What is Bob doing in USA? Visit to Engle camshafts and TriMill exhaust

Last week I visited plenty of suppliers and customers and yes some cool projects are “in the works”. But I save you the boring stuff…

I paid also visit to our supplier So Cal Imports, who make the Engle camshaft and TriMill exhaust…

So Cal Imports is ran by Andy and his wife Candaces. Two of the best people you can meet in your life!

The factory tour was real nice and I learned a lot…

Engle Cams was founded by Joe Engle in the forties as he wanted better cams for his Flat Head engines to race the salt lakes…

It turned into a bussines and an expansion to Volkswagen was just around the corner in the sixties with so many beetles around and too many young blood testerones that want to make their babies faster…

So Joe bought more and more machines and specilised into cams with an experience never seen elsewhere.

When Joe passed away Andy took over the machines and the entire Engle team moved to his premises in Carson, California, where they still grind and treat the Engle cams  till today!

This is the treasurie of Engle cams.

All dies to put on the copygrinders,

Every ring you see is a different cam lay out…

…. and there is three cabinets like this…

Copygrinders are very intersting machines…

People who know me definitely understand I spend quite some time there …:)

42year of experinece grinding cams… irreplacable…

Many machines not frequently used been packed in plastic to stay clean and free from dust and moisture… good work starts on a good machine!

What brings us to TriMill,

Started by John Miller many moons ago who had three sons, (hence TRI MILL….)

Some excenter presses to make the side covers for the silencers…

This guy welded more silencers in his life as probably anybody on planet earth, unfortunately he will retire in February…

With this result…

To properly stack away for the next step….:)

So many processes have to go through…

These are the tube benders.

I want to say a BIG BIG Thank you to Andy and his team to show me around and explain me all details, SO-Cal is a beautiful company. They make a genuine product as proven above!

From your local guy here to you, all the best!

3 Comments

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  1. From the desk of Mark Engle, Former President of Engle Racing Cams, and youngest son of Jack Engle. Few corrections here, My fathers legal name is John Engle, but he went by Jack for the hot rod industry and his friends. He started grinding Engle Cams in 1941, and through the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s primarly ground cams for domestic V-8 engine for everything from Top Fuel to tow trucks. We started VW’s in the mid 60’s, but our primary focus was V-8’s which we set countless records, championships, including the first 300mph run with Kenny Bernstein. Jack had his 2 sons, Doug, and Mark involved with the company until he could no longer run the show. Doug Engle Sold Engle Cams to So Cal Imports, Andy Shouse in 2009 and the rest of your story is close enough. VW’s did become one of our biggest sellers and I believe we were and maybe are the biggest VW Cam Grinder in the world. Sincerely, Mark Engle

  2. Hi Mark, nice to learn to know you. Thank you very much for this piece of history, I didn’t know that. BBT sells ENGLE cams from day one we’re opened in the gardenshed of my parents home soemwhere along the back roads of Antwerp a mere 35 years ago.
    We sell most Engle cams from them all outside USA. You can ask Andy…:)
    No other cam work in a Volkswagen as an Engle cam does…
    We will see how we can incorporate this piece of history in our catalogs.
    You can be proud on your family name, it made a lot of engines go!
    Thanks for your contribution
    Bob

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