Ford model A (1930) open cab pickup truck - driving in the desert

[Kuno]

Since I had to leave Libya after eleven years in April 2016 my posts regarding wrecked trucks in the desert in this forum became considerably less. However, this does not mean that the interest in the Sahara and its (recent) history has vanished.

I would like to share our short video with you:

https://youtu.be/0qp0oERuf6c

[Kuno]

...if the video on youtube should not appeare here directly - go to our website instead; it is placed directly on the font page.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Excellent video, Kuno! It seems the light Model A did quite well in the sand (?).
Are those BKT sand Star tyres?

Alex

[Andrew H.]

As a long-time owner of a Model A pickup truck (and an avid reader of anything Bagnold-related) I know how good they were for desert exploration. They were the preferred vehicle of all the desert explorers, including Almasy, Bagnold, Kennedy-Shaw, Awkright and others. Even as late as 1944, Kennedy-Shaw described the Model A as "the best car Ford ever made". They were light, strong, had a robust 3.2 litre engine and good gear ratios for tackling sand dunes. Bagnold was using a Model A when he proved all the skeptics wrong by driving across the Great Libyan Sand Sea in about 1932, paving the way for the formation of the Long Range Desert Group eight years later.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Are those BKT sand Star tyres?

Alex

And the wheels are 4 stud? How have you fitted them to the Ford hubs?

[Kuno]

@ Alex; correct these are the BKT "Sand Star" tires. Tubeless. The work very well and even if you reduce the pressure to below 1 bar in soft sand or over rocks they are still fine. We were very happy with them.

@ Tony; well noted. The original wheels did naturally not match the tires and unfortunately our "predecessors" like Almasy and Bagnold did not bother to leave notes regarding the wheels they had used (or at least: we could not find it). Once the tires were available we were just looking for a wheel that fits - unfortunately it had only four studs agaisnt Ford's five. The problem was solved by intermediate disks.

@ Andrew; one cannot get enough reading the old books... but there is one thing to be noted: The sandy areas in Egypt are normally just lfat out - "disturbed" by the occassional belt of dunes which has normally gaps to slip through. This is very much different in Tunisia where you have all these small, soft and tricky dunes. They were still reported as "impassable" in 1942 by the LRDG...

[Petr Brezina]

Thats something! Excellent effort, very impressed...

[Kuno]

Thanks, Peter.... and it is BIG fun to drive the car in his "natural environment" :-)