<About Page>

I've been into Cars and Hot Rods for as long as I can remember. Hot Wheels
of course first, then building models, kit-bashing all sorts of blowers onto engines,
Pirating Chrome Cragar Rims and Centerlines, then somehow trying to turn each
model into a Gasser of some sort! I remember some kits had Flatheads in them,
but no Aluminum Heads and Intakes it seemed, but I recall gluing Superchargers
and Headers onto them anyway. At age 7 this old guy named Jack Richards would
come pick us kids up and cruz us around the neighborhood in ol' Bluey, his Famed
'29 Roadster. It didn't help much that my sister and I had a baby-sitter that drove
us to 4th grade in a '29 Roadster Pickup either!...so the Hot-Rodding bug Bit Big Time!
When I got older I crashed up several cars after the age of 16 (first car was a '69 Nova,
....yeah I know...go figure 'eh?)...mainly because I couldn't afford a Falcon or a Mustang.
None-the-less, it was my First car and I worked on it all the time.
When I was 21 my dad found me a three hundred dollar '49 Ford Pickup. The deal was,
if he bought it, I had to spend the money to re-build the Flathead and other parts for the
Truck. He made me a 4bbl Intake out of the cast-iron stocker, then we hogged out the
runners and exhaust manifolds, she wasn't super fast, but man she sounded good.
I thought I was the coolest guy around in my brick-red Primerd '49 F-1 cruzing around
listening to '50's Music and the occasional Hair-Metal !
Old Jack Richards turned out to be one hell of a Famous Hot Rodder back in the day.
Numerous Races at Bonneville, the Dragstrip in a Fuel Altered and Lots of other
accolades I know I'm forgetting or just haven't heard about. Later on in life, Jack helped
me work on that '49 F-1, I learned more under that hood with him than anyone else.
He's one of the reasons I got so big into Flatheads. Then I joined the Inliners and Flatheaders
in the mid-'90's here in Denver. Jack passed away in 2001, what a great, but sad funeral,
the parking lot alone was it's own car show. But it was sad to lose such a great guy
and fellow Hot Rodder, in fact, if any of you out there recall, that's Jack driving his '29
in the Famous "Discharged" Photo with two of his Naval Buddies. For a neat short-
Story and more info, Check out Mark Morton's HOT UP Volume 7 from 2006, pgs 132-134.
So ever since that '49 F-1, I've been tearing apart old Flatheads and rebuilding them
since the early '90's, along with other engines, 302's, Clevelands and the like.
Since 16, I've had more old cars than I can count! everything from a 5.0 Mustang to a
(dare I say it) V8 Vega, a Pinto at age 18 for a few months is in there somewhere...
but mainly '50's Fords, Several '53's, a '52 Vicky I built a Full Race Merc for, then a
'53 Vicky, and a (pre-Rat Rod) '50 Tudor with a Merc in 'er, dropped front end, black
primer, big'n'littles and Moon Disks.
I'm also still with the Flatheaders and the local Early Ford V8 Club and built their website.

The Name "Go Cat" was inspired by many '50's Songs where you'll here
"Go Cat !" in some lyrics, guys were the 'Cats', women were 'Kittens', plus one
of my favorite Rock-a-billy bands was (and still is) Go Cat Go out of Austin
Texas. So...all of it sort of came to me one day back in 2002. My "cat-in-the
-roadster" Logo was drawn just for me by artist (turned Tatoo-Artist) now living
in LA, Adam Padilla. Back in '99 the (original) Car Kulture Deluxe ran his artwork
with his email address, one thing lead to another and viola! I had him draw me
up a Cool Cat in a Model A Roadster (insistent of course on a Flathead Engine
behind a '32 Shell). I have been building Flatheads since the early '90's and
created Go Cat Speedshop LLC in 2002.
I would like to thank all of those who have allowed me to build them their Engines
and look forward to future Restorers, Customizers and Hot Rodders that insist
on a Go Cat Flathead in their ride.
Check out the other pages on this 'site. I also rebuild Holley '94's and Polish
Aluminum Intakes and Heads plus make my own '97 type Carb Scoops.
Most Flatheads I build are 276 cubic inches or Larger, but can build stock 239's
and 255 Mercs. Email me with a description of what size Flathead you'd like and
what kind of Intake (2, 3, or even 4-deuce), and Heads, '59A style heads like the
Sharps, or 8BA's like Offy's or Edelbrocks. Vintage Original Intakes can also be
used. If Original Heads are used either by me or by you, they MUST be in
excellent condition or NOS to ensure a proper seal to the block with no leakage
around water ports then get skim-milled and measured.
--Eric, Go Cat Speedshop

Great Pride is taken into each build, attention to detail and the use of the best
parts available.
If you're ready to step up to the Cool Factor that IS--Owning and Driving an
American Icon, then INSIST on a Go Cat Speedshop Flathead for your current
or future Rod or Custom

My First real Open House, actually AT my house before my Shop back
in 2003. From Left to right, That's Me, my friend Trevor, Neal East
behind my '28 Roadster, and some Toxic Dead Guy in my car.
The Band is the Mean Eyed Cats !
Everyone else was outside the garage checking out the Cars and
Wiping out the Keg or swing dancing behind the camera guy!

Here's some really cool information about ol' Jack Richards that I mentioned,
That's him in "Bluey", his Flathead V8 powered '29 Roadster back in the early '50's