Posted on 11/21/2015 1:54:16 PM PST by george76
He’s lying
Tag line.
Fuel ethanol didn’t start out as a do-gooder program. Because of peak-oil theory and the Arab oil embargoes of the ‘70s, it was thought to be a national security matter.
The oxygenate and ‘green’ promotion didn’t come until the ‘90s, IIRC.
Not an “A.” The old cars run horribly on it. Even 10%. I know.
Ford did it only to gain political points from the farmers and tractors.
That is really interesting. If you have a link to a good article I’d love to get it.
I have just known this little factoid forever. I am sure if you google it you can find articles.
Really?
How did they get around the vapor lock issue? Because it is major pain the rear with the A and you can run just about any fuel in an A.
I really wonder how will it would have worked. I wonder if anyone has actually tried running pure ethanol in their T.
The Ford Model A was a complete departure from some of Henry Ford’s earlier philosophy that drove the design of the Model T.
Still a simple rugged vehicle, but modernized to take advantage of the much greater availability of modestly good-quality gasoline fuel (higher compression ratio, more familiar clutch-and-sliding-gear transmission, a REAL electrical system, and not a magneto, and more overall passenger comfort built into the vehicle), the last Model A was built in 1931. It was a tribute to the design that approximately half of the A’s ever built were still daily drivers as late as 1950, and many of the others had been converted into farm tractors, sawmill power units, material handling end loaders, and the engines and drivelines had been cannibalized to be used in running small manufacturing facilities and blacksmith shops. Millions of young men got their mechanical know-how sharpened while keeping these old A’s running, “shade tree mechanics” who could overhaul the vehicle in their back yards. “Rat rods” based on the old four-cylinder engine design were still being trotted out as late as the 1960’s.
“The Kid in the Hopped-Up Model A”
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/biofuels/did-you-know-learn
...From the original design, the Model T ran on ethanol as well as petroleum. Ford believed ethanol would become the most commonly used fuel source...
I have an original A. And it doesn’t like ethanol at all. The fuel system is gravity feed which is prone to vapor lock. Especially when the engine warms up.
I have spent years trying to figure out how to make it work with ethanol without any luck. I HATE ethanol.
He must have figured out how to work around the vapor lock issue. Because the next generation, the A doesn’t run on it at all.
You will have to ask Henry Ford that one. I am not an automotive engineer. :-)
Ya. Lol.
Ford had built ethanol engines before 1900. Other light fuels were rare and expensive then.
It’s possible that John D. Rockefeller’s oil refined to gasoline was just too attractive, and no doubt the ‘A’ was designed for its use.
JDR’s contribution to autos is under-appreciated.
“Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941. “
I think the filler in the seats in my A is hemp. However it does not run well on ethanol.
Thankfully I can fill my boat up with ethanol free gas and get extra for storage and my generators.
They must have re-engineered for gas or something.
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