Help me identify this ch***is..... A good friend of mine tells me about what he thinks might be a model a ch***is he found in the bush a few years ago. Well trying to collect parts for my 31' Ford roadster i'm certainly interested, but of course he won't tell me where it is becase he has plans to do a hotrod one day. Being sceptical i give up h***ling him to show me thinking that its probably an old English car. (This is Australia after all) Anyways he figures that with the bike he's building and the house he's renovating it might be a while before he gets a chance to do a hotrod and since he's my mate and were in the same car club he figures who better to show. Well we trek trough some SERIOUS bush land and reach what looks like an old farm iron dump. Sitting right there at the edge is an old Ford ch***is rusting away free for the taking. Now its obvously not a model a and i'm 90% sure of what i think it is but i'd still like to confirm my su****ions. Those in the know - what year is it exactly. (Forgive the right hand drive) Thanks Docco.
It was weird. There was atleast 7 pedal cars i counted, heaps of really old push scooters and trikes and old bike frames, along with just s**** metal tins, wire etc. Everything was rusted really bad. I bought the best pedal car home but its too far gone to fix. Going to hang it on my garage wall. My mate got a trike thats fixable. I just hope all the brakes, diff and suspension components can be saved.
In US production, 1939 was last year for "wide five" wheels and first year for hydraulic brakes. Brakes of course may have been converted. Cannot be sure of how these features went into service in Australia ... could have been extended into 1940 production there.
Yeah i was thinking 39' Ford or maybe a 40' for the late Australian market just because of the shape of the front axle, hydraulic brakes and the wide five rims. I just wanted some back up to be certain - after all thats what the hambs for right. Anyone else in the know please add you 2 cents as well.
I am thinking it is a 39 frame. I had a 39 and it looked exactly like the one you got minus the right hand drive. Only thing saveable was the X-member and front and rear crossmembers on mine. Yours appears to have more solid framerails. Good luck with the clean-up of the parts. Looking at the lack of rust through it appears most of the parts are saveable also. The only difference I see is in the rear portion of the X-member yours having more holes in it. Great find.-Weeks
Docco, check the pedal ***embly. If the clutch arm is on the INSIDE of the frame (closer to the driveshaft) its a 39. If its on the outside (closer to the inside frame rail) then its a 40.
To narrow it down a little more, it's a '39 pickup frame. Essentially the same thing as the '39 car except that the car has body mounts riveted to the outside of the rail that are omitted on pickups.
THat frame has the body mounts so it should be a 39 p*** car, but again it is Australia so who know what it was?
This place is genuinely a sacred iron graveyard. There are many interesting bits and pieces at rest here. These range from the pedal cars and trikes that docco speaks of to yesteryear carbys, manifolds and hubcaps. Although not as interesting as the ford ch***is, here is a couple of photos of the trike I scored. My 2 year old will be king of the footpath when its done. It must be from early years as well due to the fact its rivited together.
39 ford. Unless the rear kickup is higher that what you find on the Wescott drawings - if its bigger - its a pilot ch***is, and has little interchangeability with a US based Ford ch***is. One easy way to tell - pilots have mechanical rear brakes.
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