April 03, 2008

New D&D 34 Ford Pipes

The Pope of Pipe, Dave Rash, is testing a new slipon pipe on a classic 34 Ford... Cool!

The 1934 Ford (called the Model 40A) is an iconic Hot Rod car. At the time the V8 output was upped to 85 hp (63 kW), and the four-cylinder Model A engine was in its last year as was the Victoria body style.

Edsel Bryant Ford, President of Ford Motor Company from 1925 until his untimely death from cancer and undulant fever in 1943, had a considerable influence on Ford styling, first with Lincoln, then with the 1928 Model A, and soon afterward, with the 1932 Ford and many Ford models that followed.

An accomplished artist who took art lessons all his life, Edsel had a particular interest in the design and styling of Ford Motor Company cars, an issue that didn’t much interest his puritanical father.

In his book, Ford Design Department Concept & Show Cars, 1932-1961, former Ford stylist Jim Farrell wrote:

At a time when others did not recognize it as such, Edsel Ford saw the automobile as an art form. In reality, he was a far better designer than most who claimed the title. He knew design history and theory; he was Ford’s design director in the same sense that Harley Earl was design director at GM.