至尊英语阅读资料之汽车专题第318集.pdfVIP

Automotive articles 318 [7926]The Racy Model T Speedster: From Tin Lizzie To Sports Car In 1920 The Model T Speedster didnt figure in Fords line-up. In fact, in the early nineteen twenties there wasnt much in the way of sports models the ordinary working guy could afford. The name sports car was still in the future, and so was Fords first V-8. Human nature and human ingenuity didnt take long to turn the Ford Model Ts basic transportation into something a lot more exciting, though. So if you were around in 1920 and you wanted to make the Tin Lizzie hotter and wilder, just what could you do? Dykes Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia tells you exactly what to do. The best thing to do to the body was to just replace it with a raceabout type. You could build your own you could buy a complete outfit of radiator, hood, floorboards, rear gasoline tank, and body for around $100. The new body wasnt just for looks; it made the Model T go faster by making it lighter, cutting down the frontal area, and streamlining it. Bodies could be just a cover over the engine with bucket seats out in the open and the fuel tank and spare tires behind like the Mercer and Stutz, or they could be streamlined from front to back, with a nicely tapered tail. Just changing the body could add 10 to 15 miles an hour to the top speed. Sometimes it was necessary to remove a leaf from each spring because of the lighter body, and you had to lower the steering column because the new sporty body sat lower. If the hot-rodded Model T was to be used for race-track work only, the suspension could be lowered, and there were several ways of doing that. The best way was to have a new front axle made which effectively raised the axle spindles and lowered the front end. A cheaper method was riveting pieces of channel iron on the front of the frame, letting them stick out in front about 5 inches. The back could be lowered by cutting off the side members in front of the rear axle and