- Ed Iskenderian, original hot rod hero, 102 years old, was assaulted outside his Southern California home by a robber.
- Isky was taken by his son to the hospital, checked out, and went right back to work grinding cams at his shop in Gardena.
- The Camfather will turn 103 on July 10.
Isky was knocked down, but he is far from out.
Ed "Isky" Iskenderian, original hot rod hero, whose custom-ground camshafts powered generations of race cars to victory, is fine and still going strong at 102. That's the most important thing. But earlier in the week "The Camfather" was assaulted by a homeless person outside his home. Iskenderian took a slug to the left side of his face as the assailant took his phone and fled.
Iskenderian with racing family and friends at Lions.
"A derelict fellow approached him, knocked Ed down and took off with Ed's cellphone," said racing PR professional Doug Stokes, who spoke with Iskenderian. "Ed called the police, and the police used the 'find' feature on Ed's phone to track him down."
The assailant was arrested.
Ed's son took his father to the emergency room, where he was checked out and given a clean bill of health. The elder Iskenderian returned to work in his shop that afternoon and even attended a memorial for drag racing crew chief and team owner Roland Leong at the Lions Automobile Museum the next evening.
Isky posted the following on his Facebook page after the night out:
"Hi, racing pals, I just wanted you to know I was assaulted by a homeless man out in from of my house last Wednesday. The Police came and arrested him, and my son Tim took me to emergency to get checked out. I got a clean bill of health and went back to the Isky Plant later that same day. Then I went to Roland Leong's Memorial the next day at the Lions Museum. You can't keep this Legend down! Thanks for your concerns. The Camfather."
The incident may have left his friends and fans more concerned than he was.
"Ed was far more nominal about it than I was, and that's an understatement," said Stokes. "He sounded fine, said he'll have to be more careful in the future and (since I told him that a lot of his friends were very concerned) asked that I thank them for worrying about him."
Isky's 100th birthday was celebrated July 10, 2021, with at least three parties that we know of. The Petersen Automotive Museum feted him with a hot rod cruise-in in his honor, at which The Camfather ate a few Pink's Hot Dogs, showing you don't have to eat salads to survive that long.
To what does he owe his remarkable longevity, he was asked then?
"I do like onions and hot chili peppers," the legend said, before devouring a couple of Pink's famous chili dogs.
The Isky story is in many ways the story of the American century. Born before the Great Depression, Isky's parents lost their vineyard in the Central Valley of California after several devastating frosts, ending what could have been a career for the young Isky as a winemaker. Instead, the family moved south to Los Angeles and everything changed.
Isky with his namesake hot rod.
It was while in high school in Los Angeles that Isky built the famous black Model T Ford roadster that would define the best of that class of art and engineering. It is simple and elegant, from the laughing skull radiator cap that he cast himself in high school metal shop to the Maxi heads, Edelbrock triple manifold, and Vertex magneto that are still on the car. Notice, also, the timing tag from El Mirage attesting to a top speed of 120 mph. These guys were brave.
Ed served in the Army Air Corps in WWII and returned home to find a dearth of performance camshafts for hot rods, so he bought a used cylindrical grinder that he converted to a cam grinding machine, and the performance car world has never been the same since.
Isky's cams could get more power out of almost any engine "with no penalty." From his famous 5-Cycle cams to the Ultra Rev-Kits with roller cams, Isky cams were the sought-after components for speed, horsepower, and torque. Still are. The company is now run by Isky's sons, Ron and Richard, who are still making performance under the Iskenderian name and reputation.
His shop is still grinding out cams to this day. You can buy as many as you'd like.
Send a get-well card to the legend at: 16020 S. Broadway, Gardena, CA 90248.
Mark Vaughn
Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed the Blue Oval, all its products and everyone who ever worked there. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism. He started writing for City News Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called, creatively, Auto. He decided Auto should cover Formula 1, sports prototypes and touring cars—no one stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show and has been with us ever since.
