Prohibition on Ben Nevis

A hundred years ago Henry Alexander took his Model T Ford up Ben Nevis. It wouldn’t be allowed now. No, really, it isn’t being allowed. The greenery-yalleries have forbidden it. The John Muir Conservation Trust, which is apparently responsible for the Ben Nevis summit, will only permit a replica carried up by volunteers and then reassembled in commemoration.


Edinburgh Ford dealer Alexander wanted to show how rugged a Model T was, but knew he probably couldn’t drive it all the way. He was right; I’ve climbed there. The track is narrow and rocky. Anything off-track is steep. You might manage a mountain bike.


Henry’s team had to manhandle and dismantle to manage up to the summit, 4,406ft when I was at school. A Model T was only 1200lb (544kg), ten hundredweight in old money so manageable for a robust team of helpers, who took five days over boulders, through snow-drifts and over dangerous loose sand paths. A lot of press, including a chap from The Autocar, assembled at the top to greet the pioneers, who had built little bridges over streams and waterfalls. It took them less than three hours to come down gradients steeper than 1 in 3.


The Ben Nevis Challenge Tour, from 16 - 21 May, is organised by the Model T Register celebrating the 100th anniversary of Alexander’s achievement. Over 60 Model Ts will give daily runs, providing opportunities to see privately-owned examples of Ford's first Universal Car on the picturesque roads around Fort William. There will be a display of Ford vehicles and memorabilia at the Nevis Centre. Other vehicles from the Ford Heritage Collection will include a replica of Henry Ford's first vehicle, the Quadricycle, and a 1910 Model T.


Henry Ford sent eight American Model T’s to Olympia, London, on 13 November 1908. He was keen on exports and they went on to Paris afterwards. Fords had been imported since 1903, the Model Ts coming in through The Central Motor Car Company Ltd, of 117 Long Acre, London WC. Among radical features were cylinders cast in one block and an integral engine, clutch and gearbox. The epicyclic gears drew inspiration from the works of Frederick Lanchester along principles that would form the basis of modern automatic transmissions. There were three pedals; the middle one engaged reverse, the left engaged low when pressed, high when released, and the right operated the transmission brake. A steering column throttle controlled engine speed. Transverse road springs meant only two were needed instead of four; a useful economy. Crosswise springing also offered less resistance to side-roll and twisting on corners. Ford was a passionate advocate of vanadium steel, which he believed made cars stronger and lighter to it was used for the Model T’s frail looking but sturdy drop forged front axle, spindly crankshaft, and parts of the transmission.



Ford Motor Company (England) Ltd began making Model Ts at Trafford Park, Manchester in 1911. The first British Ford was assembled from imported parts on 23 October, Ford’s Irish factory supplying chassis items until Joseph Sankey, of Hadley Shropshire, took over but it was the 1920s before Model Ts were wholly home grown. A Detroit-style moving production line came in September 1914. Assembly had been a stationary affair with axles and chassis laid out on the floor, now building a Model T took 12 hours. Moving assembly tracks had been used elsewhere, but Ford waited until components could be made accurately enough to be interchangeable, cutting build time to an hour and a half. The following year the flywheel magneto operated an electric lighting set, not altogether satisfactorily, since being dependent on engine speed, the lights grew dim when driving slowly. The Model T’s success was so overwhelming all other Fords were discontinued.


INTRODUCTION 27 September 1908, produced until 26 May 1927.
BODY Various styles; 2 or 4-seats; weight 1200lb (544kg).
ENGINE 4-cylinders, in-line; front; 3.75in (95.25mm) x 4in (101.6mm), 2896cc (176.7 cu in); compr 4.5:1; 20bhp (14.91kW) @ 1800rpm; 6.9bhp (5.1kW)/l.
ENGINE STRUCTURE L-head side valve; gear-driven camshaft; non-adjustable tappets; detachable cast iron cylinder head and block; Holley or Kingston single jet updraught carburettor, mixture adjustable by driver; low-tension flywheel magneto, distributor and separate trembler coil for each cylinder, standby battery for starting; splash lubrication; gravity fuel feed; 3-bearing crankshaft; cooling by multi-tube radiator (brass shell in UK until 1916 thereafter black), thermosyphon, and fan.
TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive; epicyclic 2-speed and reverse gearbox, steel disc clutches for low speed and reverse by contracting bands on epicycle drums; multi-disc clutch for direct drive top; propeller shaft enclosed in torque tube; final drive passenger cars and light vans straight-tooth bevel gears; ratio 3.64:1 high 10:1 low.
CHASSIS straight steel channel-section chassis; transverse leaf springs front and rear with radius rods; mechanical brakes foot – contracting band on direct-drive clutch, hand – expanding shoes in rear wheel drums; steering by epicyclic reduction gear in steering wheel boss, drop arm on end of steering column, transverse drag link, 1.25 turns lock to lock; 10gal (45.46l) fuel tank; 30 x 3in front, 30 x 3.5in rear, variations on balloon and straight-sided tyres; hickory-spoked artillery wheels, non-detachable, fixed rims; detachable rims after 1919; wire-spoked wheels 1925.
DIMENSIONS wheelbase 100in (254cm); track 56in (142.2cm) later 60in (152.4cm); length 134in (340.4cm); width 66in (167.6cm); ground clearance 10.5in (76.2cm).
EQUIPMENT from 1909-1915 no electrical system; 1915-1919 8v headlamps and horn from flywheel magneto; 1919-1927 dynamo and battery for 6v starting and lighting.
PERFORMANCE maximum speed 45mph (72.2kph) approx, claim by Ford, 15mph (24kph) in low; 27.2kg/bhp (36.5kg/kW); fuel consumption 28mpg (10.1l/100km).
PRICE Various models, roadster, tourer, 2-door, 4-door saloons, and town car, chassis 1919 £170, 1921 £250, 1924 2-seater £110.


Data from The Ford Centenary File: Dove Publishing, 2011

Seventeen years after taking the Model T up Ben Nevis, Henry Alexander made the ascent with a new Model A. I don’t expect that would be allowed now either. The John Muir Conservation Trust is sure smelly old petrol cars with nasty exhaust emissions will ever catch on.

Ford's cleverest idea

Every car should have one. A feature of my first Institute of Advanced Motorist driving test was preliminary drives with an IAM member. He only had to ask, "What was the last traffic sign you passed?" a couple of times to demonstrate that my observation of them was imperfect. Well, it was worse. I used to pass without seeing them. Went to the launch of the new Focus last week. It's a fine car. Too much road noise perhaps, but the cleverest thing is its traffic sign recognition system. It has a camera in the windscreen that sees them and reproduces them on the facia. What a boon on one of those roads where the speed limit changes so often that even the most observantly virtuous driver doesn't remember what the prevailing limit is. A little 30 or 50 comes up on the instrument panel. It fades after a time but it will be a blessing to any drivers with a few penalty points on their licence. I'm OK at the moment; three crept on to my previously clean licence last year, but with so many cameras about you could get a driving ban in an afternoon. I'll be amazed if more of these don't appear elsewhere. The camera installation takes up quite a lot of windscreen but after a few minutes' driving you scarecely notice. The Driver Assistance Pack is a £750 option, and includes a lane keeping aid and blind spot monitoring that reasonably alert drivers shouldn't need but for peace of mind the Traffic Sign Recognition kit could be almost priceless.

Trafford Park, Manchester

A hundred years ago this month (March) Henry Ford’s man in Britain wanted to lease a Manchester tramcar factory. Henry was not convinced. He may have thought history bunk but knew his geography and it didn’t make sense to assemble Model Ts 40 miles inland. Their components from Detroit were cheapest by ship. Henry knew Manchester wasn’t on-Sea.

Bristol-born Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry had taken over the American Motor Car Agency of Long Acre, London in 1905 and knew a good thing when he saw one. He had unpacked the first Model Bs from wooden crates at Vauxhall Bridge Wharf on the Thames. Perry’s ocean-going ships would bring vanadium steel frames and engines from America. They would bypass Liverpool by the Manchester Ship Canal and unload straight into the old tram factory, to make brand new Model Ts.


Perry’s agency partner of 1905, Aubrey Blakiston had been worried too. They had been selling only one car a month, so Blakiston resigned in 1907, leaving Perry to sell the Model N (above); a bargain at £120. Perry poshed them up with landaulette bodywork and sold 50 from the new Perry, Thornton and Schreiber. It had seven employees and moved to Westminster Bridge Road for the launch of Model T in October 1908. Eight were sent over for the Olympia Motor Show.

Now Perry needed help with the tram factory. He went to Detroit and asked Henry Ford for support. It didn’t amount to much at first. Yet Henry knew exports were essential for his vision of cars by the thousand. Almost as soon as he had started making them he was sending them across the Detroit River where Ford Canada held the concession for the Dominion, in effect the great Edwardian British Empire. Henry convinced Ford Canada’s proprietor, Gordon McGregor, to waive its rights to the United Kingdom. McGregor agreed: “The rest of the Empire is enough for me,” and Perry returned, reassured.

Ford company secretary James Couzens had an idea. If Perry wanted to build cars in Britain he needed a bigger organisation. So, in March 1911 Ford Motor Company (England) Ltd began selling Fords from 55-59 Shaftesbury Avenue. Then, as now, Ford had designed a car for the world.

1912 Model T Town Car
Henry had stipulated his European factories should be next the sea, to be supplied by the shipload. His line across the Atlantic made landfall in Ireland, from where his father had emigrated in 1847. The tramcar factory won the race, although by the 1920s Ford was building tractors on the quayside at Cork.


Manchester was fourth largest port in Britain. Only London, Liverpool and Hull did more trade. Canny Mancunians finished their Ship Canal in 1894 because it was costing almost as much to bring goods and raw materials from Liverpool, as it had to ship them across the Atlantic. Canal managers built factories at Manchester docks. Ford’s had belonged to the British Electric Car Company (BECC), which made tramcars for everywhere from Ayr to Egypt, until a rival bought the company and closed it down. The buildings on the corner of Westinghouse Road and First Avenue were empty until Percival Perry came to set up Henry Ford’s first factory outside America.


Its neighbour on the canal side was a crane manufacturer, Frederick Henry Royce. Born, like Henry Ford, in 1863 he too went into cars.

Trafford Park had its own railway siding and by 1914 Ford sent Model T cars, vans, lorries, ambulances and buses in covered wagons to 1000 dealers. Perry thought Manchester, “The best geographical and economic centre for our business,” and workers welcomed Ford. Its 10d to 1s 3d (4p to 6.25p) an hour were the best rates in the industrial north. Prosperous pre-First World War Britain became Ford’s second biggest market after the US. Ford was more stable and consistent than the indigenous motor industry and by the time the 250,000th was shown at the Empire Exhibition, Wembley it was not just assembled in Britain. King George V and Queen Mary visited the stand that advertised British Cars made of British Parts by British Labour.


Ford became integrated so completely into industrial and manufacturing life that it was often regarded, sometimes even in Detroit, as British.


The Ford in Britain Centenary File, now on sale, £27.50.

Kylie and Kars

Kylie Minogue likes cars but she has moved up-market. In 2002 Ford sponsored her 39-date European Fever Tour, from Cardiff to Barcelona. She was pictured with the production StreetKa roadster to provide a preview before it went on sale in 2003. “The partnership with Kylie was the perfect way to show off StreetKa ahead of its launch,” said Peter Fleet, marketing director. “StreetKa and Kylie had a lot in common; they were both small, beautiful and stylish.” The car was formally unveiled to the public at the Paris Motor Show in September 2002.
Well, now it’s the Lexus CT 200h. Lexus will be lead sponsor of Kylie’s 2011 UK concert tour, Aphrodite – Les Folies. Elegant, contemporary and chic, trills today’s press release from Lexus. Director Belinda Poole shares Peter Fleet’s view: “Kylie is the perfect ambassador for Lexus. She has the energy, style and popular public profile that will re ach directly to customers new to the Lexus brand.” Kylie, “who has enjoyed huge success as an actor, singer, dancer, model and designer”, was thrilled too: “I’ve been lucky enough to have a preview of the car, which is stylish and elegant…” She will have her own specially specified Lexus.
The Sunday Times once ran a series, which ran alongside my motoring column, on Stars and Cars. It had to be discontinued when it became obvious that many celebrities didn’t own any cars. They had not chosen them. They drove round free in those secretly on loan from manufacturers and then gushed about them like Corporate Press Releases. Kylie's a smart girl and at least she’s honest about it.

Model T Ford on Ben Nevis

Getting a Model T Ford up Ben Nevis was a formidable undertaking. Dudley Grierson got about two-thirds of the way up on an MMC-Werner motorcycle in 1901 but Henry Alexander, the Edinburgh Ford dealer, made it all the way in May 1911. Ford of Britain, celebrating its centenary this year, has just released a picture from its archives showing the car on a mountainside bridge. Alexander and his chums had to build some crossings over rocky screes and tumbling burns, and the car underwent a certain amount of dismantling. It had only minimal bodywork. Snow-chains were used but since a Model T weighed only 1200lb (544kg) manhandling was possible. I got as far up as Grierson once, on foot, on narrow steep pathways.
Easily assembled. Easily taken apart to ascend Ben Nevis The first British Ford assembled from imported parts was produced on 23 October 1911. Ford’s Irish factory supplied chassis items until Joseph Sankey, of Hadley Shropshire, could take over so by the 1920s Model Ts were made from home grown components. A moving production line came in September 1914. Assembly had been a stationary affair with axles and chassis laid out on the floor and building a Model T took 12 hours. Moving assembly tracks had been used elsewhere, but Ford waited until components could be made accurately enough to be interchangeable. Build time was cut to an hour and a half. The following year the flywheel magneto operated an electric lighting set, not altogether satisfactorily, since being dependent on engine speed, the lights grew dim when driving slowly. The Model T’s success was overwhelming. All other Fords were discontinued to try meeting the demand. A quarter of a million Model Ts came off the line at the new Detroit Highland Park plant; 3000 a year made Ford Britain’s biggest car maker. Historian Anthony Bird wrote: “To say of the Model T Ford that it was a remarkably bad car would be tantamount to doubting the judgement of the 15,007,033 satisfied customers who bought the Lizzie during her production life of 19 years. To placate their shades and turn aside the howls of angry derision which must greet the statement let it be rephrased, to say that Henry Ford, like Carl Benz before him, was an obstinate man whose undeniable ingenuity was tinged with perversity, with the result that his masterpiece was marred by some curiously maladroit features.”
From The Ford in Britain Centenary File: Available March

Safety Fast

1974-1977 Ford Granada Ghia Coupe featured in The Ford in Britain Centenary File, an Eric Dymock Motoring Book available March 2011
There is not much new in the latest anti-speeding wheeze. The return of cameras by Prohibitionists was predictable. Roundheads propose one of those fatuous speed awareness courses to anybody exceeding limits by only a little, at £100. The Times parrots the airy talk of, “some 800 people a year,” being killed if speed cameras are decommissioned. “Populist objection to speed cameras cannot withstand … scientific research,” it says. It should be cautious. Climate changers and global warmists, to say nothing of millenium buggists, salmonella scaremongers, passive smoking soothsayers, panics over BSE, DDT and a dozen more hysterical “scientific researches” produce a jaundiced view of “experts”.
Campaigners follow predictable paths. A half-truth, an emotive pull, an expert advocate will set a bandwagon rolling and if the result is a Puritanical ban on rich speeding drivers so much the better. A dozen years writing for The Guardian showed me how it was done. Opinion was entrenched on speeding. I never subscribed to the newspaper’s political stance, although to its credit, once nominated as a contributor it left you alone. Your opinions were your own. Alastair Hetherington probably took the view that if I got myself into what he would regard as a hole, I should stop digging. All that was required was the house style of writing, which was the most demanding of any newspaper for which I wrote. Right-click to enlarge

If you wanted reader reaction, whimsies on speeding guaranteed it. During the first oil crisis 50mph limits were imposed to save fuel. Guardian readers of 23 December 1974 loved them.

This correspondence column of 6 January 1975 was quite restrained. Mr Burke seems perversely pleased to drive a 90mph car. A bit racy for 1974.