1926 Ford Model T Lakes Modified Roadster

At the West Capital Raceway Alumni Association car show at Carmichael Park on June 15 there was a beautiful lakes Model T roadster.  Ford produced the Model T from 1908 to 1927 with 1.5 million Model T’s built in 1926, 342,000 of which were roadsters, but Henry Ford could never have imagined Roy Zarick’s  jewel-like Lakes Modified Roadster.

The mint-green Ford Model T roadster body was narrowed 10 inches at the front cowl and 12 inches at the rear. The grille is from a 1933 Chevrolet which was narrowed and shortened with a hand-built stainless-steel grille insert crowned with a Moto-Meter.

The chromed dropped and drilled I-beam axle rides on quarter elliptical springs with 1940 Ford spindles with 12-inch 1940 drum brakes up front. The car rides on 19-inch Model A wire wheels painted body-color green wrapped in skinny 5.50-19 and 6.50-19 Firestone (Coker)  blackwall tires.

The custom built 2×3 steel rectangular tube frame curves upward in the back and the rear axle is suspended with a Model A buggy spring wrapped with leather, friction shock absorbers and 9-inch drum brakes.    

The three-piece hood is accented by a stainless center bar and is held in place by a leather strap, but it’s what is under the hood that really sets this car apart –  an Esslinger 4-cyclinder 161 cubic inch midget auto race engine fitted with four Mikuni side draft carburetors on a custom intake. This engine, which is based on the Ford Pinto design, sounds terrific through that long,chromed exhaust pipe.

All photos by the author.