Firewall vs Dash
 

Sometime in the early years the vertical metal that most people call a firewall was actually called a dash. Was it called a dash or dashboard?

What year did Ford change the nomenclature from dash to firewall?

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

Good question. The term 'Dash' is a carryover from the buggy/wagon days from when craftsmen became coachbuilders. I suspect the answer to your question can be posted on the E-V8 and Late V-8 forum so guys there can look in their Ford parts books for you.

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

Didnt need a 'firewall' in the horse and buggy days..you needed a wall,but it didn't protect you from fire :) ..

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

words lose thier meanings over time. and I find it interesting to look that up. put etomology after any word and google will give you a lesson.



"Originally, the word dashboard applied to a barrier of wood or leather fixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the driver from mud or other debris "dashed up" (thrown up) by the horses' hooves." google unsourced.

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

so its a 'other debris 'wall.had a friend who raced sled dogs,he said one of the hazards was being directly in the line of fire..

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

Bud Light commercial comes to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTpDL84z12A

Dad, while in line waiting for his Army Physical in WWII was reportedly entertained by another recruit with a Zippo lighter. A pioneer "hold my beer moment?"

Sorry. Thread drift.

Joe K

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

I ran a search in Google Books for the terms "firewall" and "fire wall." There are not a lot of hits overall. Prior to about 1910, the word appears only in the context of buildings or ships. Around 1910 it starts to be used in the context of airplanes. The earliest I found it used in the context of cars was 1931, in a book called "Perpetual Trouble Shooter's Manual" which was actually about troubleshooting radios. It also appears in a radio service manual from 1936.

Since these usages are from outside the auto industry, it's certainly possible that the authors were creatively applying a term used with aircraft to what they considered an analogous part in cars, rather than choosing a term with an established definition in the automotive context.

When I looked up the use of "dash" in this context, I didn't find any uses that made it clear that the term applied to the entire panel we think of as the firewall. It was mostly used the way we use it today, to describe the upper part of the firewall that has instruments attached to it. So possibly there's a third term that's a more direct substitute for firewall that was used previously.

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

There was a bit written about this in a past issue of old cars maybe. There explanation I believe was that it is technically a 'dash board', which was a carryover from the buggy days. The front panel of the buggy.

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

most manufacturers ( ie excluding Ford!) over here used the term "bulkhead" .

Re: Firewall vs Dash
 

I wasn't looking for generic definitions. I was looking for FoMoCo definition. I believe all Model T's had "dash's" behind the engine and I believe Ford still called the "firewall" a dash through the Model A's. Just wondering how long that went on. I'll go post this on the V8 section and see what anyone knows for sure there.