Category Archives: Edsel

Auto Factoids for the Week of Nov. 1, 2015 – Packard Week

By | | , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week of Nov. 2015. I’m going to call this Packard Week (like Shark Week only on wheels)!!!   Here is why:

Starting right off on the Nov. 1st 1955 Studebaker’s Hawk showed up on the car scene.

  • They when on sale in 1956 and came in the Flight Hawk, Golden Hawk and Power Hawk and Sky Hawk. As you may know these were tough time for Studebaker/Packard so the Flight, Power and Sky Hawk models were only available in 1956.   The power plants for these cars ranged from Studebaker’s old straight 6 cylinder bored and stoked to displace 185 CIDs for the Flight Hawk, and their OHV 259″ V8, which came in a 2bbl and 4bbl configuration (180 HP and 195 HP ) for the Power Hawk to the Sky Hawk’s OHV 289 CID with the Golden Hawk sporting Packard’s 352 CID (5.8 L – V8) that managed to produce 275 BHP. That is pretty good power in fairly light car.

Sky Hawk

Sky Hawk

Flight Hawk

Flight Hawk

Golden Hawk

Golden Hawk

Power Hawk

Power Hawk

On Nov. 2, 1935 we have two events.

  • Cord’s 810 debuted as did the Fords’ (Lincoln’s) Zephyr. Cord 810 was a beautiful and advanced car. It was the first US designed and built front wheel drive car with independent suspension and sported a set of very cool hidden headlights (operated with a crank on the dash-board) – another US first!! It was power by a Lycoming 289 V8 (125HP) and had a 4 speed overdrive transmission.
1935 Cord 810. This the Sportsmen Convertible

1935 Cord 810. This is the Sportsmen Convertible

  • The Zephyr was produced under the Lincoln sub-brand and was powered by 267 cu in (4.4 L) L-Head with 110 HP. It sold 15,000 units in its first with was over 50% of all Lincoln sales for 1936.
1936 Zephyr

1936 Zephyr

Continuing on with Packard Week, on Nov. 5, 1863 John Ward Package was born.

  • Before building his first automobile in 1899, he successfully operated his own business, Packard Electric
John Ward Packard

John Ward Packard

On Nov. 6 is a very busy day in Automotive history we have 3 major mile stones.

  • On this day in Carlo (a.k.a. Karl) Abarth was born in Austria in 1908. He was ultimate gear-headed business man!!! Started out designing bicycle and motorcycle frames in Italy as a teenager for Castanga, then back to Austria and motorcycle racing where he managed to become 5 times European champion. After begin seriously injured in a racing accident he gave up racing, designed a sidecar and started a company with Ferry Porsche (and couple other guys) that was eventually called Cisitalia. They produced the Tipo 360 F1 prototype – which was a flop. Later on he founded the Abarth & C company that eventually produced racing cars with the scorpion logo then moved into the production of performance exhaust now called Abarth. He should the company to Fiat and they named a car after him.

Abarth Race Car

Abarth Race Car

Logo

Logo
  • Edsel Ford was born in 1883 in Detroit, MI on this same day. Often only known for the Edsel sub brand he was instrumental in design and development of the Lincoln as well. But we all love the Edsel.

1959EdselCorsair

  • To finish up Packard Week the first Packard car was test driven on Nov. 6, 1899.
The first Packard

The first Packard

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#AutoFactoids

Auto Factoids for the Week of 5/10/2015 – GM and Corvair

Here is this weeks AutoFactoids (#AutoFactoids). May 10, 1923 – GM names Alfred P. Sloan as president. They didn’t just pick from the streets. He was actually, a draftsman for a bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing.

Auto Factoids for the Weeks of March 15 and March 22 2015

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the week. Actually, I’ve combined two weeks because I forgot last weeks and this week’s was limited. So let’s start off with the week of the 15th (’cause going in chronological …

Engine Mini-Series – Ford’s 410

By | | , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

I love engines!!!  Not just the big block, but some of the off beat, lower production/limited use, power plants.   Of course that’s one of the great things about our hobby – there is a wide variety to choose from.

I haven’t writing a post in this series in some time, but just the other day, while on my hunt for a new project car, I ran across a Mercury project that had a 410 as the engine. I bet even if you are a die-hard Ford guy, you might not have run into this engine.  This prompted me to do a little research which further prompted me to write what I found.

 

The 410 from a 1966 Mercury.

The 410 from a 1966 Mercury.

 

Most engines are derived from an engineered design that came before it.   The 410 came in two different series.  Produced from 1958 to 1968 it was part of the MEL series.  MEL was Ford’s designation for Mercury, Edsel and Lincoln.  From 1968 through 1976 it was in the FE series.  The early MEL series 410 was used exclusively in the 1958 Edsel Corsair and Citation.  It was also called the E-475 for it’s 475 foot-pounds of torque.  It sported a 4.20 bore and a 3.70 stroke and a compression ratio of 10.5:1.  Top that with 4 barrel Holly and it would produce, finish it off with dual exhaust you’ve got enough power to pull around those big Edsels.

The FE Series 410 was essentially Ford’s 390 (as was the 406) only given a bump in the stroke length (0.20″) to 3.98″ from the 390’s 3.78″.  It used the same heads as the 390 (2.04 intake and 1.57 exhaust valves).  Topped with a cast iron intake manifold and a Ford carb, it produced 330 horse power.

 

The MEL Series 410 was, as stated above, only installed in Edsel’s Cosair and Citation and that was only for 1958. That would make it an extremely limited use engine.  It was a 4v Carb, produced about 345 horse power and 475 ft-lbs of torque with a compression ratio of 10.5:1.

The FE Series was also used in just two years, 1966 & 1967 and in just one sub-brand, Mercury. For those years the 410 carried a 4v carb produced 330 horse power and put done 444 ft-lbs of torque using 10.5:1 compression.

 

Production number for the 1958 Corsair was 9,987 units.  For the Citation 9,299 units were produced.  Together those tells you that there were about 20,286 for the 410 engines produced in the MEL version.  I wasn’t able to find true production numbers for the FE series.

 

I haven’t check into the availability of parts for either 410 Series, but the MEL would seem unique and difficult source, however the FE shared most of the FE 390 engine.  I do know that the MEL series engines had unique cylinder heads.  The heads and block were milled at a 10 degree angle, giving them a wedge-shaped combustion chamber.

I did, in fact, pass on the project that prompted this post.

 

Thanks for reading.  And if you have any additional information or want to share your project.  Post here or on twitter (@AGCarRestore) or Facebook  Average Guy’s Car Restoration, Mods and Racing.

 

Tim

 

where to find ford MEL 462 parts? – Hotrodders.com

I dont really want to pull the engine out of the car because i got an estimate on machine work, and the numbers are to high for my salary, Is there anything i can do to flush out the coolant ports(im not sure what the technical …
Eaton Balancing » The Ford Y-Block engine

With the introduction of the FE and MEL engines in 1958, lessons had been learned in regards to exhaust valve placement and the new engines remedied this issue by either placing intake valves next to each other at the …

ford mel engines

 

 

Engine Line-Up: 1960 Edsel

By | | , , , , , ,
3 Comments

The Edsel.  Name sake for Henry’s son.  Touted as “ugly” and a failure.  I disagree.

I think they were great and I plan on own one at some point. ( I was pretty close earlier this  year – just missed one at an auction.)  There is just something about tooling around in one of those  large and long 4 door land yacht.  Anyway..one day I will, if I just borrow one for a week.

So in the last year of the Edsel what engines were available?

The car came in 4 configuration, body-wise.  A 2 door sedan, a 2 door convertible; a 4 door sedan and 5 door wagon, but only two engine options.

Your two choices were of the V8 and straight six variety.

Ford‘s 292 was the V8 power plant .  It sported overhead valves, an iron block and hydraulic lifters.  The compression was ratio 8.8:1 and with a bore and stroke of 3.75 x 3.60.  It came with a 2 barrel carb – model B9A9510-A.  Interesting the block and heads were painted black and the value covers and air cleaner were red.

There was the option inline (straight) 6 cylinder.  That too had overhead valves and an iron block.  Bore and stroke was 3.62 x 3.60 and compression ratio 8.4:1. It displayed 223 cubic inches with 145 horse power.  It was topped with a 1 barrel carb, model B9A9510F.   It had the same paint scheme as the V8 but was considered a “delete” option in the Rangers series.

223 Straight (Inline) 6 cylinder with the proper paint scheme

Add 2 more cylinder and buy an extra can of paint for additional valve cover and you'll have this 292 with the proper paint.

Thanks for reading.

Tim