1921 Olds 4-cylinder

[Pat Minarick]

Does anyone know were the distributor is for the engine in Beverly Hillbillies car? The plugs are on the drivers side but I have no clue were the distributor is .

[Ace-Garageguy]

This is a '22 Olds model 43 engine. Does it look like yours? I believe the Hillbillies car started as a model 46, and I don't know the differences. If the engine in the kit has a valve cover and exhaust manifold similar to this, it's a good bet it's the same engine design.

EDIT: Apparently, the model 46, which the Hillbillies car is supposedly based on, had an L-head V8. If it's a 4-cylinder in your kit, it almost HAS to be the model 43 shown below, assuming Barris, the builder of the TV car, actually used an old Oldsmobile engine.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Pat Minarick]

YES ! Thank you .

[Art Anderson]

The Beverly Hillbillie's Truck is a 1921 Oldsmobile Model 43A, which could be had with either the 4-cylinder (made by Northway, IIRC) or a new V8 engine. In a book I once had, by George Barris in which he described the various TV and movie vehicles they built, the BHB truck wasn't modified particularly, rather just cleaned up, engine given a tuneup, and the various props added to it. It is a 4-cylinder car, actually and still exists, in the the Ralph Foster Museum on the campus of The College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Missouri.

Art