Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 – November 11, 1962) was an American automotive aftermarket performance parts engineer, racer and is considered one of the founders of the American hot rod movement Victor, known as "Vic", established Edelbrock Corporation in Beverly Hills in 1938 and is the father to Otis Victor Edelbrock, Jr., who was from 1962 to 2010 president and was CEO of the Edelbrock Corporation until 2017. Early years Vic Sr. was born in 1913 in Eudora, Kansas, a small farming community in northeast Kansas. After the family grocery store burned down in 1927, Vic left school at the age of 14 to help support the family by ferrying Model T Fords from Wichita to the many outlying farms in the area. The frequent stops to replace parts that shook loose on the region's dirt roads made Vic an expert in impromptu repair work. Soon after, he found work in a local repair shop, working as an auto mechanic. Vic also picked up extra cash running moonshine for local bootleggers In 1931, the Great Depression hit Kansas, and Edelbrock decided to follow his two older brothers and emigrate to California. Initially, he lived with his brother Carl and took a job as an auto mechanic. In order to earn some extra money to open his own repair shop, Vic took an evening job in downtown Los Angeles parking cars at a large apartment complex. It was a chance encounter at this parking complex where Vic bumped into a 19-year-old Irish girl named Katherine (Katie) Collins, who was working as a day maid. Despite the fact that Katie was engaged, Vic managed to convince her to give him a chance and not marry her fiancé. Vic and Katie married in June 1933, just eight weeks after meeting. Mechanic He opened a repair garage on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The business experienced growth in 1934 and relocated to the corner of Venice Boulevard and Hoover in Los Angeles. Bobby Meeks was hired as an assistant at the age of 15 and would continue to work for Edelbrock his entire life. Between 1934 and the start of World War II, the small repair garage relocated three more times. Vic, Jr. was born in 1936. Two years later in 1938, he purchased a project car, a 1932 Ford Roadster hot rod. For this car, Victor designed and manufactured the first