Flathead question,,,,

I've never seen what appears to be this breather on a flathead before. This is on a perfectly restored, bone stock '36 Ford. Was this a factory item?

 

Stock Ford breather...dont know if its 36 or what year. I've seen many like that...

 

It's a 36.

 

Thanks very much. I'm an old guy and I guess I haven't been paying attention.

 

It looks to be an original oil bath air cleaner and most cars I knew of in the 30-40-50's had them

 

The ventilation system for pan areas was modernises in '35, and that scoop was used in I think partial production '36 and a year or two after. The other more common one was the dome type with vent holes on botton used on most '35-48's.
The general idea was to capture the wind from the high mounted fan to pressurize the intake of air a bit and so encourage the exit of fumes from the outlet beside the fan.
No idea how well it worked, but its use was brief.

 

Thanks very much. I guess I've always seen the domed cap on flatties. I had never seen one of these breathers before. You learn something new every day. Thanks again.

 

I have these as stock items on my '35' and '36'

 

They were a stock item on 35-36.

 

....and they work GREAT!

 

yes...It's a correct factory item.

4TTRUK

 

They were also fitted to German (Cologne) built 36/37 V8's.
Mine is actually chromed, not sure whether that's original though.

 

Have one for my 37. I seen one go for stupid money on ebay years ago. Apparently they met the cool stage at one time Ha!

 

Thet used to be rare, because after fumes ate the screen only the normal round '35-48 type was available as replacement. They are now reproduced by Drake, and I thinkk there is even a kit to rbuild originals with dead screens.