An unusual Tudor in Tampa

[roccaas]

From "Hemmings". Scroll down below the four wheel drive Mustang.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2...um-collection/

I've heard of "charcoal cars", but never have seen the plumbing....

[juke joint johnny]

As the Blurb say's ; This was a fairly common conversion in Europe in WW11 mainly on trucks . I have seen a AA Truck still fitted with it should have taken a picture !!

John Cochran

[Tinker]

The TB Auto Museum is a good visit. Most of the cars are foreign. Cek, french, euro stuff. Some really great vehicles, from early indy racers to wwII trucks. It's not the hugest collection (last time I was there it was 2 big rooms), but assure you'll not see some of these vehicles anywhere else.

So I guess I'm going to have to go see that A. They don't allow pictures otherwise I'd take some to post here.

[davehc]

I saw this car at Greenfield Village this summer during the Old Car Festival , great show if you ever get the chance to go ,. Very interesting car . Tried to post a pic of it , but also couldnt . Anyone know why you can't post pics here ? "A picture Says A Thousand Word's " Thanks

[1928Pickuppain]

dose this system run as good as petrol?

[ctlikon0712]

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I've alway's thougth the Gassifier system was interesting, especially if we ever needed to run our vehicles without petrol gas. Here is some info I've gathered on the system.

A wood gas generator is a gasification unit which converts timber or charcoal into wood gas, a syngas consisting of atmospheric nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, traces of methane, and other gases, which - after cooling and filtering - can then be used to power an internal combustion engine or for other purposes. Historically wood gas generators were often mounted on vehicles, but present studies and developments concentrate mostly on stationary plants.

Gasification had been an important and common technology which was widely used to generate Town gas from coal mainly for lighting purposes during the 19th and early 20th century. When the first stationary internal combustion engines based on the Otto cycle became available in the 1870s, they began displacing steam engines as prime movers in many works requiring stationary motive power. Adoption accelerated after the Otto engine's patent expired in 1886. The potential and practical applicability of gasification to internal combustion engines were well-understood from the earliest days of their development.
In 1873, Thaddeus S. C. Lowe developed and patented the water gas process by which large amounts of hydrogen gas could be generated for residential and commercial use in heating and lighting. Unlike the common coal gas, or coke gas which was used in municipal service, this gas provided a more efficient heating fuel.
During the late 19th century internal combustion engines were sometimes fueled by town gas, and during the early 20th century many stationary engines switched to using producer gas created from coke which was substantially cheaper than town gas which was based on the distillation (pyrolysis) of more expensive coal.
In about 1920 French inventor Georges Imbert created the "Imbert" downdraft generator.
During World War II gasoline was rationed and in short supply in Great Britain, United States and Germany large numbers of such generators were constructed or even improvised to convert wood and coal into fuel for vehicles. Commercial generators were in production before and after the war for use in special circumstances or in distressed economies.

Advantages
Wood gas generators have a number of advantages over use of petroleum fuels:
They can be used to run internal-combustion engines (or even gas turbines, for maximal efficiency) using wood, a renewable resource, and in the absence of petroleum or natural gas, for example, during a fuel shortage.
They have a closed carbon cycle, contribute less to global warming, and are sustainable in nature.
They can be relatively easily fabricated in a crisis using materials on hand.
They are far cleaner burning than, say, a wood fire or even a gasoline-powered engine is (without emissions controls), producing little if any soot.
When used in a stationary design, they reach their true potential, as they are feasible to use in small combined heat and power scenarios (with heat recovery from the wood gas producer, and possibly the engine/generator, for example, to heat water for hydronic heating), even in industrialized countries, even during good economic times, provided that a sufficient supply of wood is attainable. Larger-scale installations can reap even better efficiencies, and are useful for district heating as well.
[edit]Disadvantages
The disadvantages of wood gas generators are:
the large specific size
the relatively slow starting speed; the time to heat the initially cold batch of wood to the necessary temperature level can take many minutes and in bigger plants even hours until the designed power is reached.
a batch burning operation, that some designs feature, and that regularly interrupts the gas producing process.
the stop operation out of a high load level is difficult (for example the stop of the engine using the gas): the residual heat still produces gas, which for a certain time leaves the gasifier either without control, or has to be used in a burner
the primary combustible fuel-gas produced during gasification is carbon monoxide: it is an intentional fuel-product, and is subsequently burned to safe carbon dioxide in the engine (or other application) along with the other fuel-gases; however, continuous exposure to carbon-monoxide can be fatal to humans even in small to moderate concentrations.
the humidity of the wood (usually 15 to 20%) and the water vapor created by the O- and H-atoms of the dry wood itself (about 0.4 liters of water loaded with organic substances per kg of dry wood) condenses during the gas cooling and filtering procedure and yields a liquid (see also wood tar), which needs specific waste water treatment. This treatment requires about 25 to 35 % of the created wood gas energy.
When not carefully designed and used, there exists considerable potential for injury or death due to wood gas containing a large percentage of poisonous carbon monoxide (CO) gas. Wood gasifiers of proven design and thoroughly tested construction are considered safe to use outdoors, or in a partially enclosed space, for example, under a shelter open to the air on two sides; they may also be considered relatively safe to use in an extremely well ventilated (e.g. negative pressure) indoor area not connected to any indoor area used for sleeping, equipped with redundant (more than 1), completely independent, battery-powered, regularly tested carbon-monoxide detectors. However, prudence must dictate that any sort of experimental wood gasifier design or new construction be thoroughly tested outdoors, and only outdoors, with a "buddy" at all times, and with constant vigilance for any sign of headache, drowsiness, or nausea, as these are the first symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
In addition, mixtures of excessive quantities of air and gas should be avoided as this could lead to the deflagration (explosion) of the gas in question if a combustion source is present. Long-term storage of wood-gas, except through the use of a gasholder-type water-displacement apparatus, should not be attempted, due to the volatile elements present in the gas, which, if allowed to excessively precipitate, will condense in the storage vessel. Under no circumstances should wood-gas ever be compressed to more than 15 pounds per square inch (1.0 bar) above ambient, as this may induce condensation of volatiles, as well as lead to the likelihood of severe injury or death due to carbon monoxide or deflagration if the vessel leaks or fails.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification

[Bruce Lancaster]

The Olde Car bookstores, like Classic Motorbooks, used to offer a reprint of an Australian WWII manual on this conversion...
When I was a starving student, I ALWAYS tried to put his in as I worked up an order of books but always had to drop it (along with most of the other books!) because I had practically no money and my wife insisted on blowing what we had on stuff like food and rent.
It seems to be long gone from the catalogs. Does anyone here own that book?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Oh great..............now the government will start putting a road tax on wood!