Ed Iskenderian

Ed on a garage roof holding a crescent wrench. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky in an alley behind his house at 4807 W. Adams Avenue in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Jimmy Naim's roadster photographed in front of Isky's garage. Ed is behind the tire, while John Athan is checking the front end. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

After tilting Ed Iskenderian's 1924 Ford over to pour lead in the exhaust ports before bolting on the overhead valve heads, Isky and his buddies couldn't resist a little clowning around. According to Ed, the victims were his brother Luther in the car and friend Herman Lamb on the ground. They would pour lead in the exhaust ports and then drill a hole for the push rods. This would supposedly help the engine run cooler. Photo from The Bungholers of Hollywood Photo Collection.

Isky with his motorcycle. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

A young Ed decked out in his army air corps uniform. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky in front of Mercury Tool & Die Company in 1942. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Ed set a record for the Army Air Corps of 2000 sit-ups. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Ed's Air Corps friends near Santa Ana Air Station. Godfrey, Coney and Ed. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Mark Cravens, Harry Todd, Don Naim, John Athan and Ed at a WWII reunion at Earl Carroll Theater in Hollywood in 1944. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Ed Iskenderian's 1924 Ford Model T Roadster

A homemade 4X2 intake manifold that Isky built for the T. He said it didn't work very good. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky riding his big wheel bike in the Golden Jubille parade on Woodward Avenue in Detroit in 1946. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky: Ed Iskenderian and the History of Hot Rodding - Check price and availability on Amazon.com.

"Dr" and Ed somewhere on Harper Dry Lake. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky at the Salt Flats next to an unknown bellytank. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky at the 1956 Bonneville Nationals. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Isky grinding a cam for C-T Automotive at the 1956 Bonneville Nationals. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Ed with SEMA Trophy in 1973. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

Ed using Edelbrock's dyno to seeing how a cam performed. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

A T-shirt from Isky's 93rd birthday party. Photo courtesy of the Bungholers Car Club.

A photo of Ed taken at his 100th birthday party in 2021. It was a great party, with somewhere between 5-600 people attending. Photo courtesy of John Iskenderian.

Edward "Isky" Iskenderian of Los Angeles, California. Ed was a member of the Bungholers of Hollywood car club.

The name Ed Iskenderian is a legend among racers worldwide. Ed’s life history parallels the proverbial success story. He was born in 1921 in the grapevine country of Tulare County, California. His future as a winemaker never materialized because several heavy frosts destroyed the vineyards. These conditions forced the Iskenderian family to move to Los Angeles. While attending Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles, Ed’s pet project was building a Model T Ford roadster. Ed learned the fundamentals of mechanics by working with the Model T Fords and later adapted the overhead conversion by Frontenac (more commonly known as Fronty), as well as the George Riley head known to the racers in those days as the “multi-flat head.” Experiencing repeated crankshaft failure, Ed began searching for an engine with a stronger lower end. He examined the Ford Model A and B and found them to be only slightly stronger than the Model T. Turning his attention toward the later Ford V-8 flathead engine, he found the crank to be much more rugged with larger bearings and a counter balanced crankshaft. He installed special Maxi “F” type cylinder heads (with overhead exhaust valves) and slingshot intake manifold Ed had the combustion chambers in the heads cast iron filled and he then re-contoured the combustion chambers as advised by his good friend Ed Winfield. The actual compression ratio turned out to be a whopping 13: 1, an extremely high ratio for the early days of hot rodding. This was Ed Iskenderian’s first hot rod and it still occupies a corner of his plant today. After graduating, Ed obtained mechanical experience working as an apprentice tool and die maker. This is where Ed developed the skill and experience of always striving for quality and perfection. His career was interrupted by WWII. Because of his interest in speed, Ed decided to try his hand with an even faster vehicle and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He served with the Air Transport Command, repeatedly flying supplies to the islands of the Pacific. After his war time absence, Ed lost no time in getting back to his hot rod and getting it ready for California’s dry lake bed meets. When rebuilding his V-8, he wanted to obtain a special camshaft. However, the boom had hit hot rodding and there was a great deal of business for the few racing camshaft manufacturers on the west coast. Their production schedules were taxed, which resulted in slow delivery. During the five month waiting period for his special camshaft, Ed decided to enter the cam grinding business. He bought a used conventional cylindrical grinder. Drawing on his tool making and mechanical experience, Ed converted it to a universal cam grinding machine. This machine produced Iskendrian camshafts with a noticeable improvement in performance over the conventional racing Ford camshafts. Ed’s cams were the first to produce 1 H.P. per Cu. In. on gasoline in postwar OHV V-8 Dodge Hemi’s and 1.3 H.P. per Cu. In. on gasoline in postwar OHV 283 Chevy V-8’s.

Ed iskenderian's Cars

Ed Iskenderian's 1924 Ford Model T Roadster