Model A Fan

fourfords

fourfords

Senior Member
I have an original late '31 two blade fan. Looks like Ford knew of this breaking issue prior to the end of Model A production, modifying the construction to alleviate the breaking problem. Question is: Is this modification enough to trust installing?
 
I think you should ask yourself "Do I trust this old relic (Known to be dangerous) with my life?" If Ford changed the way they made fans before the end of production, it would only have been with the intention making it last a few years, not the 90 or so that have now lapsed.
I bet that even if it is an "improved" fan, rust has been eating away at it for too long IMO.
The short answer as far as I'm concerned is NO!
 
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Don't have a picture as of yet. I'll try to describe: The center hub is identical to the common Model A Fan. On the back side of the two blades, the double sheeted area stops about 2 inches from the hub with a weld, then continues on with one sheet metal piece, thereby eliminating moisture and rust from the inside. ( I'm sure you've seen original Model A fans with swollen blades). Also, alleviating some stress to the blades by cutting each blade's weight in half. So its overall, a somewhat lighter fan.
 
Volume 6 of the MAFCA Restorer series of books has a pattern for a hub area reinforcement patch that can be welded on to reinforce the area where the most common failure point is. The fans weren't made from very thick steel stampings so they crack and eventually fail. I don't think Ford engineers would have ever thought that so many model As would still be around after 90+ years.
 
Probably not a whole lot of unbroken late ‘31 fans around that would be reliable for daily driving. I’m a relatively unbroken ‘53 fan, but still consider myself fairly reliable. Hope that lasts for a while.
 

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