Filed under: Aftermarket, Time Warp, Tuners, Ford
Finnishing Touch: Cosworth-powered Ford Model A
Click to view more images of the Cosworth-powered 1929 Ford Model A
Ford owners love to swap out their stock powerplants for high-performance crate engines. No news there. But this has to be the most extreme application we've seen yet: a 1929 Model A with a 250hp rally-spec Cosworth.
The custom job is the work of Finnish outfit Mäkelä Auto Tuning, the same firm that built the ice speed record-setting Bentley Continental GT. This time, MAT received a mandate from the Model A's owner to restore the classic to pristine condition while giving it some extra juice. So they took the engine out of a Ford Escort BDA Cosworth Group 4 rally car and dropped it into the restored chassis. The result could very well be the ultimate sleeper: a vintage Ford that hits sixty in five flat and tops out at 124 mph. That's got to be one heck of a scary ride.
Check out the pics in the gallery below and here.
[Source: MAT via Carscoop]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SilverAero 8:10PM (1/28/2008)
Bad Ass.
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iOrange 8:16PM (1/28/2008)
i won't lie, I was scratching my head thinking.. I didn't know Cosworth was around in 1929... That is seriously sick though.. I would love to hear the sound it makes..
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ImpSS'94 9:06PM (1/28/2008)
I was right there with you... thinking Huh? Cosworth was building engines back then putting out what?
LX builder 11:17PM (1/28/2008)
The Cosworth is an 80's rally car engine, the build can be found in the current issue of Hot Rod magazine. And their website. [hotrod.com]
LX builder 11:25PM (1/28/2008)
I forgot, hotrod.com has video of the car on the road and on the dyno. Sounds wicked!
Robert O 8:31PM (1/28/2008)
This is perhaps the coolest story I have ever read on Autoblog. I want to go for a ride in this car!
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ImpSS'94 9:10PM (1/28/2008)
I seriously hope those are real wooden spoke wheels on that thing. I mean can any of you imagine what damage the torque could do to them. Unless I am wrong and those wooden spoke wheels back then could handle that kind of power.
I am still trying to figure out the point of the 5-point seatbelts when the seatback is about waist height.
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B 9:11PM (1/28/2008)
Sorry the wheels are just painted that way. I ran across this about 6mos ago and viewed a whole slideshow of build pictures. I cant seem to find it now.
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ToMiTa 9:19PM (1/28/2008)
This is unbelievably cool!! It must be tough to keep the rubber on the ground. To someone like me that doesn't know the Model A, the engine requires a second look to detect that it isn't stock!!
travis 8:59AM (1/29/2008)
If you read the build (it's on the internet) the wheels are cast AL. And to make it the ultimate sleeper, its got a misfire circuit that you can turn on. It goes from sputter sputter to rally car zoom at the flip of a switch.
I'm thinking dragging a dumb ass 17 yr old kid in his Mustang and kicking his ass must never get old.
Hank 9:25PM (1/28/2008)
Very cool, but I'd sure want a brake mod, too.
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Jackie B. 9:26PM (1/28/2008)
Ha! Too bad it wasn't all-wheel, with that slick, 'euro ford' motor.
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Mike 11:29PM (1/28/2008)
The sound is pretty good, video on the restorer's site:
http://www.mat.fi/video_aford.htm
The 195 image slide show is pretty detailed, down to putting the woodgrain on the custom wheels:
http://www.mat.fi/project1929fordmodel-a.htm
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Juan 12:14AM (1/29/2008)
This was posted by a commenter on the V8 xB article 3 days ago.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/25/friday-fun-rwd-scion-xb-with-chevy-v8-power/comments/10053016/
Link to the Hotrod article:
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0803w_1929_model_a_touring_car/index.html
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adelossa 3:38AM (1/29/2008)
I remembered watching a youtube, and man... I wonder how much that'd cost to own!
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ronnie 4:39AM (1/29/2008)
It was kinda classic, but its great! I love it . . .
http://cars.ozfreeonline.com
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Douglas 6:41AM (1/29/2008)
Awesome! That's the ultimate sleeper. I'd like to take a spin in that. Sure puts those old Cosworth Vega(s) Vegii? to shame.............
calebe 7:44AM (1/29/2008)
super sweet
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Jon 8:33AM (1/29/2008)
In Hot Rod, they showed the custom aluminum casts for those faux wooden spoke wheels. Pretty cool article. They stated in the article that the torque would just shred the wood wheels. They cast custom aluminum wheels and hand painted the wood grain for the ultimate sleeper.
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Jeff the Baptist 9:13AM (1/29/2008)
Is it still a Model A if you replace all the mechanical components with something else? The brakes are modern hydraulic units, the suspension is updated, and the powerplant is new.
That isn't a restoration because restoration implies bringing it back to like-new condition. That's a total rebuild.
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