Gerald Greenfield owns this...
Gerald Greenfield owns this rare 1932 Ford Model B400 convertible sedan. Ford produced only 41 four-cylinder convertible sedans; this is one of three known to exist.
We tend to forget the humble origin of our hobby while looking under the hood of a contemporary street rod. Computer-controlled, fuel-injected, tricked-out aluminum V-8s that develop more horsepower with less fuss and get better gas mileage than anything we could have imagined a couple decades ago makes it easy for us to forget how all this began. With all due respect to the Flathead Ford, Chrysler Hemi, small-block Chevrolet, and all the other popular performance engines we embrace, Ford's modest four-cylinder engines started it all. Hot rodding was born with the Model T and nurtured by the Model A.
To get an idea of the developmental history of early four-cylinder speed equipment, we went to an authority on the subject-Kem Robertson. Kem has spent years collecting information on the subject, and while he has enough to fill a book, he agreed to give us a brief history lesson.
Could this be the real beginning...
Could this be the real beginning of hot rodding? Many of the aftermarket heads developed were used to increase the power of commercial vehicles, but a Model T mayonnaise truck?
A Look Back
In 1899, there were about 30 companies producing about 2,500 cars. As America transitioned from hay burners to gas burners, some carriages and wagon manufacturers, such as Olds and Studebaker, turned into automobile companies. In the early years, the automobile was considered a rich man's toy, but Henry Ford transformed the automobile industry by stating, "I will build a motor car for the great multitude." This car was the Model T, and Ford produced around 14 million from 1909 to 1927. Even though hundreds of automobile companies sprang up across America, the Ford Model T held 48 percent of all cars produced in 1914. By 1921, 60 percent of all U.S. auto production involved Ford cars. The Model T Ford was cheap, light, and a simple 20hp machine. Every American was familiar with the "Tin Lizzie," or "Fliver," as it dominated the new and used car market of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Model T was ripe for improvement and personalizing, and manufacturers began developing accessories for this new form of transportation. Companies sprang up to produce an almost unlimited number of products for the Ford; this accessory industry was not much different than what we have today. There were many body companies for commercial applications and many "gimmick" or gadget products. It was the performance market that made the Tin Lizzie come to life. There were custom wheels manufacturers-such as Pasco, Dayton, Foster, House, Stewart, Phelps, Mott, Budd, and Buffalo-and between 1914 and 1927, there were more than 75 custom bodies to make the Model T a "speedster" or "bug" known as Mercury, Race-Way, Bub, Faultless, Speedway, Morton & Brett, Champion, Laurel, Paco, Dunham, and Amesbuilt. There were many special carburetors available from Winfield, Miller, Never-Fail, and Kinston. The stock flywheel low-tension magneto vibrator-type spark coils could be replaced with an Algonquin, Philbrin, Algo, Thomas, Jack Rabbit, Kingston, Atwater-Kent distributors, or an Eiseman or Bosch magneto. Special crankshaft companies were Dunn, Laurel, Sure-Mike, and Akers; Gregg, Laurel, and Green made superchargers.
Sure enough, under the hood...
Sure enough, under the hood of that truck was a Rajo OHV conversion. Kem Robertson added that Joe Jagersberger designed and manufactured heads for the Model T Ford, the Model A Ford, and the Chevrolet four and six.
The automobile accessory business offered owners a new concept-bolt-on horsepower developed with improved heads. Special flatheads with improved combustion chambers, like those of Green Engineering and Waukesha, offered the simplest and cheapest means of boosting a Model T's power. But even more significant performance improvements could be realized when the more exotic overhead valve (OHV) conversions came on the market. With the prosperity of the Roaring '20s, some of the OHV conversions were purchased for road machines, but most of them were too expensive for the average car owner. Speedsters, built from the Ts available on the growing used-car market, were the popular hot rods from 1914 to 1927. Most of the OHV setups were too expensive for the average car owner. There was a large developing market for the commercial vehicle and in the budding racing sport. Because of the incredible population of Ford cars on the road, the speed accessory companies focused on the Ford product for new performance hardware. This focus on the Ford would last through the years after WWII. It should be noted that by the time GM's Chevrolet production passed Ford in 1927, there were some businesses that built some hardware for Chevrolet and Dodge. But this equipment was unusual for several reasons. One, the Fliver had more robust materials and would survive the stress of most upgrades; two, the Ford Model T equipment was relatively unchanged for almost 20 years, where GM and other auto manufacturers practiced the obsolescence philosophy of periodic model changes from year to year-so the Ford product offered a large base of chassis equipment that was cheap; and three, the Great Depression of 1929 created a very risky market for new products, and the world-wide economic crisis created few buyers, spelling the end to many performance and accessory companies. The Depression changed the OHV speed equipment market from that of the Model T era. Most post-Depression OHV producers were more focused on the racing community and we find no dominant heads in the era after the Model T because the market for the OHV conversion was so limited.
This Rajo ad featuring an...
This Rajo ad featuring an Eddie Meyers Redlands Special claimed, "The scientific engineering of this motor gives it a remarkable pickup-a touch of the accelerator and the speedometer climbs with unbelievable rapidity.
From a sheer production-number standpoint, in the 1920s, there were three major manufacturers of the Model T special heads that produced not only a varied product line of OHVs but also produced numbers in the thousands for both the U.S. and foreign markets: Robert Roof in Anderson, Indiana (Laurel/Roof heads); Indiana brothers Arthur and Louis Chevrolet, who produced the Frontenac (or Fronty) heads that reached production numbers around 10,000; and then there was the Rajo heads built in Racine, Wisconsin, by Joe Jagersberger, who produced around 2,500 OHV heads. There were many other merchants of speed for local racers; most had low production of 25 heads or less. There were some that only made custom one-off heads.
After the Depression, the OHV conversion business probably had more individual head manufacturers than that of the 1920s. OHV producers faced a lower demand market so there were lower production numbers per manufacturers than that of the Model T era. Part of this was driven by the large number of existing OHV setups using the competitive Model T block technology, further reducing demand. But demand for the Ford Model A/B four-bangers began to mature as the older performance hardware became obsolete due to lack of parts and normal racing engine losses. Some of the OHV conversions that were seen on the streets during the 1930s and into the 1950s were either dual-purpose street/racing cars, and most, but not all of the OHV setups, were from the growing used racing equipment market. Bell Auto is one of the most famous distributors of this used speed equipment, but there were many such shops that sprang up all over the U.S.
In this photo, taken in 1933,...
In this photo, taken in 1933, Ed Winfield (left) supervises as one of his rocker arm heads is installed on Paul Fromme's race car. Rex Mays won the West Coast Championship with this car the following year.
There were very few Ford four-cylinder or V-8 OHV conversion producers after WWII, and these were individual (one-man) efforts that most would consider "hobby" manufacturers of very low numbers. Most were usually productions from older pattern sets of the 1920s and early 1930s. Some of the Model T hardware OHV producers survived to continue building performance hardware through the 1930s and 1940s. Robert Roof was one of the Model T-era survivors, producing heads for the A/B Ford four-cylinder engines. But he survived on a very diverse product line such as flatheads for the V-8 and many custom OHV setups for other engines. George Riley, who got his start in the 1920s with his Multi Lift hardware, began producing rocker-arm F heads for the A/B Ford four that were a basic staple in America's racing sport. Riley probably produced the largest total number of Model A/B heads. The four-cylinder OHV hardware first conceived by Harry A. Miller was produced, modified, and sold through several enterprises-including Miller-Schofield (1929-1930), Cragar Corporation (1931-1935), and Bell Auto (1935-WWII)-but would probably be second to Riley as far as production numbers went. Although there are no known production numbers to support this, the HAL DOHC, the McDowell DOHC, SOHC, and Dreyer DOHC conversions were more than major players on the auto-racing scene. Producers such as Cooks Machine, Alexander, Robert Roof, Rudy Moller, Pop Green, Slim Rutherford, and the Ambler brothers, as well as many others, supplied hardware that ended up under the hoods of 1940s and 1950s four-banger hot rods. As with the old Model T OHV setups, these began to show up on street machines as newer technology, and the V-8 replaced it on the track.
There will never be an accurate account of the number of OHV builders and the number of heads produced. There were probably more heads built for the Model T as far as total production numbers, but there are more known Model A/B OHV producers-estimating 50 to 60 builders (including the one-offs)-than the Model T era (estimating 30 to 40 builders).
Our thanks go to Kem for his efforts in collecting the information and photos for this story, but we're not done with four-bangers quite yet. Stick around-soon we'll be looking at contemporary speed equipment for vintage four-cylinder engines and showing what it takes to build a better 'banger.
 The Cragar heads come with...  The Cragar heads come with a convoluted history. Production began in 1931 after Cragar purchased drawings and patterns for the Miller-Schofield DOHC and rocker arm heads. Cragar closed in late '34/early '35. |  George Wight of Bell Auto...  George Wight of Bell Auto Parts also sold the Cragar. Later he modified the design, making it a cross-flow (intake on one side, exhaust on the other) and called it the Improved Cragar. |  Along with overhead valve...  Along with overhead valve conversions, there were more affordable redesigned flatheads available as well. This is a Riley head for a Model A-note the design of the combustion chamber. |
 The remarkable Harry Miller...  The remarkable Harry Miller also made heads for Model As. Compare the combustion chamber design to that of the Riley. |  A Chevrolet at the wheel of...  A Chevrolet at the wheel of a Ford? Art Chevrolet ran this racer equipped with a DOHC Fronty head on a Model T block modified with a five-main crankshaft. |  |
 |  This is the front drive casting...  This is the front drive casting of the Arthur Chevrolet-designed Fronty DOHC Stagger Valve-the gears have been placed on top of the casting to show their relative positions. The 16-valve head was developed to run at the 1931 Indianapolis 500. |  Part of Bill Smith's huge...  Part of Bill Smith's huge Speedway Motors collection is this Green Engineering DOHC conversion for Model A and B blocks. This engine is also part of the Smith Collection Museum of American Speed. |
 A later HAL conversion on...  A later HAL conversion on a Model B Ford block is shown here. Although it can't be seen in this photo, the intake ports are on the left side of the head. This engine is also part of the Speedway Motors collection. |  HAL built some of the most...  HAL built some of the most exotic DOHC conversions; this is an OHV conversion for a Model T. A stock Ford carburetor or larger racing carbs could be used, and a dual plug version was also advertised. |  Produced by Arthur and Louis...  Produced by Arthur and Louis Chevrolet, the Frontenac head was one of the most popular for Model T Fords. This one has a rare Miller carburetor and a Dixie magneto. |
 This is a Roof head on a 1909...  This is a Roof head on a 1909 Model T block. The intake manifold is cast into the head; carburetor is a Zenith. An accessory water pump resides on the side of the engine, as Ts were not originally equipped with one. |  This is the legendary Riley...  This is the legendary Riley cross-flow, four-port head on a B-block. Riley also made a two-port F-head, flatheads for 'bangers, and OHV and OHC conversions for V-8s. |  This sampling of ads from...  This sampling of ads from Kem Robertson's collection shows the variety of speed equipment available for early four-bangers. |