Home-Built Replica Of Ford's First Car FARM HOME Cars 27-2-23 Henry Ford started his automobile empire in 1896 with four bicycle tires and a motor. He called his first car a "quadricycle". More than 100 years later, Allan Turner, Montello, Wis., decided to do the same thing just for fun. Since completing his quadricycle replica, Turner has been busy taking it to local parades. "I had the project in the back of my mind for quite a while," says the retired farmer. "It was a chore; there are no plans available. I had to do it all from pictures." Six months after starting the project in December of 2000, he drove his just-finished replica down the street. It was June 4th, 105 years to the day after Ford had taken his quadricycle for its first spin. The replica "quad' is built to the same width and length as the original. Bicycle tires and drive mechanism also duplicate the original. Turner did draw the line at building his own engine as Ford had done. "I wasn't about to try that," he says. Instead, he used a 7 hp Clinton engine off an old riding lawn mower. "The hub and axle were off an old Allis Chalmers combine. Most of the other parts were things I had laying around." Like Ford, Turner used different size pulleys to build his two-speed belt drive and used a chain drive from it to the axle. One change Turner made was to install a reverse gear Like the original, the steering mechanism is a simple tiller affair. Springs were made from an old leaf spring he found at a junk yard and cut down to size. "I spent about a month on the front axle," says Turner. "The steering mechanism is an automotive type with drag link and tie rods. I had to fabricate everything to keep it light and looking like Ford's. I made it as authentic as I could." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Allan Turner, W3510 Gillette Ave., Montello, Wis. 53949 (ph 608 297-2316).

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