Getting hydraulic brakes in 1939 cost Ford the rights to his soybean-based
synthetic enamel to quickly get hydraulic brakes once he was finally
convinced they were essential. He traded with another automaker (geez - I
can't remember now... I think Chrysler? - GM stayed with lacquer into the
90's).
Ford had developed alkyd enamel - the same material subsequently used by
many automakers for decades thereafter - as part of his huge soybean
research projects. He made various plastic parts of Ford cars from
soy-based plastics as well as his revolutionary synthetic enamel. Alkyd
dried faster and tougher than the previous (mostly) linseed-based enamels.
In fact, alkyd enamel is still used for some industrial painting, and is
still available as house and trim paint outside the Republik of Kalifornia.
Karl
> > I forget, did the Model A have hydraulic brakes ?
> >
> > Seems to me the Model T had to be simpler, but I could be wrong ...
>
> Ford did mechanical brakes well into the '30s, IIRC.
> John.
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1939 was the last year of mechanical brakes by Ford. "FT"
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