Revell '32 Ford Highboy

[Bernard Kron]

Would the flathead from Revell's 32 Tudor be authentic for 50's era engine with all the speed parts and tranny that it uses?

It was thinking that it wouldn't make sense to try and be authentic with suspension and then throw an engine in it with mods that weren't available in the 50's.

The heads and carb setup are reasonably authentic. . I'm not certain on the transmission, although it's quite clearly a modern unit, if I recall, an automatic of some sort. It's fairly simple to adapt an earlier transmission. In the aftermarket Early Years Resin make various 40's and 50's era transmissions including the classic LaSalle unit ( see http://earlyyearsresin.webs.com/drivetrainparts.htm ).

[CEKPETHO BCE]

^ I was thinking if not the Tudor flathead, I'd use the Ardun from the Ford F1

[Dennis Lacy]

The transmission molded to the flathead engine in the '32 Sedan kit is a Ford C4 Automatic which did not become available until the 1960's and only in the last 20 or so years has it become a mainstream thing to mate one to a flathead with several over-the-counter adaptor kits readilly available for guys too lazy to use their left leg. All of the flathead engine hot rod parts in the Sedan kit were available in the mid-late 1940's in the full-scale world. A 40's or 50's era hot rod would have an engine-driven fan, though, or in some cases not run one at all and hope they didn't get caught in slow-moving traffic, haha.

[ChrisR]

Here is one done with the engine from the 5 widow and Satco big & littles on Ferrari Mythos wheels. Also the cowl and windscreen from the AMT Vicky.

[Jim Whalen]

_Hi,

_{Here's my build of the '32 highboy with the Revell flathead in. Even when you cut down the engine mount so you have only the mounts themselves by the frame rails they still foul with the steering box so that needs to be adjusted. MIne has a quick change rear end that I adapted the kit rear axle to. I believe Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland do resin chassis that has the vintage rear end so you can up up the the horizontal leaf spring without too much work.}

_{Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this post - I have learnt alot reading through!}

_Cheers,

[my80malibu]

_Hi,

_{Here's my build of the '32 highboy with the Revell flathead in. Even when you cut down the engine mount so you have only the mounts themselves by the frame rails they still foul with the steering box so that needs to be adjusted. MIne has a quick change rear end that I adapted the kit rear axle to. I believe Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland do resin chassis that has the vintage rear end so you can up up the the horizontal leaf spring without too much work.}

_{Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this post - I have learnt alot reading through!}

_Cheers,

Thats just Magnificent

[CEKPETHO BCE]

When did the 4-link suspension become available?

By the way, thanks for all the info. Learned a lot from this thread.

[Ace-Garageguy]

When did the 4-link suspension become available?

I'm pretty sure that would have been around the mid '70s. A couple of companies had come out with dropped tubular axles to replace the dwindling supply of wrecking-yard I-beam axles, and the tube-type axles were more rigid torsionally. The I-beam axles could twist somewhat to absorb the stresses put into them by the less-than-correct suspension geometry of split-wishbones or hairpins. The stiffer tube axles caused some handling problems, so it was Pete & Jake's, if I remember correctly, who came up with the 4-bar front end setup to fix the problem.

I may be off a couple of years....I was getting away from hot rods by that time, having discovered Porsches, so if anyone remembers it differently, feel free to correct me.

PS....to Jim Whalen, where'd you get that great looking stock Deuce firewall?

Edited August 4, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dennis Lacy]

There were some street rods in the 60's that had home made 4-link front suspensions but it wasn't until the latter 70's that it was available in kit form. Like Ace-Garageguy said, Pete & Jakes was most likely the first to offer it. The 4-link most likely trickled down from race car use. It wasn't so much a handling issue with the tube axles as it was the stress placed on them as split wishbones or hairpin radius rods can not fully articulate without binding (because of their single chassis mounting point) which puts a twisting load on the axle. I-beam axles by nature can "give" to compensate for this, tube axles can not.

The original tube axles were 1-piece across and bent to shape. The verticle ends were welded to them as were typically the spring hangers. One of the first to offer these was Bell Auto Parts. Later, Super Bell Axle Co. (Of which the proprieter was a former Bell Auto employee) introduced the tube axles we know today (like what is represented in the Revell '32 series) which have a tube center and solid forged ends which are welded to the center tube.

[Jim Whalen]

Hi,

Sorry about the delay in replying - haven't been at the computer lately. I got the stock firewall from Rickard Hedlund (in Sweden) who does some resin parts (Race and Retro Resin) in a swap for some '31 Ford parts. Norm at Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland does a stock firewall as well.

Cheers,

[Ace-Garageguy]

There were some street rods in the 60's that had home made 4-link front suspensions but it wasn't until the latter 70's that it was available in kit form. Like Ace-Garageguy said, Pete & Jakes was most likely the first to offer it. The 4-link most likely trickled down from race car use. It wasn't so much a handling issue with the tube axles as it was the stress placed on them as split wishbones or hairpin radius rods can not fully articulate without binding (because of their single chassis mounting point) which puts a twisting load on the axle. I-beam axles by nature can "give" to compensate for this, tube axles can not.

The original tube axles were 1-piece across and bent to shape. The verticle ends were welded to them as were typically the spring hangers. One of the first to offer these was Bell Auto Parts. Later, Super Bell Axle Co. (Of which the proprieter was a former Bell Auto employee) introduced the tube axles we know today (like what is represented in the Revell '32 series) which have a tube center and solid forged ends which are welded to the center tube.

All absolutely correct. The handling issue was significant though. The more torsionally-rigid tubular front axles tended to increase front roll stiffness, which in turn caused an increase in understeer, or front-end plow. This was already a problem with nose-heavy cars running smaller-footprint tires on the front (the big-and-little look), and was further aggravated by the tubular-axle / split-wishbone (or hairpin) combination. The binding of the suspension was also hard on components, and broken welds and brackets were not uncommon.

[Steve Prideaux]

This model is from that kit, with a rear crossmember and quickchange, from Early years resin ( great stuff!!) The front axle and springs, are scratch built brass. The wheels and tires, are from The Modelhaus.( more great stuff!!!)

[my80malibu]

Its good you are taking an interest in building a period correct car. Here where I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area of Gilbert, and the surrounding parts like Queen Creek and Florence.There used to be a large canal, during the early Eighties development in this area was at a high.Years before This canal, had been shored up with several hundred of these Early thirtys Automobile Bodies.It was truly a sad sight to see those Beautiful cars just being used for filler, from years before when they were considered to be of no other use.

[rustybill1960]

All in all a "sweet" kit!

I have the "Good Guys" Revell kit now

Can't wait to get it done!!

Later

Russ

[von Zipper]

I like all the Revell '32 Ford kits, here's my take on the Highboy.