The Fronty-Ford / One Sharp Model T Race Car

Early Automobile Racing and the Advantages It Offered

One way to publicize the new motorized vehicles including one's own brand was to enter your automobile into competition. Chicago has the distinction of being the first city to officially put on a road race. The race occurred in 1895 with a 54 miles course. This first automobile race was one by Frank Duryea in a competition that lasted some 10 1/2 hours.

Fronty-Ford Racer

The car was named the Duryea Motor Wagon was powered by gasoline (steam power was popular at the time) and it's average speed was calculated to have been 7.5 MPH.

With such publicity the Duryea Motor Wagon Company sold thirteen of their vehicles in 1896, representing the first automobiles sold in the U.S. Nine years later in 1905 the Duryea Motor Wagon Company was producing sixty cars per year.

Model T Conversions and the Fronty Fords

The Ford Model T’s factory 22 horsepower engine was going to be modified quite a bit. A company known by the name Frontenac and founded by Louis Chevrolet and his two brothers in 1916. It's interesting to note that Chevrolet itself had been formed just five years earlier by the Chevrolet brothers and William C. Durant. The Frontenac company was located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The company enjoyed several victories in the few years just prior to World War One. What they were building were race cars on a Ford Model T chassis. They were building speed parts and mechanisms and bodies to put on a Ford Model T chassis. These cars were given the name "Fronty Fords" .Another name used for the car was simply a "Frontenac".

These cars were known for their advanced cylinder head devleopment on the Model T Ford engine. The top race was a DOHC cylinder head that was built specifically for racing. The racing model SR featured twin Zenith carburetors and an overhead camshaft

Fronty-Ford or Frontenac on Model T chassis

Fronty Fords at the Indianapolis 500

The first Indianapolis 500 Race was held on May 30, 1911. Driving a Frontenac Ford race car, Gaston Chevrolet competed in the 1919 Indianapolis 500, finishing in tenth place while his brother Louis finished seventh. Gaston would be killed later that year in an accident at a race in Beverly Hills, California.

A Fronty Ford won the Indy 500 in 1921. One of the Frontenac Model T conversions came in at fifth place during the 1923 Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of just under 83 MPH.  In 1924, a Fronty Ford attained a speed of 100 MPH on a straightaway. These early 1920's Fronty Fords played a real important role in American car racing history.

A very good book regarding the Model T and the Model T conversion race cars is Model T Speed and Sport by author Harry Pulfer. Another book that might interest you is Model T Speed Secrets / Fast Ford Handbook by Murray Fahnestock.

See additional Muscle Car Journal articles on the links below.....

A 1924 Dodge Brothers Hemi Street Rod 

A 1937 Chevy Master Deluxe Street Rod

Chevrolet Engines

Louis Chevrolet had a fascination with engines and with auto racing. With impressive showings at the Indianapolis 500 Race, the Chevrolet brothers acquired a reputation for powerful and reliable engines.  The Chevy engine retains that same reputation even to today.

A Fronty-Ford Conversion

Chevrolet Brothers Aircraft Company 

Later in the 1920's, brothers Louis and Arthur left the automobile business altogether.

 In 1929, Louis and Arthur Chevrolet formed the Chevrolet Brothers Aircraft Company with a new engine of their design called the "Chevrolair".  The company was lost to investors, principally to aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin and his Martin Company. Martin took a ninety-percent stake in the Chevrolet Brothers Aircraft Company when the brothers fell on very hard times.

The Chevrolet brothers did get back into the automobile business in the 1930's with Sprint type racers.Unfortunately both brothers had tragic endings. Louis died in Detroit in 1941. Arthur died in Slidell, Louisiana in 1946 by suicide. It was said that at the times of their deaths both Chevrolet brothers were broke or near to it.

(Article and photos copyright Muscle Car Journal)

A 1924 Dodge Brothers Hemi Street Rod

The street rod featured in this article is a modified 1924 Dodge Brothers Tourer with a heavily modified  1956 DeSoto Blown Hemi engine. Dodge Roadsters from the 1920's have been modified and customized into some of the most popular early hot rods on the track today. The exhaust pipes coming out of each side of the DeSoto hemi engine on our featured car adds to it's powerful look.

1924 Dodge Brothers Hot Rod

Early Hot Rodding

It's commonly believed that hot roddiing took off during the 1930's. Races were prevalent up and down the west coast and particularly on the dry lake beds north of  Los Angeles.

The formula used was to buy a cheap roadster which was relatively light weight itself and then strip off anything you didn't absolutely need to make the car even lighter. This made for a perfect hot rod which you then you could modify or add a new engine to. An interesting side note is that it has been said that the term "hot rod" is really a contraction of the words "hot roadster" and goes back to the 1920's.

The Hemi Engines 

A Hemi engine is an internal combustion engine where the roof of each cylinder chamber is of hemispherical form. This design it is said makes for a more efficient combustion chamber where less heat is lost to the head. Each piston can take two large valves. The piston crown is domed and protrudes out into the head.

The release of the first generation of Hemi headed V-8 engines by Chrysler set off the "horsepower wars" of the early 1950s that lasted into the early 1970s. Chrysler's new "hemi" that came out in 1951 was the first hemi placed in an American passenger car. DeSoto came out with their unique "hemi" in 1952.  The horsepower wars lasted all the way until the federal government put out new emission regulations in 1971 that of course affected all American automakers.

Customized 24 Dodge Roadster

The DeSoto Hemi V-8 engine seen in this article was enlarged for 1956 to 329.9 cubic inches from the 291 cid produced in 1955. The stock DeSoto Hemi in 1956 delivered 230 horsepower.

The 1956 engine had the same bore but the stroke was increased. The year 1956 also saw the adoption of the 12 volt electrical system. DeSoto named their Hemi engine the "Fire Dome". DeSoto Fire Dome engines were introduced in 1952.

 Dodge Brothers and Chrysler

The Dodge brothers, Horace and John, had the reputation of building dependable automobiles. Their first car was produced in 1914 and unfortunately both brothers surprisingly died within one year of each other, just six years later, in 1920. There were rumors floating around at the time of John's death that he died from  drinking prohibition liquor. The official cause of death however was certified as caused by pneumonia and influenza, aggravated by diabetes. Horace's death was ruled due to cirrhosis.

The company was kept together by both men's widows until it was purchased by Walter Chrysler in 1928.  Chrysler actually purchased the company  from Clarence Dillon of Dillon, Read, the investment bankers. It was said that the investment bankers pretty well drove the company into financial trouble, milking it for profits.

Dodge was facing some stiff competition during the 1920's from automakers selling good looking cars in the same price range and the sale to Chrysler made good sense. An excellent book about the Dodge Brothers and their cars and trucks is...The Dodge Brothers : The Men, the Motor Cars, and the Legacy by author Charles K. Hyde.

A good look at the heavily modified 56 DeSoto Hemi

1924 Dodge Automobiles

It was January 1924 that the Dodge Brothers unveiled their 1924 models. The venue was the New York Auto Show.

Their were three separate bodies available for 1924.  These were the Standard, Special and Custom bodies. The Special models had some good additions to them including windshield wipers, a nickel plated radiator and bumpers.

 Below are links to additional Muscle Car Journal articles you may enjoy reading... 

A 1949 Ford Anglia Custom Racer 

A Blown 355 Cubic Inch Ford T-Bucket


The stock engine for the 1924 Dodge Brothers Tourer was an L-Head four cylinder 210 cubic inch power plant that delivered 35 horse power. The car's top speed was considered to be 50 MPH. The car's weight was about 2,500 lbs. It should be said that a 1924 Dodge Tourer frame was not originally built strong enough to hold the 56 DeSoto Hemi engine and modifications of this sort would require strengthening of the chassis with cross members. Suspension would also have to be modified with stronger springs.

The new car price in 1924 averaged around $1,300.

An excellent website with Dodge Brothers serial numbers and build dates is.....http://www.dodgebrothersclub.org/DB_Production_Dates.pdf

(Article and photos copyright Muscle Car Journal)

A Beautifully Built Blown 355 Cubic Inch Ford T-Bucket

The 1923 Ford T-Bucket featured in this article is one mean machine. The T-Bucket is a very modified Model T. In fact, it is so modified you may not recognize it as a Model T. You typically will not see an engine cowl on a T-Bucket and the radiator will be from a Model T . The windshield is typically vertical which resembles the same as on an original Model T.

1923 Ford T-Bucket

Ford stopped building their Model T's in 1927. Most of the T-Buckets you see today at auto shows and swap meets are fiberglass replicas. In fact, by the 1950's it was hard to find a suitable original steel body Model T to modify.

Attention Getting Street Rods

Many of the Ford T-Buckets you see today are essentially show cars and there are some functioning as street rods as well. There is no doubt that anywhere this 1923 T-Bucket goes it will receive plenty of attention. Each of these T-Buckets are highly customized so you'll see a great amount of creativity in the bucket interior, engine of course, and paint schemes.Just take a look at the beautiful chrome on this engine.

Look at the engines in some of them and you'll see that they aren't practical street vehicles. The engine in the T-Bucket shown in this article is a Blown 355 cubic inch V-8 with some heavy supercharging. The transmission on this car is a TH350 three speed automatic. In general, you'll see a Ford T-Bucket that looks like it's much too big for the size and weight of the body and chassis. Some may say that a blower/supercharger on your T-Bucket is great for racing and perhaps for burning tires. If that's not your goal then the supercharger may be unnecessary.

Blown 355 V-8

Hot Rod Model T's are Hot

Model T's have been customized and modified into street rods for a long time. For traditional hot rodders nothing gets the heart beating faster than cool early Ford projects.

The very first T-Bucket fiberglass bodies came on the market in 1957 for about $150 and the 1923 models were the first produced.

T-Bucket Kits, Plans and Resources

As of this writing, complete T-Bucket kits are offered by companies such as Speedway Motors, Detroit Speedcraft, Spirit Motors, and Corbin Rods. T-Bucket bodies are offered by TBucketPlans.com.

TBucketPlans.com offers a publication titled...How to Build a T-Bucket Hot Rod Roadster for Under $3,000. It's been called "The Most Compete Hot Rod How-To Ever Written". Also, How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster on a Budget written by Charles Greenhalgh.

Another interesting site regarding the building of a T-Bucket can be found at hotrod.com. Cut and paste the url http://www.hotrod.com/cars/project-vehicles/hrdp-1306-we-built-a-speedway-motors-tribute-t-bucket-kit/

See our Muscle Car Journal article on the 1937 Chevy master Deluxe Street Rod

See our AutoMuseumOnline article on the 1931 Morgan Aero Super Dry


Those interested in building a Ford T-Bucket might take a look at the National T-Bucket Alliance. This organization works to bring together individual hot rodders with a common interest. Included are forums, for sale items and tech pages, an NTBA Hall of Fame, newsletters and more.

All leadership positions at the organization are volunteer. The organization is a group of dedicated T-Bucket fanatics who prefer big engines, huge rear tires and lots of fancy paint and chrome. Check them out at www.nationaltbucketalliance.com

(Article and photos copyright Muscle Car Journal)