Who founded Edelbrock Corporation in 1938?

Vic Edelbrock founded Edelbrock Corporation in 1938. His effort to improve the performance of a 1932 Ford Roadster turned a repair-garage project into a major American performance-parts company.

Edelbrock was born in Kansas in 1913 and moved to California during the Great Depression. After working as a mechanic, he operated repair shops in the Los Angeles area. In 1938, he bought the Ford roadster and began developing a better intake manifold for its flathead V8 engine.

That work led to the Slingshot manifold, Edelbrock’s first product bearing the company name. Its success showed that hot rodders wanted specialized, performance-focused components rather than only factory replacement parts. The business later expanded into manifolds, cylinder heads, carburetors, camshafts, crate engines, and other components.

Vic Edelbrock Sr. died in 1962 at age 49. His son, Vic Edelbrock Jr., then became president and guided the company for decades. The father’s 1938 founding date is therefore distinct from the later growth associated with his son’s leadership.