Anyone know what this is?

[JHenke]

A buddy of mine got this Paxton thrown in a deal for free. It's an old Paxton Products (Division of Studebaker) model. There was no sn#. The only numbers it had stamped on it were VS57S and 108350. I'm guessing the second number is the serial. The inlet and outlet are tiny.

Thanks for looking.

[5150 LX]

A relic :D

Sorry couldn't resist, just an off the wall guess but if it's divcsion of Studebaker I bet you that it's an old OEM blower from back in that era. Might bring a chunk of change if someone who's restoring whatever it came off of is looking for one.

[speedytang]

Type in Google Studebaker Club and you will find sites that show the supercharger and even if it is just a shell someone will buy it because parts are still sold for the V57 50years later.

[92lxstang]

The VS-57 was the first blower made by Paxton.

Here is some info on it.... I hope this helps you.:)

In 1956, McCulloch set up a special automotive division, Paxton Superchargers (his middle name), to handle the supercharger division. The same year the company changed the name of the ball drive supercharger to the VS-57 and developed a new variable rate supercharger called the VR-57. The new supercharger incorporated a variable rate internal planetary drive ratio that could alter the step up ratio from 3.5:1 to 5.5:1. The variable rate was achieved by a spring pack that would change the distance between the ball races based on RPM. The supercharger experienced a one-year victory in NASCAR causing officials to ban superchargers in the sport. The supercharger was most notably used as the F-option on the 1957 Ford Thunderbird (211 produced).

In 1958, Paxton Superchargers was sold to the Granatelli brothers. The design of the dated VS-57 was updated to a new model that could withstand higher RPM and increased boost. The SN-60 required fewer components and eliminated the variable rate components found in the VS-57 and VR-57.