Those original Model A fans, made of welded, stamped steel to produce a
full-dimension propeller, were notorious for cracking when I had my Model A
40 years ago. They'd develop a crack right across the blade near the hub,
and would run for quite a while with the crack seemingly stable, then BANG !
At shows and parts swaps, you would almost always see a hood or two with the
signature ding in it from a departing fan blade. And you could often see
cracked blades still in use. I always figured the breakage was really more
attributable to lack of inspection rather than sudden failure without
warning. Kind of amazing that there are still some left to break nowadays.
Imagine the outcry if there'd been investigative television shows and hordes
of personal injury attorneys in the 30's. Can't you just see Dan Blather,
Charlie Gibson, and Katie Couric grilling old Henry Ford, accusing him of
the willful slaughter of his customers ??
Karl
> The two blade fan on my Model A broke and put a mighty dent in the hood
> and
> bent it out of shape. I've heard people have been killed revving up the
> engine when these fans break. Easy to believe from what I saw. I'd like to
> keep the A original, but I like living better, so I replaced it with a
> modern 4 blade that looks like crossed stampings. The two blade is an odd
> construction. Hard to describe, but it does appear to be seam welded and
> ground smooth.
> Brian
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