Registering a Special is becoming more difficult every year. At least on the continent of Europe. Legislators tend only to register cars with original chassis, suspension and engine. Changes of body are not seen as a problem. Cars with dramatic chassis and/or engine changes are seen as 'new' cars with all the impossible issues involved with that. So it may not be unthinkable that the market will demand for another kind os special. Cars with a fulyl original basis to start with. Dave Boxall and Tobias Ballard recently started building a small series of roadworthy 'racing cars' based on the supersturdy design of the Model A Ford.
The first prototype has been finished ten days ago. Tobias: "We didn't want this to be the typical Ford A speedster that looked like it had been built from a stock A body. We wanted this to be a proper racing car with racing car looks. I took on the responsibility of all mechanical parts of the build while Dave took on the body side. The rear of the car is built from aviation timber and the front is all aluminium. The engine was a standard Ford A engine of 3280cc. However now the same engine has been rebuilt and tuned by Toby Ballard. The block was bored out .125" to 4" giving the engine 3500cc. It was then completely white metalled and line bored back to tolerance. Then the crankshaft, flywheel, pistons and conrods were all fully balanced. New valves, guides and cam followers were fitted along with a new High Lift camshaft. The resulting car is light, smooth running and very powerful. It produces 60 bhp and 110 lbs of torque. At a first speedtest is did 85 mph. With a differential change and overdrive it will go over a 100 mph. That's fast enough." (more info in their advert; click here)
The car will be first presented during the Vianen Oldtimer event in Holland on the 19-22 June. We understand the second car is well on the way to being finished and the third has just been started. A full alloy bodied version and a twin carburettor conversion - producing another 10 bhp will come available as well.
UPDATE by Toby Ballard: "This is what we started with (click). Not a lovely saloon that was ferrous to build the car. All the chassis that we use are bought as rolling chassis from America. As for the brakes. They work a lot better than my American LaFrance. As for the wings. In England we are not required by law to have them. We also are not required by law to have lights or indicators. "