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The Team has acquired a Canadian built 1930 roadster with a powerful 24 hp engine. The engine has now been stripped and some remedial work has to be performed prior to serious driving. The chassis appears to be straight and rust free and makes a great basis to start work from. The remainder of the running gear and gearbox appear in reasonable order. All necessary components and engineering are readily available either in the UK or from the USA. A period of eighteen months is required to fully prepare and test the cars. The Ford Model T was the stalwart of the early twentieth century motoring industry. Between 1909 and 1927 over 15million Model T's were built. However, by 1926 sales of the Model T were dropping dramatically as the demands of the public required more sophisticated and reliable transport with more power and comfort. Ford stopped production of the Model T in May 1927 soon after the 15millionth car came off the production line. In a period of only eight months Ford had built the first rolling chassis of the Model A, a brand new power plant and completely revised brakes and transmission. The first
production cars were offered on sale in December 1927 and overall 3.25 million
Model A's were produced before production stopped in August 1931. The engine was
a four cylinder 200-cubic inch L-head producing over 40 horsepower at 2200rpm.
The wheelbase was 103.5 inches, tread was 56 inches and clearance 9.5 inches.
The car weighed in at between 2000lbs and 2500lbs, had a ten gallon tank as an
integral part of the cowl and could be bought for as little as $395. Bagnold and his team made extensive use of the Model A Ford. They used a cab on chassis with a purpose built cargo area designed to be a tight fit for the fuel crates. For our expedition we will use the traditional Model A Ford Pickup truck with a light steel cargo body. |
