Fine British engineering! A 1920's car built in 1949. Makes the 1930's
technology of my '53 MGTD look downright sophisticated!
--JohnD
......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.
-----Original Message-----
From: Barrie Robinson [mailto:barrier@bconnex.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 12:31 PM
To: british-cars@autox.team.net; mgb-v8@autox.team.net;
mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: 1949 Ford Prefect
Folks,
My doctor's father bought a new Ford Prefect in 1949 - now it is for sale,
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