"Gowjobs": Depresion Era Performance and Early day hop-up tech

You'd have to get my front mount into a situation like this for it ever to be a factor. There was never a time the spring hit the new mount.



Multi's front mount, much more crown to it than mine. He drove this car from Mentone in So Cal to B'ville.


The Multi car today...

 

Isn't it ironic that the offroad guys spend thousands of dollars to modify their suspension to do what we see in the picture, when all they needed was a T!

 

The original "rock crawler"!

 

Have you ever heard of a guy named Ed Archer? He's very well know in the model T world and has been for 45 years or so. He's got a great T speedster that he and his wife will at the drop of a hat drive 500 or 600 miles to compete in a 200 mile rally.

Anyway, back in the early 70's he and his buddy built a T to resemble the 2 T's that raced in the transcontinental race in 1909 and they raced it in the Baja 1000! Ed wrote an article about each of the two races in the Vintage Ford magazine and they're a great story. I believe the first year they destroyed all the wood spokes in one of the wheels but had made it about half way into the race, passing many well know racers of the time who had already broken down.

The next year, with a good supply of spare spokes, I think the frame broke where the auxiliary trans bolted to it. They had many other failures with the car too, broken springs, steering arms and so on but could fix those little things and continue racing. They would dress in period attire, something which Ed does at all T functions, wear big fur coats and as they would enter each pit, the passenger would strum a ukulele and sing vintage songs.

The next year S.C.O.R.E. wanted them to install a roll bar and wear helmets, so the boys decided to retire the car. It still exists in one of their garages.

I have one of the articles, if anyone wants to read it, I'll scan it and post it up. Doesn't really fit this thread though.

 

X1000 And with less ground clearance, too from the ground to the center of the axle.

 

flyin T, in Hot Rod Deluxe (sept 09) there is A front pic of the Multi T and or MultyT on page 41. it's in the story about the first indoor hot rod show ever, 1948 hot rod exposition.

 

I would really love to see that, even if you don't post it in this thread.

The T really is the mother of all motorsport.

-Dave

 

Agreed. That chunk of steel would retain all of its original strength. I don't think the word "flex" belongs in that sentence, though. How would a T in its normal trajectory and velocity cause such a bridge truss to flex? Joie Chitwood couldn't flex that spring mount.

 

I posted in another thread yesterday that Joel Young raised his own V4F record from 160 to 201 with his T powered streamliner at b'ville.

That thread got buried so I thought I'd mention it here because it's T based and some of you are as nuts about T's as I am. Plus...it's pretty damn awesome.

 

True, but I was referring to steels natural "flex" or "give". As strong as steel is, we all know it can flex. if it is to hard and brittle, it could have the tendency to crack or break rather than flex if it with an impact (chuck hole for example). That was always the way I was taught....I could be wrong.

 

1/2" X 1 1/2" hot rolled steel (of which that probably is) can be easly bent by placing force on it in the middle of two points such as the width of a T frame. A 200 lb guy could stand in the middle and bend it, can you imagine how much force a chuck hole at 35 mph+ has on whole car resting on that piece.

 

Yep, thats what we did on the farm. true to the theme of this thread,.. you fellas remember the theme, don't ya? 30s type gow jobs. few off-the-shelf parts. lots of whatever you had or could scrounge. looks like a lot nicer rendition than the average farmboy work. a frickin' electric hand-drill was uncommon in the average guys toolbox. that mount and the bolts holding on would support 2or3 Model Ts

 

I used cold rolled steel, and 2 200 guys standing on the front of my car couldn't make the mount flex.

 

Ok guys and gals, here is another document from my "archives".

This document is from the NWVS (Northwest Vintage Speedsters) archive and covers Model T aux. overdrives, including all the different models, rebuilding them and making your own "home-built" overdrive from a early Dodge, Chevy or other good 3-speed of the period.

Enjoy!

 

Any how its obvious that your setup works fine and if you are going to be "period perfect" its spot on to what they did in the 20's with their T's. I just get all worked up sometimes because I look at everything from a engineers point of view and you know how anal engineers are. We are so spoiled now with our plasma cutters, welders that we forget how little they had to work with back then.

 

Well, that was kind of the point when I was doing the car, trying to work with the tools that my grand pa had in his tool box in the 20's and 30's, which was surprisingly sparse, incorporating some of the ideas from Fahnstocks books and stuff I liked on other T's of that era.

I'll be the first one to agree that almost anyone could have done it better, nicer, cleaner, newer. I was just after the experience of doing it like they did back in the day. The car was/is very safe and we'd pile our 3 kids into it, go to the beach and cruise down PCH. The main worry for me was the brakes, or lack of them. As much as I like T's that always in the front of my mind when driving one. You gotta leave lots of room between you and the guy in front of you. As slow as the car was, we hand timed it as 59 miles and hour with two people in it, it still takes some doing to get it to stop. The one I'm collecting parts for now will have juice brakes in the rear, era correct or not.

 

Hey guys! I just scanned an article at the request of another H.A.M.B.er on the Modifieds only thread, and I thought it might be appropriate here as well. It's a reprint from a 1933 publication called Modern Mechanix and inventions. It was last printed in the October 1977 1001 Rod and Custom Ideas mag, and I know allot of us have seen it before. Let's see if I can do this without screwing it up!

 

I love you guys! Thanx, Gary

 

Nice article! I love those period speed articles, so much good info that is still viable. On that note, here are a few excerpts from Murry Fahnestock's book
"Model T Speed Secrets: The Fast Ford Handbook" on lightening Pistons and rods (one of my favorites), valve and mag/flywheel modifications as well.

 

What is a “gowjob” for purposes of this thread? Is it just a speedster with a roadster body instead of hand-built or custom bodywork?

-Dave

 

A "Gowjob" is a slang name or nick name for modified or "hopped up" cars built in the 1920's and depression era 1930's by young people with the need for speed, but no money. The term "Gowjob" was derived form the title "get up and go job".

Commonly "Gowjobs" were built from modified Model T Fords because of their bountifulness and the fact that they were dirt cheap, but you could build a "Gowjob" out of just about anything with wheels.

These car were also referred to as "Hot Irons", "Go Jobs" but evolved into "Hot Rods"...a name that stuck and that we all know and love today.

Basically, it is as you said.. "a speedster with a roadster body instead of hand-built or custom bodywork".

 

To true.

you must mean something like this? It appears that "stripped down" is an understatement with this one..I think he is holding up the steering column and appears to have stolen the cushions from the couch for seats.

He should be careful not to shock himself on those "floorboard spark wires" of his

 

Gabby told me that in the 30's, at least in and around Long Beach, hot Fords were called Supe jobs, rarely called Gow.

 

Speaking of Gabby, here's his ride (again) in '33 sporting a freshly dropped front axle done in the high school shop class and a newly acquired set of Buff's all the way around.



I came across the picture in a T club publication from 1966. It was shot in '25 I think the lady said that sent it in. These guys had the look in the 20s, dropped axles, chopped windshields and no doubt a little work done to the engines. Nothing being done today that wasn't done 85 years ago, 'cept these cars were brand new then.

 

Buffalo wire wheels are so bitchin lookin'

 

I would love to find a set of 21" for my roadster.

It's a conspiracy I tells ya! ....guess you'll just have to finish it then

 

Let's talk about fuel systems.

I've got an old Bugatti-style hand primer but I'm looking for a fuel or tank pressure gauge. Thing is, I'm not sure where (or what) these fellas got them from. I've seen some low pressure gauges in cars of the era and I'd like an era correct part. So, what say you, oh knowledgeable ones?

I was looking at JimmyB's photos from "Pebble" and there are a few great pressure gauges to be had.... but it's such a tease since I cannot find one.

Any help is appreciated.

 

I would imagine that most of the fuel pressure gauges you will see (and the most logical sense for a "Gowjob") would be Aircraft. A period aircraft from WWI through the mid-1920's would most likely have a fuel pressure gauge. The second most logical source would be used or wrecked race cars or perhaps an industrial application.

There may have been some "aftermarket" gauges made, but I am not aware of any.

 

I can't contribute to the fuel pressure gauges, but it started me thinking about something else. Buffalo wires have been an expensive thing for most of my lifetime now, has any one ever seen a "visual equivalent" so to speak? You know what I mean, something more available that has the right "look"... Any ideas?

 

Hmm...Not allot of wire wheel manufacturers out there making wheels for T's like that except for McLaren Manufacturing, that's the only one I can think of. His wheels are very similar to the old Buffalo's and they are made to fit Model T wood wheel hubs. He makes them in both clincher style and demountable....just don't know if they will be much cheaper though.

Nice products and a real nice guy. http://www.mclarenmfg.com/