O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle July 17

Richard; I thoroughly enjoy these posts that you do weekly & appreciate the work involved.

I agree, Richard.  I look forward to these posts every week.  You do a great job on them.

 

Art

I would add my thanks as well. The preparation work to make a weekly presentation always interesting requires a good deal of effort.

 

I don't have any vehicles that fit this week's topic or I would have posted a photo of it.

The '49 Ford was a milestone in Detroit styling. It got rid of the tanklike look of the previous generation. My parents had a Ford from that era, but I don't recall exactly what year. Probably a '50 or '51. Curiously, my father was working for Chrysler at the time. They traded it in on a '53 Chevy when my father changed jobs, moving to Chevrolet Engineering.

 

Models of the '49-'52 Fords are common, but I wish someone would make a 1/43 version of the 1953-54 Ford. At the time I thought that was a good-looking car, with much better and more streamlined styling than contemporary Chevys and Plymouths. One of my high school buddies had one, and I remember helping him work on it. 

 

Here are three '49 Fords. If I remember correctly, they are from Ertl, American Heritage, and Minichamps. The American Heritage model is much more detailed than the Ertl and can be found for only a few dollars more than the Ertl ones go for on eBay. The convertible on the right is part of the Ford 100th Anniversary series.

 

And here's the competition. Three 1950 Chevys by Solido and a '48 from Brooklin. 

Amen to comments above.  While I know a little about cars, I always learn something

new and find something interesting in these posts and the responses they generate.

When in high school I had a friend with a '52 Ford who had a later OHV Ford V-8 engine swapped into it.  I did not know Lincoln had an OHV V-8 as early as 1952.

I had a high school  teacher who drove a Zephyr? coupe with a V-12, and did not know what Lincoln used after that...I assumed a side valve V-8.  As a kid I had a ride in a circa 1949 Ford owned by my dad's train crew work buddy.  Since I had ridden in nothing but assorted family Chevrolets, and a Packard and LaSalle prior to that, I still remember it as it seemed foreign at the time.  It was my first remembered ride in a Ford.

Collector Classics (Buby)offered '53 Ford hardtops & convertibles. You may find one on e-bay

In rereading, I am a little confused by the mention that Ford trucks got "the new V-8 first", in 1948.. was this the OHV V-8?  If so, I can see it setting off the scurrying around in GM and MoPar camps to produce new OHV engines, which I think of as appearing in Chevrolets and Plymouths in 1955.  However, didn't Cadillac as well as Olds have an OHV in 1949?  The Ford truck engine beat that date?  But Ford, including Lincoln, did not have one in cars until 1952?  I vaguely remember in my

first new car show, seeing a Dodge with a new "hemi', small, V-8, which I THINK was

in 1953 or 1954?  Did Chrysler beat the 1955 date for Plymouth with OHV V-8's in their more upscale cars...Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler.

Wonderful stuff, Richard.  You do your homework on your reporting. Keep it up!

 

One little comment that I wanted to make regarding all of Ford's division's products was the design of the V8 and V12 engines.  All of these were known to run "hot", especially in hot weather.  The reason for this was that the exhaust gasses, on these flat head engines, was routed through the block, alongside the cylinder chamber to the opposite side of the engine, where they exhausted to the manifolds.  Since this hot exhaust, right out of the combustion chamber, ran for some six to eight inches before leaving the block, a lot of heat was transferred to the water jackets. 

 

If you compare the engine layout to other flat head V-8, V-12 or V-16 engines, they all exhausted right into an exhaust manifold located in the valley between cylinder banks. Good example was the Cadillac engines of the mid-1930's until 1949.  These engines ran much cooler because the exhaust path through the block was much shorter.  However, they also had their share of heat related problems because the exhaust manifold was now located next to the carburetor where it could heat up and boil the gasoline and cause a vapor lock.

 

When the Hot Rod boys began replacing the flat head engines with new, modern, overhead valve designs, such as the small block Chevy, that oversize radiator had too much cooling for the new engine and it actually became a problem to get the engine up to proper operating temperature.

 

I recall driving out West through the mountains with my parents in 1949 and 1951 (with our 1947 Nash Ambassador) and seeing numerous Ford drivers pulled off the side of the road with a rising geyser of steam pouring from under the hood.  Who needed to go all the way to Yellowstone to see steam?  You never wanted to remove the radiator cap from one of those babies until the engine cooled down substantially.

 

Wouldn't it be neat to build a 1950 era Ford with the hood up and a smoke generator mounted below to simulate an overheated car?  Good place to park one of those tow trucks along with a mechanic.   Now there would be realism!

 

Paul Fischer

CO Hi:  That 1949 Lincoln ('48 Ford Truck) engine was still built as a flat head engine.  It was large, for it's time) at 337 cu in, but it was the same as the Ford prewar designs.  The new Olds and Caddy V8's, were not only OHV engines, but they were considered "square" engines; that is the bore and stroke were almost equal or in some cases the bore was actually larger than the stroke.  The Ford truck engine, then used on the Lincoln family of cars, was still thought of as a "lugger" with the stroke considerably longer than the bore diameter.

 

As you mentioned, the first Ford "modern" design did not appear until 1952 in the newely redesigned Lincoln.

 

Paul Fischer

Richard

 

Thanks. I think I must have had a brain lapse when I wrote that, because now that you mention it, I think I have one or two each of the CC Ford and Mercury models stashed away in a box somewhere in my workshop with the DeSotos. As I recall Buby/CC even made the hardtop with the tinted glass panel. 

- SWH

Richard, being a car guy I find your posts and the responses to them very interesting and fun to read, thanks for doing the chronicles!

My family owned '47, '52, and '59 Fords back in the old days.

The 1948 V8 used in Ford Trucks and early post war Lincolns was a larger displacement all new flat head. I was not much differant than other Ford V8s

 

Here is a list of post war OHV

 

1949  Cadillac

        Oldsmobile

1951  Chrysler

         Studebaker

1952  DeSoto

 

1953  Dodge

 

1955   Pontiac

         Chevrolet

         Packard

         Plymouth

         Nash (used Packard V8)

         Hudson (used Packard V8)

1956  Nash used AMC V8 after March 1956 and Packard V8 before march 1956

         Hudson used AMC V8 after March 1956 and Packard V8 before march 1956          

The Lincoln Model K engine was as you described and expensive to build. The Ford Flathead and Zephyr V12s were more economical but had a tendency to over heat.

A buddy of mine restored a 5o Ford Woodie but could not solve the Over heating problem. He finally replaced the engine with another.

 

I Like your idea. The Franklin Mint 1/43 Ford Woodie has an opening hood and is the same color as my buddy's