Weiand (™) Logo
Weiand Automotive Industries, Inc. assured their place in automotive performance history when in 1937 they developed and manufactured the first aluminum intake manifold available to the mass market. Founded by Phil Weiand in the mid 1930’s the company began in California as Weiand Power & Racing Equipment which was a performance parts warehouse. Their first original product was the ‘High Weiand’ the aforementioned aluminum intake manifold. It wasn’t until 1957 that Weiand began to develop complete blower drives for the GMC 6-71 supercharger. There was no turning back from that point. Weiand continued by producing blowers for several of the most popular platforms through the years.
Phil Weiand was an auto enthusiast to the core and his company reflected that. Phil and the company were involved in motor sports the whole way. Weiand products were front and center in many famous dragsters with some big names starting it out like Big Daddy Don Garlits’ Swamprat 1 the Isky-Weiand Special and Lloyd Scott’s Bustle Bomb. In 1963 Weiand Power & Racing Equipment continued to build new roads when they were among the founding members of SEMA (Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association, now Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association).
Phil Weiand lead the company for generations up until 1978 when he passed away. Phil’s wife, Joan Weiand, took over and continued to move the company and industry forward. Under Joan’s lead Weiand introduced a series of Roots type superchargers for popular street applications as well as expanding into the Marine industry. In 1998 the company left family hands when it was sold to Holley Performance, another legend in the industry. Due to their huge impact in the automotive performance industry both Phil and Joan were inducted into SEMA’s hall of fame.
Weiand Automotive is a pioneer in the automotive performance industry. Without Weiand’s advancements the level of performance automotive technology, the racing and the street scene would not be where it is today. Through the years the company has been a leader in the industry with their high quality and innovative designs and parts. Although Weiand is a household name in performance it is also a tricky name. Debates over how to pronounce Weiand have happened more than a few times with popular alternatives being ‘Wee-And’, ‘Weigh-And’ and not pronouncing it at all. For the record, according to the family they pronounce it as ‘Why-And’.
I am assuming that these are a good solid company
Weiand is definitely a good solid company. They produce some great products even beyond the supercharger kits they have.