Interesting ,possibly fibreglass front ,and home made no doubt,making it possibly one of the earliest glass fronts.
I am sure the split 'i' beam was known as a Bellamy front axle ,and you could buy one ,maybe Leslie was the inventor /manufacturer .
I notice the open grill shape reminiscent of the original Mr Torquer grill aperture.
E494a Anglia going by the wipers mounted at the bottom of the screen.
Nice one Bri
Ballamy was indeed the originator of the split beam for the small Ford front end. He also owned and raced a Deuce with a similar set up prior to the 'Pop' axle.
I came across his own early car at Silverstone last year. I'll try and dig out the photos.
Leslie did indeed invent the `divided front axle` based on Ford Pop axles, Ian (though initially it was designed for Austin 7s in the `30s).
The front end was fibreglass, and was later available to the general public so it would be good to find an original these days . The car was a Popular, there is a photo of it with the original wiper holes above the screen, no doubt an electric unit was fitted at the bottom for racing reasons...a good upgrade as the car was capable of over 100mph with it`s supercharged engine!!.
I`ve never seen mention of Ballamy racing a Deuce so would love to see any photos of it, Alan!. There is a famous hill climb car called the `Doodlebug`, which is still around today, that was built by Ballamy for an H.G. Symmonds and based on a V8 Ford. Sidney Allard used Ballamy`s divided axle on his early`32 based cars for both road and hillclimb cars.
Interestingly in 1938, Sir Malcolm Campbell, who was at the time chairman of Lincoln Cars on the Great West Rd in Brentford, had Leslie fit one of his divided front axles to Campbell`s own Mercury and was that impressed with it he tried to buy Ballamy`s patents for it!...
The information and knowledge often amazes me that you all have, and more importantly, prepared to share!! very nicely done all. Learning more everyday!!!
Cheers
John
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Excellent pic look at those quarter lights ?
Love that Bri,with the man himself too
And you can clearly see the old wiper holes in that shot too.
Just seen this ,the original photo is for sale on ebay ,apparently it came second in a show ,1973 i think .
Just remembered I've got the book about Leslie Ballamy. He modified a Model C long before the Pop, but nothing about a Model B in the book. Definitely must have been the first glass front on a Pop though.
I bought that book just after it was published in `04 Geoff and had the pleasure of meeting it`s author Tony Russell in `06, he has a gorgeous 7W Tourer. An interesting guy to chat with and his book is great reading if your interested in `Ford 10` cars, Tony was a member of an early Santa Pod drag team. It`s surprising what other stuff Leslie Ballamy was into designing/inventing, it seems his mind was continually thinking to improve things!...
Thanks Geoff and Bri,interesting stuff,i like the 7Y and the 103E having a go around the bend
Racing Fordson,priceless !!!!
And a young Tony Bostock too !!
Yup, I've known Tony for many years too & do see him occasionally, usually at Geoff Cousins' BBQ meets. His tourer is neat too & sports an original BHRA decal in the screen! He was part of the Limelight slingshot dragster team, together with Tony Brown & their sponsor, Jack Stilwell who founded Stripside Stores, the first shop at Santa Pod. Limelight was, at the time, the best appearing slingshot around.
MisteR Tee
Ah, Nostalgia, it ain't what it used to be!
No longer wanted: Steel 26/27 Ford Model T coupe rear fenders.
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