Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Mystery Valve Cover for my 216

Greetings Inliners . . .

I have got my hands on a rather unusual valve cover for my 216.

It is sand cast aluminum, and pretty beefy. In the middle of the flat on top in raised letters of the casting it reads:

C. A. W.
4851 W. Hayward Pl.
Denver Colo.
Pat. Pend.

I have been trying to research it and have come up dry. Anybody out there know anything about this piece and/or the manufacturer?

I plan to use it on my restification and it sure would be nice to know the story.

stock49

I've got a C.A.W. valve cover myself. I picked it up at a swap meet in Oklahoma some years back. My next store neighbor lived in Denver for a number of years and tells me that part of town is kind of a warehouse-industrial area. Tom Langdon also has one of these valve covers, or at least, had one. I know of two other people that have one also. One of those people is Chris Lieb and he speculates that perhaps a trucking firm had the covers made up to put on their fleet of trucks. I'd say a pretty good guess, but who knows why. Maybe tappet noise?

Thanks for the reply 6's/texas . . .

So the guess is that CAW is the Trucking Company -- not the company that did the castings?

I can believe it when comes to supressing tappet noise . . . the casting a good 1/4" thick!

stock49

I have one on my 40 chev,261. It is real buff, keeps the leaks to a minimum. I had mine polished even though the casting is rough...looks good. I understand the name is Colorado Auto Works. Probably cast in the early 50's. Might check with Joe U. TPN

I found one in a yard in Greeley, hoping it would fit my GMC 302, no deal, since it is for a Chevy. I did look into the CAW, and the address. I don't remember the gentleman's name, but those were his initials, since he owned the home at that address. He and his family have been gone for a long time and I couldn't find any heirs in the phone book.

I seem to recall that neighbors said all the goodies (to us, junk to others) was sold off or hauled to the dump. Sorry.

It is a good quality product, shouldn't be too hard to make copies for both Chevy and GMC. Wasn't there an gentleman a while back who said he had access to a foundry?

While we have the time, the gentleman who has all the molds for Ellis manifolds lives in Denver and I have been trying to get him to see if he would make some ones. Any interest? Let me know.