Stock Model A 1/4 mile time?

Doug Linden said:
I seem to recall an old Mechanix Illustrated article done by Tom McCahill where he did one of his road tests on a Model A. That was in the sixties and it may have had time trials in it.
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Feb 1957 Science and Mechanics magazine indicates a 1930 Model A Roadster, 27.6 sec @ 50 mph in the 1/4 mile.
 
come to the antique nationals on June 5th here is so cal and I believe if you add a seat belt and wear a helmet and a saftey check you can race your stock A down the race track. I have gone to this for several years and have had the most fun.
http://www.autoclubspeedway.com/Tickets-Events/Events/2011/Auto-Club-Dragway/Antique-Nationals.aspx

antiquenationals.jpg
 
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We've had a few stock and near-stock Model A's run in the Flathead Meltdown over the years. Runs in the 27 & 28 second area are not uncommon, though Neil Fretwell ran a 14.9hp (English) Model A engine with a fibreglass '27 T body to a barnstorming 31-second pass at 40-something mph several years ago. He then drove the same car 150+ miles home. It took a while, I understand...

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For what it's worth, the record for a four-banger over here is 15.7 & 84mph in a steel roadgoing '31 roadster.

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http://www.flatheadmeltdown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=28&Itemid=28
 
Back in the 60's my 1951 ford Victoria with a stock flathead V8 and 3 speed stick used to turn about 18 seconds and 74mph on a good day. Not bad for 100HP, 239 Cubic inches, and 90k miles.......Even won sometimes...Still love that car...Lots of fun even in the back seat...:p
 
Doug Linden said:
I seem to recall an old Mechanix Illustrated article done by Tom McCahill where he did one of his road tests on a Model A. That was in the sixties and it may have had time trials in it.
Click to expand...

I jotted down the figures from a reprint of that article back in the 80's and recall that the car was a stock 1929 Tudor, with about 60,000 miles on the OD and a valve and ring job in the previous few years. The pedal-to-the-metal numbers were:

30 MPH at 7.5 secs
40 MPH at 13.4 secs
50 MPH at 22.1 secs
60 MPH at 63.5 secs
Top speed was 64 MPH
 
I think most of this discussion is west coast based, which has historically been way ahead of east coast racing, performance, imho. I always was looking in rod and custom mag for what we are now calling bangers and drooled over some of the engines Jim B. Refered to in his book. Well fast forward to now folks and up here in New England there is apparently a hot bed of flathead activity. Just one week ago there was a three day event in winterport, maine called the pine tree jamboree. I recently learned of this event so I do not how long this has been going on. What I can say they did have over 100 flathead powered cars register for the event. Some cars came from rather distant locations. This is a fun family orientated event that some of you may find compelling to participate in. Google pine tree jamboree for plenty of pictures!
 
I would like to detour this thread for a moment; 3 weeks ago at a car show I put my (stock with tired engine) ‘48 Willys Jeep on a chassis dyno. Stock hp at the crank with no accessories the motor was rated 60 hp. Rear wheel hp was 33.6 (I was pleased). Out of 50 cars I was second to lowest. Lowest was a ‘26 T with 27 hp. When you consider that a stock T is about 20 hp at the crank, you know that that was not a “stock” T. That said however, it had to be pushed off the dyno.
 
I ran my 28ccpu on the chassis dyne at our strip a few years ago,
I has a 97 carb and stock trans etc,
first run was way too rich at full throttle on the power valve,
for the second run we leaned off the mains
We knew the power valve in the 97 was way too rich but it still went ok.
Lawrie
 

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Lawrie said:
I ran my 28ccpu on the chassis dyne at our strip a few years ago,
I has a 97 carb and stock trans etc,
first run was way too rich at full throttle on the power valve,
for the second run we leaned off the mains
We knew the power valve in the 97 was way too rich but it still went ok.
Lawrie
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Interesting how much the AF ratio affects power. Would you lean it out anymore, or would there not be much more to gain?
 
Here’s a quarter mile pass I made at the “Antique Nationals” back in 2015. I had to be careful as I drove the pickup there and also had to drive it home 20 miles away back when I lived in Riverside California.
Here’s the comments I left later that day I posted on my YouTube page.

While they didn't need to re-write the record books I did make a Quarter Mile pass today at the Antique Nationals.
I made a pass in Our 1928 Model A Ford Roadster Pickup.
I ran a blistering 27.45 seconds at 47.75 mph. I started out in 3rd gear then shifted into 4th at 25mph. Remember these transmissions do not have synchros, you are actually sliding one gear out and one gear in by the "Seat of your Pants" feel. It takes about 3 seconds to make a "Clean" gear change. Get it wrong and you will drive over your transmission!
Today I ended my 28 Year Hiatus from Drag Racing on the Drag Strip.
Next Time out will be with my Son and either the SRT-10
Viper Truck or my '65 GTO.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tbucB...-Nj8UCVhQcsiMyTWeg2ClDsbz&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQB
 
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