Notice anything odd?

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

05snopro440

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
5,141
Location
Sherwood Park, Alberta
Does anyone else notice a couple unsafe/unwise things in this engine area? I saw this Model A 5W coupe listed for $35K USD.

Not everyone thinks the same way so I thought it might be an interesting discussion.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • FB_IMG_1552616983161.jpg
    FB_IMG_1552616983161.jpg
    107.3 KB · Views: 155
The steering linkage looks pretty close to the radius arm but I could be wrong?
Why does it have both and electric fan and a mechanical flex fan? And what on earth could the mechanical fan be doing anyway?
35K and the the best they can do is cheapo flex rad hoses?
Maybe they could eliminate the arm chopper mechanical fan with some smooth wall rad hose?
The carb looks pretty big for a SBC? Especially since it'll be running on 5 cylinders after it smokes the plug wires that are laying on the headers.
There's something fishy with the belts and the alternator looks to be running kind if close to the frame?
 
The steering linkage looks pretty close to the radius arm but I could be wrong?
Why does it have both and electric fan and a mechanical flex fan? And what on earth could the mechanical fan be doing anyway?
35K and the the best they can do is cheapo flex rad hoses?
Maybe they could eliminate the arm chopper mechanical fan with some smooth wall rad hose?
The carb looks pretty big for a SBC? Especially since it'll be running on 5 cylinders after it smokes the plug wires that are laying on the headers.
There's something fishy with the belts and the alternator looks to be running kind if close to the frame?

Whoa... I said discuss not start a war. :eek::p

It's a 383 and that's a street brawler carb. Generally it's impossible to tell on a Holley style carb what CFM it is from the outside. Looks fine to me.

From a different angle the steering link is nowhere near the radius rods, and the alternator isn't that close to the frame either. It's just the photo angle.

But yes, one thing I noticed was the flex fan. Being that far from the rad on an open fendered car with no shroud and what appears to be a 16" puller fan on the rad means that flex fan is doing nothing other than being a danger to any small animals, children, and arms that get near it.
 
Is it just me or is the throttle cable not attached to the back of the carburetor at all? Looks to me like it's just attached to the firewall and the pivot ball on the carburetor maybe it is I just can't see it
 
I see the mechanical fan spinning around unshrouded, doing nothing, except waiting for an accident to happen. The gas pedal linkage kinda will work but is not very secure. I'm a fan of tucking the spark plug wires away out of sight, but this arrangement doesn't look that good.
If you add all of these things together to get a theme, you realize that the builder was not a very good engineer, so you have to wonder about all of the other things he cobbled up, like brake linkage, suspension an the rear, driveline angles, and dash wiring.
 
The fan distance was the first thing I noticed too, there is plenty metal to remount for that rad to get closer and it might look better behind the plane of the headlights imho.
 
Is it just me or is the throttle cable not attached to the back of the carburetor at all? Looks to me like it's just attached to the firewall and the pivot ball on the carburetor maybe it is I just can't see it


I see the mechanical fan spinning around unshrouded, doing nothing, except waiting for an accident to happen. The gas pedal linkage kinda will work but is not very secure. I'm a fan of tucking the spark plug wires away out of sight, but this arrangement doesn't look that good.
If you add all of these things together to get a theme, you realize that the builder was not a very good engineer, so you have to wonder about all of the other things he cobbled up, like brake linkage, suspension an the rear, driveline angles, and dash wiring.

The fan distance was the first thing I noticed too, there is plenty metal to remount for that rad to get closer and it might look better behind the plane of the headlights imho.

You guys all noticed what I did. That throttle cable looks sketchy to me. There's no slack, which if it was mounted there should be as a safety measure.

And yeah, the redunant fan as a result of the rad being way out there.

Mac, I got to the same conclusion as you, that whoever put this together made it pretty but I wonder what else they didn't do properly.
 
I'd be worried first bump you hit that top hose would flex down, and that rotary razor would slice it right off! :eek: And that throttle cable would make some interesting driving, if the engine torque rocks just a little, it's gonna pull the carb wide open and hold it. :eek:
 
From what I can see in the picture, it looks like a pretty fine hot rod with a few minor details to be straightened out. Nothing to be gained by speculating what else might be wrong with it when you can't see anything.
 
From what I can see in the picture, it looks like a pretty fine hot rod with a few minor details to be straightened out. Nothing to be gained by speculating what else might be wrong with it when you can't see anything.

There were a lot more photos. I didn't want to share them and have everyone pick the car apart. From the photos I saw there were a lot of details missed but it sure looks good.

I guess my point was that to intelligent prospective buyers, small details can make a big difference in perception of the build quality and therefore sale price.
 
Bob W., I am also an optimist like you. This car has a few visible, fixable flaws, so what's the problem; just fix them. When I bought my 'stalled project' 1934 Plymouth there were a few obvious, fixable problems. Hotrod builders fix problems, so I just started fixing problems. I started to notice a theme in my Plymouth, the previous builder couldn't see into the future and visualize a problem coming. When he got to a dead-end problem, he just started building something else until it raised it's unengineered ugly head. On and on he went, painting himself into corners. I did not look this car over well enough before I bought it. Anyhow this one car has eroded my optimism in engineering. That's why I appeared slightly pessimistic in this discussion.
 
From what I can see in the picture, it looks like a pretty fine hot rod with a few minor details to be straightened out. Nothing to be gained by speculating what else might be wrong with it when you can't see anything.

It does look pretty solid built from those pics, but a closer look would be wise if thinking of buying it. I agree, mostly minor stuff you could work out pretty quick. Sometimes an extra set of eyes is helpful to see things I've missed.
 
It does look pretty solid built from those pics, but a closer look would be wise if thinking of buying it. I agree, mostly minor stuff you could work out pretty quick. Sometimes an extra set of eyes is helpful to see things I've missed.

For sure they're mostly minor things that indicate a closer look is needed. I guess I just expect something at that price range to be a little more sorted.
 
Looks like a typical shiny but poorly engineered, fishing for money kinda car.
Usually assembled by people with limited hot rod knowledge.

If he's listing it as a "Model A 5W" then he doesn't know much about early Ford models either. There was no "5W" Model A. It was just a Coupe - Window designations did not come into play until the Model B.
 
Looks like a typical shiny but poorly engineered, fishing for money kinda car.
Usually assembled by people with limited hot rod knowledge.

If he's listing it as a "Model A 5W" then he doesn't know much about early Ford models either. There was no "5W" Model A. It was just a Coupe - Window designations did not come into play until the Model B.

I think it was me that said that. It's a Model A, it's a coupe, and it has 5 windows. No matter what Ford called it, it's not wrong it's just different than what they called it ;)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top