Right hook Special Coupes

[a4me]

As the title suggests was the Special Coupe made in right hand drive?
You see some rhd ones down here in Australia but they weren't sold here new so have to be imported or converted and I was interested to know which it was?

[dave in australia]

The only ones I know of were LHD. I know of two local ones, mine and another further down the road in Trafalgar, both are imported and were converted to RHD. I didn't see any at the recent A nationals in Goulburn.

[Grumpy Rick]

I no nothing about the book, but coincidently, my brother was just the other day showing me pics of a '28 Model A coupe with the steering wheel on the right and the gas pedal between the clutch and brake. The pics were just taken last week when he visited a friend, who owns it.

One explanation is from another friend of his who told him that it was one of many that were made for the Post Office.

Hope this helps.

Rick P

[a4me]

Gas pedal in the middle is standard for right hand drive, apparently it was the only spot with enough room. They also used round pedals to free up space.

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by a4me

Gas pedal in the middle is standard for right hand drive, apparently it was the only spot with enough room. They also used round pedals to free up space.

Accelerator pedal in the middle make a double declutch while braking much easier once you get the knack. It's a heel and toe action.

[mercman from oz]

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1930 Ford Model A Body Styles sold in Australia. No Coupes.

[mercman from oz]

1928 Ford Australia Full Line Brochure. Notice no Coupes.

[rotorwrench]

Ford of Canada shipped mostly chassis components and cowl/gas tanks to Australia and there abouts. This allowed more body manufacture in Geelong and maybe other assembly plants. Fordors were mostly made of wood frame with steel skins nailed on so they could have been manufactured there. Tudors and coupes were mostly all steel which required a lot of complicated stamping with large and expensive press methods. I'm not sure if these bodies were ever sent in knockdown form or not. This would have made them more expensive to produce. The Sport and Special coupes have more wood in the top but the lower body and doors are more complicated unless only skins were used over wood sub platforms like many other Australian cars. Maybe Australian owners could add more on this.

Ford of Dearborn exported right hand drive cars in knock down but they let Ford of Canada deal with most Commonwealth countries. One exception was South Africa. Some South American assembly plants also may have built up some right hand drive cars for Guyana and Suriname but they may have come from England since some of the Caribean islands also have right hand drive cars.

[katy]

"Right hook", am I correct in assuming that means right hand drive? My Australian language skills are way below par.

[john charlton]

In England LHD cars were known as "left hookers" a term not in general use nowadays . I grew up in South Africa big Fords came from Canada and little Fords came from England . Ford had an assembly plant in Port Elisabeth a city up the east coast from Cape Town . USA exported RHD cars to Uruguay and Argentina I have an ex Argentine original RHD 180 A de luxe phaeton .

John in heavy autumnal rain Suffolk County England .

[Synchro909]

Our cars are Right Hand Drive. The others, being the opposite are "Wrong Hand Drive". Sitting on that side of the car just doesn't feel right. Imagine changing gears with your right hand! I'd be in trouble if a hit my wife when giving a hand signal, too!
Oh well, they seem to manage.

[The Master Cylinder]

Do all RHD cars (not just a Model A) have the load peddle in the middle? Just curious. Very rare around here.

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by The Master Cylinder

Do all RHD cars (not just a Model A) have the load peddle in the middle? Just curious. Very rare around here.

Most did but not all. I have a Delage (French) that has the go pedal out on the right. I think that because of the rather confined space around the pedal area, putting the accelerator in the middle was a good solution. It's also another layers of anti theft device for millennials!

[dave in australia]

Originally Posted by The Master Cylinder

Do all RHD cars (not just a Model A) have the load peddle in the middle? Just curious. Very rare around here.

Not since the vintage era. All our classic era to modern cars are pedals L to R, clutch, brake, accelerator.

Back to the topic, we didn't have special coupes ,but we did have sport coupes and business coupes in 1928 to 1930.
1928 11 business coupes and 498 sport coupes.
1929 0 business coupes and 5 sport coupes.
1930 0 business coupes and 74 sport coupes.

[rotorwrench]

The USA started out with steering being either way and some old horseless carriages had steering in the center. The US started a safety system early on that standardized steering and roadway travel based on the theory of "right of way". It the early years folks had to even be mindful of scaring horse or mule teams that were sharing the roadway. This led to some strange procedures for letting team drivers know a car was coming or crossing another roadway.

Folks here in the USA would have the same feeling of uneasiness if trying to motor down the road in a country that drives on the left. I have an old 1947 Triumph 1800 roadster that is right hand drive but it has a column gear change on the right side so it wasn't hard to get used to. We can drive right or left handed steering here with no restrictions but it makes for an interesting drive in the right hand lane. Parking is easier but guestimating distance from the center line can be a bit tricky it tight situations,

[john charlton]

I do have a LHD Budd cab pickup which I drive very frequently several times a week I guess . i also have a 28 RHD phaeton which is not used as much . My feet without thought instantly adjust to the centre gas pedal but my right hand reaches out for the gear shift which is not there !!!

John in soon to be windy Ian is on the way Suffolk County England .

[Synchro909]

There are no restrictions here either on driving a LHD car on the road but I converted the two LHD Model As I imported to RHD because I didn't think it was safe to be sitting on the LHS of the car when I pulled out to overtake. All I had to tell me if it was safe was how loud my wife was screaming!

[MARKA]

Hi ,
I live in Australia.
I drive a Right Hand drive stick shift VW (using my left hand to change gears) as a daily driver . I also drive a Left hand drive Model A and WW2 Willys Jeep (changing gears with my right Hand).

I am just as comfortable and feel at home in the Left hand drive as well as the Right hand drive. Left hand driving for me is a piece of cake.
You get used to both in time.
Thats me in my Coupe about to overtake some other Model A's

Regards
Mark.

[ModelA29]

All of the RHD cars we've owned had the normal clutch-brake-gas set up for the pedals.

I guess RHD was the original method to defend against road rage.


The practice is believed to date back to ancient Rome. Romans steered their carts and chariots with the left hand, to free up the right so they could use weapons to defend against enemy attacks.
This carried over into medieval Europe and in 1773, the British government passed measures to make left-hand traffic the law.

[a4me]

I was talking with a bloke on the weekend who believes RHD Special Coupes were sold new in New Zealand.
Anyone know anything about that?