The Ford Ballard Special: two engines are better than one

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Last year, we brought news that Tobias Ballard, Model A Ford enthusiast and expert engineer, had achieved what nobody else in living memory had done and produced a vintage Model A special powered by twin engines. When we first saw the car, it had only just been completed and was yet to be driven in earnest. It has now made multiple journeys under its own power, including some hell-for-leather runs at the Normandy Beach Race in 2023.

As we wrote last year: "The Ford Model A is one of those cars which, through history, has been so ubiquitous, you might well wonder what you could do with one that hasn't been done before. Tobias Ballard of the Model A Revival Company has now made your life that much harder, because he's just completed what, to the best of our knowledge, may well be a world first: a twin-engined Model A powered by a pair of original Model A engines mated together to make an eight-cylinder.

"Leaving the unique method of propulsion aside, everything about the build has been undertaken in the spirit of the first generation of American hot-rodders of the 1920s and '30s, with only genuine vintage parts used throughout.

"Lest anyone should fear that a good Model A was harmed in the construction of the Ballard Special, Tobias restores Model As for a living and has quite a hoard of odd chassis, engines, and other parts, and had only to have a rummage through them to find the parts needed to make a complete car."

Inspired by the Brooklands daredevils

Tobias told us:
"The Ballard Special is the culmination of lots of blood, sweat and tears, not only from myself but also from the couple of guys who work in my workshops. I was told it wouldn't work, would shake itself apart on starting up or would just fail to drive, but we persisted in our vision and determination and succeeded.

"It started as a rolling chassis which I pulled out from storage. After debating it in my mind, I decided not to cosmetically restore the rolling chassis, engines or transmission, preferring to restore or replace just the necessary parts and rebuild the engines' internals without losing the patina which has taken ninety years to mature.

"We fabricated a steel interconnected housing which the front and rear engines bolt onto, using the original existing bolt holes on the engines. Once this was done, we knew that we still had to be able to drive the rear engine's cooling system, so we had to experiment to find the best way to not lose traction to the final pulley after the slip from the various belts. For this, we decided to fabricate a new bottom pulley on the front engine, not only as a belt pulley but also with a chain sprocket to drive a shaft down the side of the engine to the rear. This shaft, in turn, is a direct drive into the end of the dynamo and also incorporates a belt-drive pulley to the rear water pump. The belts are the old fabric machine-type link belts, which are the easiest to use when you need to vary the lengths of the belts as we did.

"There was no need to lengthen the chassis but we did have to bring the support bars out from where they used to be, located under the gearbox bellhousing at the front and from the torque tube at the rear, the torque tube and prop-shaft being significantly shorter than the original version.

"The steering was moved back and lowered and a longer steering rod fabricated.

"The crankshafts are pretty much standard, except the front of the rear crank has been strengthened to cope with the increased torque. The detail in the connection of the crankshafts and how we have timed them is, I’m afraid, something I cannot share, so I will leave it to the imagination and speculation of the wider community. However, trial, error and catastrophic failure were all endured before we finally succeeded.

"The car on the road has enormous torque and the acceleration is smooth and awe-inspiring, with the engines running a straight-eight firing order. As you would imagine, from a car of just over seven litres or 440 cubic inches, which weighs around ¾-ton, it has a bit of a kick.

"Handling is surprisingly good, with the balance being pretty even. This was pure luck as all I'd thought about was getting as much power as I could, as simply as I could.

"Is it reckless, brave or stupid? Probably all three, but where would we be without the courage and grit of those pioneers of speed and power who went before us? If it wasn’t for them, willing to pay the ultimate price in the search for that perfect powertrain in the early days of motorsport and motor manufacturing, the whole world's motor industry would have followed a very different course."

One year later

As mentioned above, since its completion this time last year, the Ballard Special has been widely shown and has covered many miles on the road under its own power. Undoubtedly its finest hour so far, though, was when it was taken to France for the Normandy Beach Race on September 22nd to 24th, 2023. The Ford ran like a car possessed, proving its abilities before hundreds of spectators.

With racing curtailed for the winter, there'll still be an opportunity to view the Twin Engine Special at this year's InterClassics Maastricht on January 11th to 14th, where it will be appearing on the PreWarCar.com stand alongside a replica of the 1896 Ford Quadricycle, celebrating the show's theme "120 Years of Ford Performance."

You'll not just have an opportunity to view the Twin Engine Special—you'll also be able to buy it. The workshops of the Model A Revival Company are never idle and sometimes it's necessary to make space for new projects, and now that he's mastered a twin-engined Model A, Tobias is working to produce a twin-gearbox one.

The PreWarCar.com and PostWarClassic.com stand will be in the North Hall, number N.746. Tickets for InterClassics may be purchased here.

 

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