About Us

 

Here is a brief history to help you get to know the man that started Sandy’s Muffler Shop, which later became Belond Exhaust. He is our Grandfather and our inspiration for bringing Belond Headers back to Hot Rodding.

Shortly after getting his first Model A Roadster and graduating Manual Arts High School in 1937, Sandy opened his first Muffler shop in 1938. He was quickly captivated by the racing going down at the Southern California dry lake beds. He was a member of the Idlers and Road Rebels car clubs. He began to modify his cars to go faster and faster, being one of the first guys to run over 100 mph.

By 1942, Sandy had become a husband and a father and was no longer racing. He was making Headers and Mufflers full time.

In 1944, he was off to train at Camp Pendleton as a member of the USMC. He spent two years in the Phillipines aboard the USS Bronx. According to family lore and the poker chips we still have, grandpa “ran” the card games on the ship, which helped him get back into business when returning in 1946.

Upon returning, Sandy initially worked for Porter Mufflers until he was able to rent the apartment and car lift behind Karl and Veda Orr’s Speed shop. Come 1947, Southern California Muffler Corporation was born and over time grew into Belond Exhaust.

As Belond Exhaust, Sandy eventually had over 2000 dealerships selling the Belond EquaFlow Exhaust Systems. He went on to own and sponsor cars in the Indy 500, eventually winning in 1957 and 1958. As if that wasn’t enough, he was partial owner of Southern California’s Carlsbad Raceway.

Unfortunately he passed away in 1989 when we were just teenagers. In 2014, we discovered his old family photo albums documenting his life’s accomplishments. This is when we learned how cool grandpa really was. These albums have inspired us to locate and acquire as many original Belond Headers that we can find.

The headers you have purchased, are exactly like the ones he would’ve made and used during the early days of Hot Rodding.

As the grandsons of Sandy Belond, we want to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for supporting us in this endeavor to honor our grandfather.