Jack Engle

Jack Engle is a Canadian-born American hot rodder, camshaft grinder, and engine builder.

Jack Engle
NationalityAmerican
BornJune 16, 1920[1]
Regina, Saskatchewan
DiedNovember 14, 2008 (aged 88)[2]
Santa Monica, California
For the novel by Walt Whitman, see Life and Adventures of Jack Engle.

History

Engle was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1920, to parents who were American citizens. He was an only child. His father, a construction contractor, moved the family to Santa Monica, California, a few years later.[3] Engle attended Venice High School, then Santa Monica City College.[4]

Engle's first car was a 1926 Chevrolet, fitted with an Oldsmobile cylinder head (a simple, common conversion at the time), which he bought in 1937.[5] He went to work for North American Aviation as a machinist, and was drafted into the United States Navy, where he did maintenance work on the Packard 4M-2500 engines of PT boats, aboard a PT boat tender in the Philippine Islands.[6]

When the war ended, he went back to NAA, but developed a sideline, working on car engines, starting with those of fellow members of his car club, the Low Flyers, which included Stu Hilborn and "Magoo".[7] By 1947, Engle was setting out on his own.[8]

While Engle was doing routine service, he was also doing custom cam grinding, and was prospering enough he could focus entirely on that side of the business, beginning in 1950, building hot rod and racing engines.[9] He would later establish Engle Cams.

By 1993, Engle was semi-retired, still living in Santa Monica, leaving his sons to make most of the business decisions.[10]

Private life

In 1949, Engle married a local waitress named Ona, who worked around the corner from his shop.[11] He has two sons: Don, 40, and Mark, 31.[12]

Notes
  1. "John Harrison Engle". United States Social Security Death Index. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  2. "John "Jack" Engle 1920- 2008". Engle Cams. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  3. Griffin, Mike. "Where Are They Now: Jack Engle", in American Rodder, June 1993, p.126.
  4. Griffin, p.126.
  5. Griffin, p.126.
  6. Griffin, p.126.
  7. Griffin, p.126.
  8. Griffin, p.126.
  9. Griffin, p.126.
  10. Griffin, p.126.
  11. Griffin, p.126.
  12. Griffin, p.126.


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