now)

All aftermarket stuff came from con-ferr... Downey... maf

I still have many items on my truck when I had originally bought them ... Downey rear disc brackets have probably 300k on them

Tons of other things I still run ... weber carb conversion parts was from maf ... my Aussie guard from maf the first catalog it was in (lcwizard) helped protect my front end during a bad hw rollover ... my Downey taillight guards protected my rear when a mustang totaled hitting my tail, that was a fun day @stainless 40/45 aka Jim was riding shotgun ... still have a laugh about that... I got a tad of blue paint on my cruiser... she totaled a ford

So many great long lasting and guality parts... miss that ... a lot

I too would not be into cruisers if not for the availability of parts from the big guys .... the knowledgeable people who took the time to explain andget you what u needed not just to make a sale

X2 hats off to u guys for all you did to promote the cruisers and your willingness to make great products

The only one that been around awhile I never really bought too much from was TPI... don’t know why... just always stuck with Marv, maf and Downey

And most of all the friends and camaraderie

 

[lcwizard]

I'm getting long in tooth. I've been telling myself I will be out of the business each of the last 3 years. I keep waiting for someone to step up in the 40/60 circle
so I can move on. Either someone will take the reins or it will just be the end of an era for the 40s.

 

[Rocky_LC]

Thanks, guys for the LC History lesson... good stuff.....

Happy Father’s Day to the Dads out there!