[Durt]

Bought SPF 243 from HOC. I was one of their first SPF customers. The "crate 351" they sold me turned out to be a used boat motor. The threat of legal action quickly remedied the problem & a new "Stage Whatever" 351 was swapped in. It was an unpleasant experience - but strangely, I liked Radke. B.J. not so much. Since they dealt in a lot of used stuff, it was a good place to be able to see & drive the difference between the various manufacturers. They just got in over their heads financially & got into a huge mess taking downpayments on a raft of Johnex cars they couldn't deliver. Dean Woodruff took over the facility and started installing his 418 strokers - the motor I still run. Dean had the best intentions & tried to untie the Johnex knot - but when Hillbank among others got caught up in the titling fiasco (more a result of sales tax avoidance than titling according to what I heard at the time) the whole industry - including hot-rodders like Boyd Coddington had the DMV come down with both feet.
Dean & his partner simply couldn't keep up with the debt load, lawsuits left over from Radke and the tainted paper & VIN numbers on their stock. They went under at least 6 years ago. It was a good group of people for awhile - Stephen Johnstone running his Cobra University - and having the HOC trailer & crew on hand at COCOA events at Willow Springs was a hoot. I threw a rod at one of these events - and Dean ... true to his pledge to fix any of his motors as long as you owned it, rebuilt it free of charge. I personally liked Dean very much and miss the connection.
Other folks might have a different take - but this was my experience.