90 Years of Stromberg Carburetors An old-school hot rodding favorite, its 97 Series carbs are now just the beginning. Text & Photos By Tony Thacker
The Stromberg team, headed by British owner Clive Prew (left), continues to innovate carburetor designs and has expanded into linkage kits and fuel line parts.
Born in England, Tony Thacker is an accredited automotive journalist, author and book publisher, and served as marketing director at the famed SO-CAL Speed Shop.
It’s hard to believe in these days of AI, robotics, 3D printing and other modern manufacturing techniques that there is a business—a good business—still building a carburetor introduced 90 years ago, in 1936. Such is the story of Stromberg Carburetor, which reengineered the hot rodder’s favorite Stromberg 97 model back in 2006.
Stromberg carburetors have been around since the automobile’s earliest days. In 1909, Alfred Stromberg and five others formed the Stromberg Motor Car Devices Company, producing just one brass carburetor a day. By 1928, it was up to 4,000 a day, thanks to a huge staff of nearly 12,000.
In 1929, the company was sold to Bendix Aviation and moved to South Bend, Indiana. From the 1940s until the ’60s you’d find a Stromberg carb on your Buick, Olds, Plymouth or Studebaker, and even some Auburns and Lincolns.
However, by the ’70s, the carburetor’s days were numbered. In the U.S., Stromberg’s last hurrah was the 1974 GMC V-6 truck. In Europe, the name was applied to a Zenith-designed constant-vacuum carburetor and sold to a host of popular brands including Mercedes and Lotus.
The company is blending traditional products and new introductions as it marks 90 years.
FORD PARTNERSHIP
Stromberg’s partnership with Ford started in 1933 with a range of “EE model” two-barrel (2-bbl) carburetors in various sizes. The Stromberg 40 and 48 came with a bigger 1-1/32-inch venturi and a reported air volume of 175cfm. Some Lincolns had a 1-inch, 160cfm-rated LZ version, and Ford’s thrifty little V8-60 motor came with the 81, a smaller version of the 97 with a 0.81-inch throat.
The 97 became original equipment on the Ford V-8 in 1936, and while it was replaced after only two years by the Holley 94 model (according to legend, the Holley was a dollar cheaper), its position was quickly cemented as the hot rod carb of choice for decades to come.
Why? No doubt, ease of availability and racing success played their parts. Where racers led, the street car guys followed—“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
Most early hot rods were V-8 Fords (cheaper, lighter, quicker), so most of those cars came with a Stromberg. And, if you wanted more, you’d find them in junkyards by the bucket. Yes, there were bigger, fancier 2-bbl carbs around on other upmarket cars, but probably not as plentiful.
It’s also worth noting that you could buy a brand-new Stromberg 97 from your local speed shop and even through Ford dealers and parts stores for almost 30 years after Henry dropped them.
For their part, many enthusiasts decided the simple 97 was easier to work with than the Holley 94 series. For starters, they’d say, Stromberg jets are easier to access for tuning—under a plug on the outside rather than deep in the fuel bowl. Also, the 94 power valves are vacuum-activated, so they can rupture in the event of a backfire. With a mechanical power valve activated by the accelerator pump, 97s are also easier to control in multiples.
Every hot rodder knows that more carburetors mean more air, which means more power, so who’s going to be happy with just one carb? It’s no surprise that so many early speed merchants made sure their hot, new, race-proven intakes were designed for 97s. Two, three or even four carbs were commonplace, and companies from Edelbrock to Offenhauser offered intakes for four, six and even eight carbs.
STILL GOING STRONG
Fast-forward to the tail end of the 1990s and the resurgence of traditional hot rods brought on by companies such as the SO-CAL Speed Shop and it was no surprise that, in 2006, the Stromberg 97 became available again. Under the tagline “Just the same – better than ever,” the all-new 97s were exactly that. They were built to original blueprint specs with specific improvements along the way.
Since reintroducing the 97, the Stromberg team, headed by British owner Clive Prew, has extended the range to include linkage kits and fuel line parts. The company also developed a new 116cfm Stromberg 81, as well as the new 750cfm BIG97 tri-power, designed to give small-block Fords and Chevys a traditional look without compromising on performance.
Underlining this fact, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) recently sanctioned the “new” 97 for multiple period-correct carb assemblies on vintage sports cars.
In 2025, I had the opportunity to test-drive Stromberg’s demonstrator, a 1955 Pontiac Safari wagon with a Tri-power setup on its rebuilt 287. Over a period of six weeks, I covered 5,000 miles—much of it towing my hot rod on a trailer. The wagon never stuttered or failed to start and achieved about 12 mpg when towing. Without the trailer I often saw 20 mpg.
Stromberg introduced its e-FIRE line of electronic distributors in 2016, starting with the so-called “crab”-style, front-mount ignitions for 1932-48 Ford V-8s in both original 6-volt positive and updated 12-volt nega-tive versions.
The company-branded coils, “old-school” coil brackets and plug wire kits complete the circle.
Hot on the heels of the original e-FIRE line, it developed a drop-in, two-wire electronic distributor for 1949-53 Ford 8BA V-8s, again with no need for a separate control box.
Unlike the stock Ford 8BA Load-O-Matic distributor, the new e-FIRE has no special vacuum requirements, so builders can swap that old Ford carburetor for a new Stromberg 97.
Marking its 90th anniversary, 2026 has seen Stromberg launch an all-new vacuum advance distributor for small- and big-block Chevrolets. Distributors for small-block Ford, early Cadillac and Pontiac models are already on the drawing board, and in development are new distributors for early VWs and flathead Model A/B/C Ford four-cylinder engines.
It’s amazing to think that a somewhat insignificant 90-year-old carburetor continues to have such an impact on the automotive community, from the street to the track.
Strombergs have built a reputation as being easy to work on and readily available from multiple outlets.
