Watch three stock ’34 Ford roadsters charge 14,000 feet up the grueling Pikes Peak course, setting performance records that would stand for years.

This 1934 newsreel offers yet another testimonial on the power and durability of the Ford flathead V8. Three new ’34 Ford roadsters were sent up the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb course in the hands of three local Colorado Springs drivers, Buster Hammond, Glen Schultz, and Angelo CImino. The Fords shattered the previous  record for stock production cars, set the year before by a six-cylinder Terraplane, by more than 30 seconds. Hammond’s wining time was 19: 25.7, a mark that stood for years.

Reportedly, the Fords were absolutely stock and equipped with the factory high-altitude kit with high-compression cylinder heads and revised carburetor jetting.  Ford’s Denver heads, as they were known, boosted the compression ratio from 6.3:1 to almost 7.0:1 to cope with the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains region. Like the standard components, the Denver heads were cast in aluminum.

As the newsreel shows, the cars were standard production jobs, hauling full fenders, bumpers, accessories, and even spare tires up the mountain with them. While the V8 was rated at 85 hp at 3,800 rpm, here the drivers used up to 4,200 rpm, charging up the hill in first and second gear. Once again we see how for the racing and performance crowd, the flathead V8 opened up a new world of possibilities. Video below.