Speed parts identification, and period useage

[Paul Payne]

Bill, thanks for the info- one does not usually see the underside of cars so I don't know if anyone has ever tried this. What do you think the last year of Ford it could live happily under?

[Ace-Garageguy]

22 hours ago, Paul Payne said:

... What do you think the last year of Ford it could live happily under?

Hard to say, and in all honesty, the only real-world experience I have with these units is under '32 and '40 Fords.

I did some research though, and found the Columbia was offered under the '37-'41 Lincoln V12 Zephyr (among other vehicles), which lists a nominal weight of 3800 pounds.

Nominal weight of a '50 Ford is roughly 3,000 pounds.

I do not know if the Zephyr unit was the same as used under lighter cars, but there's a good chance nobody you ever encounter will know either.

Just say it's a Lincoln unit and go for it.  

EDIT: Ford had a factory overdrive gearbox available for the "shoebox" and later cars, so using junkyard parts to accomplish the same job as the Columbia would be one jell of a lot easier.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Ace-Garageguy

[Paul Payne]

Bill, thanks for the comments- these units weren't available in scale until a few years ago. I wonder what the real life price would be compared to a quick change.

[Ace-Garageguy]

24 minutes ago, Paul Payne said:

... I wonder what the real life price would be compared to a quick change.

A new Winters or Frankland QC was around $2500 - $3500 complete (center, axles, tubes, brakes, etc.) last time I checked.. A genuine "Culver City" vintage Halibrand in perfect condition can run over 10 grand.

Last time we bought a complete, functional Columbia (back in about 2011) it was around $1500, but needed complete cosmetic restoration.

[ManiacModeler]

On 10/21/2019 at 9:46 AM, Modlbldr said:

Does anybody know anything about these wheels and what time period they would have been seen on drag cars? The pic is from Drag City Castings site and I am thinking about placing an order, to include these. I like the look of them.

Later-

Those look like steel Pontiac or Buick ralleys done in resin

[bytownshaker]

I believe these rims are Fenton Hawks, are they available in 1/25? 

Edgar

 

[Snake45]

Hmmmm, if they're not, you might be able to fake them by modifying the wheel covers from a '65 Chevelle....

[W Humble]

Halibrand racing wheels are (dare I say it?) iconic for the 1950-60's, back then Indy and SCCA sports cars were often using them to supplant the previous wire-rims.  My Strombecker 'Scarab' kit has a nice set, though inauthentic because the fronts and rears are the same width.  I'm making surface-cast resin repops for some other kits, because they are two-piece which helps the process,  but they take a lot of detailing...  The Scarab kit was a battery-powered 'slot' car racer, and had rubber tires, which are long gone.  I built min as a 'rod' in '60, with chrome-reversed Chevy rims and W/W's; now have opened hood, detached front clip, and am making it more realistic with SBC, Hilborn, etc.  I got some dished Halis and Firestones from Indicals; the tires will work if I mod the tread more like 'Super-Sport' road-racing tires.  Guess I'll use the wheels on a  Bonneville-type streamliner with dual Cad V-16's and a Mono Indy roadster back body.  I noticed that a reviewer in MCM Identified the Halibrands as 'Hildebrands.  Hmm!

[stitchdup]

On 2/26/2022 at 3:08 PM, bytownshaker said:

I believe these rims are Fenton Hawks, are they available in 1/25? 

Edgar

 

I'm pretty sure i have a set of them in my stash, no ides what kit they are from but the wheel fronts have a mount that goes through the wheel back for the wire axle to go into. I think they are late60s or early 70s wheels as all the others in the lot were that age

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 6/6/2022 at 2:28 PM, W Humble said:

...I noticed that a reviewer in MCM Identified the Halibrands as 'Hildebrands.  Hmm!

Oopsie doopsie.  

Lotsa journalism could benefit from editorial review by people who were truly "expert" in the respective field.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy

[W Humble]

The Latham; seldom seen, but Bill Harrah had one on his '58 Pontiac (wagon, I think) and as the story went, outran a Nevada Trooper with it.  OC, maybe the speed cop id'd the Poncho and thought it the better part of valor to let him run?

I too usually heard the 'oval' GMC pumps called 'trimmed-case superchargers', I guess the body could be bolted to an appropriately drilled manifold just through the bottom flange.  I had a Chevy 265 built by a former Beatty shop guys, the late Bob Bohler.

My wife's late cousin had a centrifugal blower for his '34 Ford Coupe/flathead, but it wasn't a Frenzel, it was a repurposed Graham, which drove off a 90-degree belt from the front; don't think he ever got it running back in '63.  He had the only open-wheel rod in our semi-arctic town (N CA high desert, and COLD!)

"It had twin pots, and a Columbia butt..." = "twin carburetors and an overdrive."  Per rodder/rocker Johnny Bond.  The last closed-drive line or 'Banjo" rear axle on Fords and Mercs came in 1948 (though I heard that light-duty pickups switched previously - dunno') and that was what the breed of Columbia axle we're talking about fit.  OC, Auburn and numerous other marques had them as options, way back when.

That manifold reminds me of the "Man-A-Fre" 4X2 setup, mostly seen on small-block Chevys, and featured prominently on John Milner's yeller Deuce in AMERICAN GRAFITTI (still mis-spell that word: two F's or two T's? Ha.)  A recent tester said it wasn't that much of a performer, but very rad looking.  Quite a few early OHV V-8s could fit 4x2 setups; seems like there was one on the Parts-Pak Cad once upon a time??  GarageGuy?  This is a fun thread!!

[dodgefever]

On 2/26/2022 at 3:08 PM, bytownshaker said:

I believe these rims are Fenton Hawks, are they available in 1/25? 

Edgar

 

 

The custom wheels in the JoHan 1970 Eldorado are similar.  I'd have to check to see how close they are.

[CaddyDaddy]

QUESTION: when did yellow ACCELL type plug wires become popular?

[W Humble]

Some of the other guys may have a better line in this, but as I believe it was the very late 'sixties at the earliest.  I try to keep to other colors for earlier cars, and don't got with blue or other sexy colors until later.  The trick 'fifties color was the transparent red with the Rajah terminals!  Or woven type.  Black was the most common color, and the typical stock color (except for MoPars, maybe, with tan) until about '68?  Wick

[Ace-Garageguy]

18 minutes ago, CaddyDaddy said:

QUESTION: when did yellow ACCELL type plug wires become popular?

https://www.trifive.com/threads/when-did-yellow-spark-plug-wires-come-out.232255/

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 minutes ago, W Humble said:

The trick 'fifties color was the transparent red with the Rajah terminals...

Boy, are we old.   

"Packard" wire was the hard-core hot setup, stranded copper core, no-noise-suppression...with Rajah.

Edited January 27, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[W Humble]

"Packard Lacauered' ?  With real copper strands!  Yes, we're old; 'old enough to know better, but too young to care?"  Wick

[W Humble]

The Srombecker Scrab racer kit (it was buildable into some kind of battery-powered slot car, I know) that I bought in '59 has a nice set of Hali 'bean hole' rims, but one is broken.  I tried to make surface resin castings, but none came out good enough.  Also, the kit had real rubber tires, like Firestone Super-Sports.  Love to find  supplier for those in big 1/25 or 1/24 for a Bonneville racer I'm scratching up with two Cad V-16s!  Wick

[XYHARRY]

On 10/21/2019 at 4:04 AM, Greg Myers said:

"Riley" Cylinder head conversion from AMT and Revell. The Revell '31 Model A kits all had these parts.

The Revell 3 in 1 29 pickup rat rods kit has it also.

 

[TarheelRick]

On 1/26/2024 at 9:10 PM, CaddyDaddy said:

QUESTION: when did yellow ACCELL type plug wires become popular?

I ran a set on my '72 C-10. I saw them in a magazine in either '71 or '72, also ran an ACCEL super coil to get some color under the hood.