Curious minds want to Know?

[DICK SPADARO]

Ok time for your thinking caps. This picture just came in an Email for id, stamped number on case starts 18f. What does it fit? Looks like Lincoln style case but Rh drive clutch lever.

[FL&WVMIKE]

DICK .....................
I seem to remember reading, somewhere, that Ford used "f" for foreign, hence the R/H drive. A foreign Lincoln ??? Just a guess .....
MIKE

[Richard (EV8G)]

"F" IS for foreign RHD (which it is...) , but with an "18" would it not have to be Ford? BTW, the F was I believe used on exports from Edgewater? NJ plant and
usually to "non UK" affiliated; those for the "UK affiliates" came from Canada and had a "C" in the serial number... maybe all the UK countries were "drive on the left?" With exceptions I am sure...

[Barlea]

Sweden used to be drive on the left, and Japan still is, so the export could have been to either. Argentina would be another non-Commonwealth country with right-hand drive vehicles. ..B.

[HOTRODPRIMER]

Come on Dick,,you know what it is. HRP

[Mac VP]

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Dick, last year we rebuilt a clone to that trans for a customer who had a British Allard. The gearbox case was pretty much identical to the 38-39 Lincoln-Zephyr. If you compare the shifter housing to the LZ version, they have the same bolt pattern, but you have the two shifter levers instead of the single stub up at the front corner (see the dipstick instead). The levers are mirror image of the regular 1940-48 Ford USA levers, so you can't use those instead.

The internal gears/shafts are normal Ford or LZ....same inside dimensions.

[roadster36]

I have a case and some parts from one of those as well.Most of it is junk. It came on a V8 Ford that was originally from Argentina.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Most likely a Ford Pilot, a postwar car based on the 1936 Model 62,,,search "Pilot" on here for some info.
Ford England used 1937 type 221's until into the 1950's, hence the "18" serial. The trans could conceivably be from any column shift Ford in GB, but WWII and postwar restrictions make those VERY scarce except for Pilot Model.

[Mr 42]

Originally Posted by Barlea

Sweden used to be drive on the left, and Japan still is, so the export could have been to either. Argentina would be another non-Commonwealth country with right-hand drive vehicles. ..B.

Even though we drove on the left side of the road, all of the cars had the steeríng wheel on the left side!

so not so much right hand drive stuff here :-)

And that was good when we swapped side in 3 of sep 1967.

[Barlea]

Lars, I recall reading of the change over, but why were you all driving on the wrong side of the road before that? I mean, it makes sense somehow for the Brits to be over there, but ..... ? ..B. (Confused in Canada)

[Mr 42]

As i understand its a long story, in Sweden we had law from 1734 to 1967 that you should drive on the left side of the road.

Some say that it was the natural side to meet since you had you sword hand free to use when you meet one when seated on a horse. Farmers usually walked on the right side so they could see meeting horse,'s

The odd thing in Sweden was the we had left hand drive cars!?
I guess it was becuse we was such a small country, so we had to buy what was offered.

[kiwitony]

Very interesting, but leads to the question why do we all drive on different sides of the road? It must be a lot cheaper for car manufacturers to build one type .We have a big problem here in NZ with tourists crossing the centre line and driving on the wrong side. Kills quite a few each year.

[Bruce Lancaster]

I was in Germany reading the stories on the Swedish switchover...from memory, everyone was ordered to get off the roads for a period of reflection, then the whole system re-opened...I always wondered what the casualty count was until people got used to the new way!
It's hard to imagine getting it right the next morning before having any coffee.
I never went to Sweden, but in those years I was happily driving British cars in the US, American car in England, while using metric and imperial speedometers in all the wrong places, and anything I could get in Spain, where the preferred lane was the middle, saving lots of needless confusion.

[DavidG]

Until the Model T, most American cars had their steering wheel on the right side of the car, despite driving in the right lane from the beginning.

[FlatheadTed]

When I was in India in the 80s it did not seem to matter which side you drove on so long as you missed they other guy .

[r797w45]

I have a RH drive 40 sedan & trans looks like this one.

Steve.

[Pete/Ct.]

Had one like this one when my family was in the junk business, found out it came from South America.
pete/Ct.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Back to the trans...Ford USA, Ford Canada, and of course Ford England built RHD cars for the various markets they supplied (a South American one would have been USA).
I think the trans is not Australian or New Zelsh (Canadian supplied), because it would have to be C-18F.
If USA, 18F would be right but could only be from '40-42, and the serial should match up with USA range for those years. Later would have been 99F.
If British, I think it would also be 18F, and they would have used 18 serials into the 1950's in full production. I have no idea if their serials were assigned in the same range as USA one or whether they had their own range, as they made their own 221's from about 1937--1953.