[Marshall V. Daut]

I did a brake job in December on a friend's 1937 Ford and all four backing plates had the floating system you describe, "2manycars". I seem to recall reading in the '37-38 shop manual that my friend loaned me to prepare for the job that this floating design was new for 1937. This differentiated the brake system from the previous designs. Unlike the pre-1937 design, the new design had a number of springs in different tensions that were painted four different colors to distinguish them from each other. It was critical that in order for the new floating design to function, the springs had to be placed in specific positions. This ensured that the primary shoe made contact first (lighter springs), which then activated the secondary show (heavier springs), hence "floating". Here is a photo of the one finished backing plates, which does differ from the fixed pre-1937 design. I know this isn't Model A stuff, but try to imagine if this system had it been included in the Model A when it was new!
Marshall