Restoration of Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx I, Mk.III No.1726

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by aj.lec

That boat is a little ripper
Would be both fun and pretty hairy to drive I think
Would pitch quickly being that short

Hi Andrew, Thought I would digress a bit for you.

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This Tail-dragger Hydroplane is recognized as the oldest in Australia. It was built in Moe Vic. in 1947 by a chap named Howlett for Charlie Moffit. It is built to a plan patented in the USA in 1937 and was originally powered by a 21 stud Ford 60hp engine.

Charlie Moffit raced it as "Kandoo II' with much success throughout Australia but sold it to Charlie McCallum in 1957. After blowing the Lynx diff, Charlie McC. removed the engine from the Lynx with the broken diff and fitted it into the boat. Charlie built a trailer for the boat and renamed the boat "GUNNER". Lake Omeo at Benambra Vic. is a very shallow lake and Charlie was only able to race the boat for two years at Benambra.(1958/1959). In 1960 there was not enough water in Lake Omeo to hold a race meeting so the boat was parked up in the shed and the rest is history.

In building the trailer he cut off the front Shock absorber mounts and welded them to the frame as the rear spring shackles.

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If you look carefully you will see that the carburetor is facing the opposite way to normal for a Ford V8. It is facing the gearbox end not the fan end.This was because they discovered with the Lynx that the fuel bowl on the carby had to face the way the vehicle was going and as the engine is turned around they had to reverse the carby. This suited the boat as the drive for the prop is off the front of the crank shaft where the fan bolts on.

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The boat originally had straight out exhausts from each of the three exhaust ports on each side. Charlie McC. just used the original Lynx manifolds and fittings and ran only one exhaust pipe. That was good for me as I then had something to copy. The other two holes on each side were covered up with a thin plywood cover. You can see the darkened area where the covering plywood was fitted.

regards Rick.