1949
Ford Prefect
Out
of 18 responses only 7 were correct.
The
following people got the answer correct:
COLIN
FRANKLIN (Auckland, New Zealand),
Uma Shanker G (Tiruchirapalli, India),
Prem Kotian, Sameer Naik, Hemant, Dipan, Ashwin Dias.
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The
information about the 1949 Ford Prefect
car was provided by Mr.B.J.Ram Rao who is an avid auto enthusiast
and has participated and won almost all the Spot Car Contests
that we have run.
You
can contact Mr.B.J.Ram Rao at -
ramrao@bajirao.com
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1949-52
Ford Prefect
This charming sidevalver was built by Ford of England at Dagenham,
Essex. These cars have come to be known as the "Upright Fords"
due to their rather tall and narrow, or upright look.
It
was powered by a 4 cylinder 1172 cc side valve engine that developed
30 bhp. The rather small differential with a final drive ratio
of about 5.5:1 delivered 10 hp to the road wheels which were
shod with 5.00x16 tires. Naturally, if you got stuck going up
Khandala it would not pull away from a standstill and you would
have to reverse back to the bottom of the current slope and
start again. All hills had to be attacked flat out. 1st and
2nd gears had no-synchromesh, so gear changes called
for double declutch and jam, at peak revs to make progress.
The
engine had no water pump, but relied on a thermo-siphon cooling
system (the expansion of the coolant itself would force coolant
to circulate through the system). It was common to see a steamy
Ford Prefect after a hard drive pull into a petrol bunk, cool
off for 30 minutes and have its radiator refilled. The engine
had poured babbitt main and rod bearings. The engine
also lacked an oil filter. At sustained high speed 70 km/h it
would build up crankcase compression and throw out the oil through
the back main into the clutch. The car could be coaxed to 100
km/h for a brief while but would quickly overheat and mess itself
up with oil.
For
suspension, the car had a beam front axle, transverse semi-elliptic
leaf springs front and rear - like the Ford Model T. Shock absorbers
were the Armstrong lever type. There were no anti-roll bars.
These cars had Girling mechanical brakes using rods and
levers, which were barely adequate when all was in perfect order,
unless you had a particularly heavy foot.
The
Prefect had an interior in Bakelite imitation wood and imitation
leather PVC seats The car had 6 volt electrics. Its wipers were
operated off engine vacuum, which meant the wipers would
slow down while going uphill.
Ford Prefect was also a platform for Bombay taxis which can
be seen in Hindi movies of the fifties.
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