1934 brake system

[Robert/Texas]

I have owned my '34 roadster for over 16 years and have always been interested in it's origin. The car has a late January '34 serial number and "LB" on it's body tag. Everything seems to be '34 except for a '33 style cowl vent and '33 bumpers. I have assumed that "LB" referenced the Long Beach factory. What confuses me is the brake system. There are two brake cross-over assemblies (shaft and spring) mounted on a single bracket. The foot brake operates front and rear wheels in the normal way but the hand brake operates the rear wheels only. There are two rear brake rods on each side. All of this appears to be original factory made and is in good working order.

I have read that this type of system was used in Europe and have seen pictures of a '32 Ford with this type of system from the Copenhagen plant. I doubt that mine came from there because of the "LB" tag.

Any ideas about this will be appreciated. Hopefully my pictures will come out.

Robert

 

[Richard (EV8G)]

Seems like the tag with the LB on it is the body tag; the LB is LeBaron (sp?) not Long Beach? I have received photos of the brake system with two separate cross-shafts before; this was to make the parking brake system separate from the service brake system (sort of like the early Model A's) to satisfy certain jurisdictions; maybe Europe? Since your car is LHD, rules out
the Commonwealth countries, which were usually built in Canada and have a
"C" in the VIN. Cars for export to other countries usually have an "F" in the VIN, which indicates "Foreign" ? and were built in the USA. Yours appears to have a normal USA body... Does the VIN have anything weird? Also the motor number plate is not normal, and does not appear to be original - probably another thing to make some government agency happy?

My guess is that your car was built for export, was exported, and then brought
back to the USA at some time. The cowl vent and bumpers could have been
changed or may have been part of the "transition" from 33 to 34. I once owned a very early 34 5WC with 11/33 glass, that had many 33 features, such
as inboard front shocks, a 33 bumper on the rear, a separate gauge panel that
was woodgrained, a flip-top ash tray, 33 headlights, and maybe some other stuff. The car was original/unrestored, so I am 99% sure it came that way from the factory.

 

[Lawrie]

That looks just like my 34 brakes,R-hand drive,from New Zealand.
Lawrie

 

[jerry grayson]

My 34 station wagon with Jan glass has a 33 style cowl vent, but has a 34 bumper.

 

[Mr 42]

The cross-over assembly was mandatory in Sweden at that time, there was a laws stating two ways to actuate the brake. If it was assembled in Copenhagen it would probably have a oval brass plate with vin number and ford motor company on the firewall.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

I think your main clue is that serial number tag; there is no reason for that except governmental requirement...
It has a rim to accept a slide-in document...again, I'd bet that's another required feature to take some annual registration or tax document for someplace furrin.
It is not held by Ford style rivets or drive screws, suggesting this is a car that arrived in whatever country put it there as an imported used USA car NOT equipped by Ford or a foreign branch plant for original delivery there. A Ford built for original sale in a foreign place would have come with whatever sort of serial plate was required.
When we lived in Germany once, long ago, our old family Plymouth had to get a German-supplied extra serial plate meeting German requirements and an annoying list of trivial modifications to get its registration...
I think your car was not built for export but was exported or just taken by an American for a lengthy sojourn somewhere when it was fairly new and Ford could still supply everything for the 2-shaft brake setup.
Someone will recognize that plate as a style typical of wherever that happened.
I think all or most USA Fords built originally for export were built in Edgewater, NJ, regardless of direction they went or wheter R or LHD. My '48 Ford, sold originally via Shanghai Ford, was built in Edgewater...even though that was pretty much as far from China as you could find a USA Ford plant.

 

[Richard (EV8G)]

Again, it would be helpful to know the VIN on the frame and transmission (if it is the original) and/or whether it has any unusual characters in it.

 

[Robert/Texas]

Many thanks to everybody for your help and interest. The VIN number stamped on the frame and transmission is “40*626870*”, no “F” or other characters.

I’m especially thankful that the Long Beach question has been resolved. Also, the serial number tag looks more home-made than it appears in my photo and the rivets look like large pop-rivets to me.

More information, the man I bought the car from was extremely helpful with information, positive and negative about the car. The car was Texas titled to an estate at the time of purchase. His wife had inherited it as part of a car museum. I believe this was the museum located near the southwest intersection of I-45 and Rayford/Sawdust roads which closed about 20 years ago. He told me that the car was completely original as it came out of the museum. It occurs to me that they might have gone out of the country to search for cars. (The car was black with red wheels at the time and was repainted Tacoma Cream/light yellow by the man I bought it from.)

I have a copy of a five page article titled Scandinavian 1932 Fords, by Dave Cole from the May/June 1977 issue of the club magazine. This article shows a picture of a similar brake system but the quality of the picture is poor. An interesting side note is that the article notes that the Swedes, who drove left at the time, drove cars with the steering on the left.

Another thing I should mention about my car is that it has a US style (not metric) speedometer.

Robert

 

[FlatheadTed]

This brake system is identical to my 34, like all the 34s that came from Canada

 

[Richard (EV8G)]

"The VIN number stamped on the frame and transmission is “40*626870*”, no “F” or other characters."

Well, the VIN does not help, although it IS interesting that it has a "40" instead of an "18" (which I have seen before)... so Bruce's theory about "retrofit" to a USA car, which I thought would be alot of work and therefore less likely, may be the answer?

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

The retrofit may well have been mandatory for an American moving to a place like Germany with a USA spec Ford...they required over the years things like non-reversible steering for German Model T's (but now the Germans are happy with rack and pinion...?) and these multiple brake rigs...
In the '60's, our Plymouth HAD to get a bunch of little idiot mods: Had to have fuses AT the rear lights, blue instead of red high beam indicator (!), and an idiotic and dangerous drain plug at the very bottom of gas tank, ready to be uprooted by the next speed bump--I think a direct violation of US standards! This stuff was in the book and it was enforced.
And don't talk about NOW...if you shipped a USA spec Benz to Germany and a German spec one here, you would have to replace half the car to get it legal for title!

 

[Robert/Texas]

I continue to be wowed and thankful for all of the interest in my question. Now we may have a new clue, the "40" prefix in the serial number.

 

[Randy]

I've also seen the "40-" prefix on the frame before, several times. One of them happened to be on a 3W coupe that was from Canada. Good question Robert, interesting to hear everyone's input!