HOME MADE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 21 September 1927, Page 2

HOME MADE

* LAD REBUILDS FORD. NOW CAPABLE OF 70 M.P.H. Every man his own car designer. To every lad his own sipeedster. That is. the motto of Bert Peek of Granville, Australia, and to give it full effect he foreswore the movies and the football field for 10 months, and laboured .at the reconstruction of a secondhand Ford. He achieved the effect he sought. Now it is a streamline racer, capable of 70 miles an hour. Bert is only 19 years of age; but his mechanical ability is remarkable. He had only spare time to devote to his hobby, and not a -great deal of capital. As it runs now, the Ford cost £l5O. Of that, the first cost for the second-hand tourer was £65. Despite the high speed the racer shows, the builder claims a petrol consumption of 32 miles a gallon. A three-speed gearbox is fitted, with ratios of 10 to 1, 5 to 1, and 2f to 1 on top. Thew heels are balloon-tyred, and have 12-inch external contracting brakes. Road clearance is 9 inches. An 18-inch steering wheel crowns the column, which ends in a worm-box. Dumb-irons are built on, and semi-ellip-tic front springs. Rear springs are still transverse. To give his racer line, Peek has fitted a Y wind shield, and slung a 9-gallon petrol tank at the rear.