1949-52 Ford Prefect
This
charming sidevalver was built by Ford of England at Dagenham, Essex.
These cars have come to be known as the "Upright Fords" due to their
rather tall and narrow, or upright look.
It
was powered by a 4 cylinder 1172 cc side valve engine that developed
30 bhp. The rather small differential with a final drive ratio of
about 5.5:1 delivered 10 hp to the road wheels which were shod with
5.00x16 tires. Naturally, if you got stuck going up Khandala it
would not pull away from a standstill and you would have to reverse
back to the bottom of the current slope and start again. All hills
had to be attacked flat out. 1st and 2nd gears had no-synchromesh,
so gear changes called for double declutch and jam, at peak revs to
make progress.
The
engine had no water pump, but relied on a thermo-siphon cooling
system (the expansion of the coolant itself would force coolant to
circulate through the system). It was common to see a steamy Ford
Prefect after a hard drive pull into a petrol bunk, cool off for 30
minutes and have its radiator refilled. The engine had poured
babbitt main and rod bearings. The engine also lacked an oil
filter. At sustained high speed 70 km/h it would build up crankcase
compression and throw out the oil through the back main into the
clutch. The car could be coaxed to 100 km/h for a brief while but
would quickly overheat and mess itself up with oil.
For
suspension, the car had a beam front axle, transverse semi-elliptic
leaf springs front and rear - like the Ford Model T. Shock absorbers
were the Armstrong lever type. There were no anti-roll bars. These
cars had Girling mechanical brakes using rods and levers,
which were barely adequate when all was in perfect order, unless you
had a particularly heavy foot.
The
Prefect had an interior in Bakelite imitation wood and imitation
leather PVC seats The car had 6 volt electrics. Its wipers were
operated off engine vacuum, which meant the wipers would slow
down while going uphill.
Ford
Prefect was also a platform for Bombay taxis which can be seen in
Hindi movies of the fifties
