More great factory photos from the Henry Ford Museum

[t-head]

This one of three photos we have up in a post of factory photos and it shows a brake testing machine installed on the production line to enable the line workers to adjust the brakes. The machine appears to spin each of the four wheels by separate drives and a load gauge of some sort allows the worker to adjust each brake for even operation.

[jimTN]

That 38 delux cpe was a real beauty! Not many of them around today compared to the rest.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by jimTN

That 38 delux cpe was a real beauty! .

Yep, Always loved the 38.

[2935ford]

Dual wipers and an antenna!

[FlatheadTed]

Me Two .

Originally Posted by TonyM

Yep, Always loved the 38.

[Clem Clement]

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What is the worker doing?

[Seth Swoboda]

I wonder what that pan under the front of the car is for? It looks like it has a liquid draining into it? Is the guy in front of the car testing the coolant system?

[Clem Clement]

The left worker is looking at a pressure gauge. Is the car running? What is in where the worker is reaching? Is the front bumper covered with a protector?

[BILL WZOREK]

Originally Posted by Clem Clement

What is the worker doing?

I know what he is saying>>>> WHAT A STUPID PLACE TO PUT A TIME CLOCK / NOW WHERE DID I PUT MY TIME CARD // LOL LOL

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by Clem Clement

What is the worker doing?

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

I wonder what that pan under the front of the car is for? It looks like it has a liquid draining into it? Is the guy in front of the car testing the coolant system?

Originally Posted by Clem Clement

The left worker is looking at a pressure gauge. Is the car running? What is in where the worker is reaching? Is the front bumper covered with a protector?

If you read the text in OLDMOTOR you'd find out that the car is on a brake testng machine. The guy looking at the gage has his left arm behind the wheel adjusting

[VeryTangled]

I agree. Under the word THE it looks like liquid is coming out of the pipe into the catch pan. There isn't a lot of liquid on the ground nor on the worker's shoes though. Hmmm. If he's draining, is someone else filling. If there was filling there would be spillage I'd assume. For sure if the draining and filling was oil the floor wouldn't be dry and dusty.

Maybe the cooling is for the machine?

I think the car is up on a lift. Look under the passenger end of the front bumper, it looks like something holding the car up off the suspension but not off the ground. It is making a larger gap between the bottom of the fender and the top of the tire where the bent-over worker is reaching.

I assume he's adjusting the brakes, but know nothing about 38's.

From the looks of the sleeve protector, I bet he does that job with the tire spinning (from the motor next to the gauge). The front tire does not seem to be spinning. I'm sure it's a setup shot. There may have been a break in production, or this may be a machine that they could set aside for some publicity photos without disrupting the assembly line. That may explain the lack of spilled fluids, but if it is a setup, then why have the liquid flowing at all? There does seem to be a car fender at the far left of the photo, as if there is another car just behind this one.

How could they adjust the brakes without the full weight of the vehicle on the suspension? I get it, he's adjusting for rolling resistance, not for stopping force!!

Looking at the guy in the front, it seems his body is shielding most of a protector that is laid both inside and outside the grill. There's also what looks like some fabric sitting on the drivers side of the front bumper.


If the front bumper is wrapped, say with clear plastic, why aren't the bumper guards wrapped too?

They just don't cut men's trousers that way any more do they?

-VeryTangled/Jeff

[PeteVS]

Look at the photos in the link in the text with the first picture. One of them shows a '38 standard Tudor.

http://theoldmotor.com/?attachment_id=66213

Man, are they skinny tires or what??! Are they 3-1/2" rims?

[Seth Swoboda]

Originally Posted by PeteVS

Look at the photos in the link in the text with the first picture. One of them shows a '38 standard Tudor.

http://theoldmotor.com/?attachment_id=66213

Man, are they skinny tires or what??! Are they 3-1/2" rims?

I saw those pics as well. I am sure they are 6.00x16's. Did you notice the 38 pickup truck behind that tudor?

[steve-cook]

That is a great picture of the 1938 New, of course I have biased opinion.

[Old Redneck]

The car is at the end of the line he is ready to close the hood so the driver can drive the car off the line.When I work at Ford at the end of the line that where the front end was line up underneath.The front tire is on a plate that will turn. Very nice picture

[BILL WZOREK]

Here is a thought ! Is the guy under the fender adjusting the Brakes and the car is set up on a Dino where the wheel drag could be measured for proper brake adjustment ???
If you look there is 4 guages with elec drive to a set of rollers

[Mart]

Looks like a back breaking job for the operator.

Mart.

[t-head]

Originally Posted by BILL WZOREK

Here is a thought ! Is the guy under the fender adjusting the Brakes and the car is set up on a Dino where the wheel drag could be measured for proper brake adjustment ???
If you look there is 4 guages with elec drive to a set of rollers

Yes that is exactly what is going on....The gauges somehow must have registered how much load was on each drive registered. The operator then must have adjusted each brake to get them equal.