Ford V8 Rally Cars

[Henry Floored]

Hey gang first Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

I thought it might be fun and interesting to delve into the rally world as it relates to early Ford’s.

If you have done some cool rally’s would love to hear of your experiences. What Rally did you do? What kind of special prep did you do to your car? How did the old Ford handle the sometimes extreme conditions?

Just in general how much fun or misery is there to be had doing a vintage car rally.

Here is a little film that includes some V8 Ford’s to whet your whistle.

https://youtu.be/NdX_A1nGYh0

[19Fordy]

Cool. Never done one. It looks to be a very expensive endeavor.
I think we do "Road Tours" instead.

[Willit Stop]

Thanks for posting. Looks like tons of fun. Does anyone have a car that they could loan me for a few days?

[VeryTangled]

Wow! Clipped this from 4:44 in...

[Henry Floored]

Originally Posted by VeryTangled

Wow! Clipped this from 4:44 in...

Those front fenders are doing a great job of deflecting the muddy water away from the windshield.

[Henry Floored]

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Here’s something a bit more domestic for us “Yanks”.

Saw a bunch of “rally” Ford’s at the Moonshine Festival a few years back in Dawsonville Georgia.

https://youtu.be/dwB8_Hi-qNg

[mfirth]

Thanks for the ride Henry !

[mercman from oz]

The cars in this race certainly earned their keep. Here is a 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe getting a push. Thanks Henry for posting this Video.

[5851a]

That was great, Thanks for sharing.

[J Witt]

Here's a link to the Great Race home page:


https://www.greatrace.com/


Lots of info and a very interesting event. This isn't really a race as it is held on public roads. I think there is a bit of fast running that happens.


There is also some specific prep on the cars to do the accurate speed and timing required.


John

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Thanks Henry that was bloody great. There was a really rare pre war English V8 62 among that lot and even some competitors from New Zealand.

GB

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by Henry Floored

Hey gang first Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

I thought it might be fun and interesting to delve into the rally world as it relates to early Ford’s.

Very impressive and well made video. But theres no way I'd be punishing my poor old Merc in an endurance race like that one. I wonder how some of those flatheads ran after soaking the distributors running through the water? Used to be they would stall soon after getting wet.

[Henry Floored]

Originally Posted by RalphG

Very impressive and well made video. But theres no way I'd be punishing my poor old Merc in an endurance race like that one. I wonder how some of those flatheads ran after soaking the distributors running through the water? Used to be they would stall soon after getting wet.

There were 90 degree distributor extensions made at one time for the South American market I believe.

Basically you took off your distributor, bolted on this 90 degree extension and finally attached the dizzy to that. This placed the dizzy high at about the level of the carburetor.

This was intended for creek crossings and washouts etc.

My good friend has one. I’ll see if I can snap a picture of it.

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by Henry Floored

There were 90 degree distributor extensions made at one time for the South American market I believe.
.

Chances are those cars entered in the rally had some special preparations or modifications to handle the extreme driving conditions. Maybe there were some similar modifications to the WWII flatheads in the trucks and gun towing vehicles.

[Henry Floored]

Originally Posted by RalphG

Chances are those cars entered in the rally had some special preparations or modifications to handle the extreme driving conditions. Maybe there were some similar modifications to the WWII flatheads in the trucks and gun towing vehicles.

I have a Flathead book somewhere that details modifications made to a ‘36 Ford V8 I think that chronicled the engine modifications performed for a “touring” V8.

A lot of emphasis was placed on cooling, increased oil capacity and sensible changes to improve low and mid range torque. Not the least of which was increasing displacement.

[old splicer]

During the early 70's there were a couple of guys out of southern California running a 35 Ford sedan in the Baja 1000. I believe Rod and Custom magazine had a feature on that car " Phantom of the Baja"

[Henry Floored]

Originally Posted by old splicer

During the early 70's there were a couple of guys out of southern California running a 35 Ford sedan in the Baja 1000. I believe Rod and Custom magazine had a feature on that car " Phantom of the Baja"

I remember that car from the magazines. Stands to reason. The Fords were built tough and you could get great articulation out of the transverse buggy springs.