This is the newest project here at
Gary’s, a 1950 Prefect we are building to go nostalgia racing
with our new apprentice Aaron and the former 2 engine
Econoline known as V16EH. Watch for us on the Nostalgia Racing
web site
www.fastpast.ca.
This is how it looked when purchased in St.Thomas.
Some guys will buy ANYTHING! |
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| A few c
clamps and a stand gave us an idea what our purchase is supposed
to look like. The Prefect was a company in England owned by Ford
and was related to the Anglia. Prefects were 4 doors; Anglia’s
the same body [different front ends] had 2 doors. It may be hard
to see in this photo, but some previous owner welded the rear
doors shut. |
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We are
building our own frame. It is 2x3 inch 1/8 wall tubing. It has
a 93 inch wheelbase and will have a center mounted seat as
well as all other safety equipment required to race safely.
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| The rear
end is a severely narrowed Ford 9inch built for a high
horsepower car. We will be using a fairly mild 350 cu.in. Chev
for power so we should not be able to hurt this stout piece.
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| We are
starting our front axle installation here. Talk about your mix
of parts, we have a straight axle designed for a dirt track
stock car. It uses 37 Ford car spindles, a late model disc brake
kit with 48 Ford truck springs, all on home made mounts. To top
it off we are using a VW bus steering box. |
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| Here we
are right side up, on stands waiting for the body. The frame is
a little long as yet, but will be trimmed off the front when the
grill is installed and we know the exact length needed. |
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| The body
is on, the rear rims are in place to help us locate the wheel
opening center line. The rims are early Ansen’s I found at a
garage sale and put away for just such a project. |
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| An
extremely rare set of 4x15 inch set of front rims were sourced
from a friend. These are Ansen Sprints and match the rears. Were
going for a 60’s gasser look with a nose high stance. |
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| After
turning the frame right side up, we determined there would not
be enough suspension travel to keep the rear end from contacting
the frame. We added this small step for clearance. |
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| The mock
up engine is in place here, the steering shaft runs over top of
the motor to get the center steering we need. The rad lies down
at almost a 45 degree angle as it is so large it will not stand
up straight in the tiny engine compartment. The original power
plant was a whopping 1.17 liters. |
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| The
steering wheel is a vintage green Grant with metal flake
embedded in the rim. Another treasure saved for probably 30
years before using it here. More work is to be done yet as
floors, a dash and throttle pedal still need to be installed. |
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| If you
remember photo number 2, you may recognize where this came from.
A fellow Rodfather, Ed Slogget photo shopped all the extras in
to the original photo to come up with this. This is very close
to how we expect the car to look but maybe with a little shinier
paint. Stay tuned as racing season is getting close. |
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| After
trial fitting the body and various other components here we are
permanently installing body mounts or roll cage braces or maybe
it was something else, I can’t remember. |
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| Once the
car was sitting down on the slicks we have decided to use, we
were advised by people knowledgeable on car construction to
lower the rear ride height to improve high speed handling. The
original rails now contact the sidewalls so a further step up
was added. A smaller tire probably would have been a better
choice , but you know what they say about size, IT DOES MATTER! |
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| Once the
rear rails were completed, we added the necessary X braces for
the roll cage and painted the frame as once we put the body back
on we will not be able to access all areas to paint them.
Further welding on the cage will happen once the body is back on
but that is the easiest method as there will be no removing it
again. |
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| Here we
have the worlds s- l- o- w- e- s- t pit crew bolting the body
back on. We could probably get more work out of them if we
locked the beer fridge till noon at least. Problem is they
operate off something called Barrie time. Basically that means
whatever time they want a beer means its noon. It doesn’t have
to make sense, that’s just the way it is. |
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| We
fabricated an 18 gauge steel firewall and welded it in to the
body. Further roll cage braces extend through it to the frame to
stiffen the chassis. The instillation was done this way to keep
holes in the firewall to a minimum. Much safer in case of an
engine fire. |
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| This is
our race engine installed and we are figuring out how to mount
the rad. We are using a large rad to cool an even bigger engine
should we ever decide to install one. The severe angle was
necessary to fit the tiny engine compartment where a 1.7 Litre
engine normally resides. We are using an electric water pump so
we don’t need a fan belt as we will not be running an
alternator. Fewer parts to fail and less weight as well. The
entire car is over built for the 12 or 13 second times we are
hoping to run. Every thing is designed to handle about 700
horsepower and 10 second times. All safety items are already
installed for the eventuality of going faster. |
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| A simple
dash was fabricated in the shop and will be easily removed for
servicing the gauges by undoing the ¼ turn fasteners. The tach
is mounted above the windshield so it is out of the line of
sight needed when racing but still in your peripheral vision to
tell you when to shift. Not that there will be much shifting
involved with a 2 speed transmission. |
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| The fuel
cell, electric fuel pump and battery are mounted in the tiny
trunk. A lot of space is taken up by the roll cage and frame
rails which made it necessary to move everything else to the
very rear. Just visible on the lower part of the rear fender is
the power shut off switch mandated by the sanctioning body who
set all the safety requirements. |
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| Here it
is on its wheels and the tilt front end is being installed. The
ride height is nose high just as the 60’s gassers were that we
are trying to replicate. Body work on the main body has started
and is progressing nicely, the rear fenders have been trimmed
severely to clear the large slicks. |
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| Interior
tin is all installed and next up are the Plexiglas windows we
have already cut to fit. They will be glued in to allow us to
leave out all the crank mechanism’s and trim pieces that ad
weight and are not necessary as a race vehicle. No air
conditioning or other creature comforts [like a padded driver’s
seat] are used. Some think the driver has enough built in
padding! |
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| The
Prefect continued to use a padded top insert with wood bows long
after many contemporary cars had gone to an all steel roof. This
is a hold over from the Model A’s design of years earlier as
this company was owned by Henry Ford and if it was good enough
for Model A’s and T’s it should still be good enough. We have
welded in this panel to comply with IHRA rules. |
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| This
would be a snakes eye view of the front suspension. The
amalgamation of many varied parts gives our racer the desired
stance. The alignment has yet to be done then the front shocks
will be installed. Perry’s Auto is our alignment shop of choice,
see them for all your needs, whether car, light or heavy duty
truck. |
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| A top
side view of the steering and headers are shown. The exhaust are
sprint car style headers that had to be lengthened to clear the
frame. The brace in the middle of the picture holds the lower
half of the front fender that is bolted to the main body. The
front end would not tilt properly with full length front
fenders. |
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| A highly
modified Ford 9inch rear axle is being used. About the only Ford
part left is the center housing as everything else are new parts
that are much stronger to stand the rigors of racing. The coil
over shocks are used units we purchased from Joe Bonniferro and
were used on his Pro Modified Dodge race car. It is now early
April and we hope to be testing by mid May. Stay tuned! |
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| Interior
is almost complete here. The shifter and wiring panel are in,
the gauges have yet to go in as well as the gas pedal and seat
belts. Sparse doesn’t begin to describe things. |
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| Once the
oil pressure and water temperature gauge are installed, this
beast is ready to roar. As much as a 240,000 KM truck engine
can. Hopefully we get a season out of it to get us some track
time so we can learn how to race before stepping up to the
killer engine we have planned next. It only has 50,000 KMs on
it!!!! |
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| Finally
under it’s own power. A quick lap around the parking lot and
back inside for more TLC. That’s code for body and paint. |
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| A little
further down the body work trail we come to this stage. Almost
half done but still lots more to do. Stay tuned for colour
choice as I have not decided what to use yet. One thing for
sure, NO YELLOW! |
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| Here we
are, loaded up and trucking, right to Perry’s Auto for a 4 wheel
alignment. We would not want anything to scrub off speed as our
250,000 Km motor will be working hard enough to move the old
girl. |
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| Here she
is! The Great Pumpkin as it has been called by many. The bright
orange colour may not show well here but it is a 1969 Camaro
colour called Hugger Orange. REALLY BRIGHT. The
headlight/eyeballs are there to help all the old guys who are
scheduled to have a turn driving, find there way down the track! |
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| The
Rodfather Racing Team hot rod is ready to rumble! A different
set if slicks to give that nostalgia look we have been aiming
for really hit the mark. Thanks to all who have lent a hand.
Let's hope for a great racing season with few red lights! |
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| Well here it is
in all it's painted glory. The Great Pumpkin is alive and well.
The bright orange paint has prompted the nick name, too bad the
driver is not Charlie Brown! He may have an easier time getting
in and out. |
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| Here she is on
her inaugural pass at a blistering 15 seconds and a whopping 86
MPH. All in all the first trip to the track went well with a few
teething problems. A carb putting out enough fuel for 2 engines
prevented a good pass but we didn't break anything or run over
the Christmas tree so I guess we should be happy. Wish we could
say the same thing for the trip home, but thats a story for
another episode of the Great Pumpkin rides again. Stay tuned for
more details as they happen. Same bat time, same bat channel. |
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