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supercharger, circa 1926


Guest oldsprinter

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Guest oldsprinter

Building a copy of my grandfather's 1926 sprint car. We only have 2 pics at the moment. More may be in the University of Texas Archives but we haven't made it over there to search. It's a fairly typical model T sprint car of the day except that it was supercharged. The only head with plugs on the left and all ports on the right was the RAJO C. That was easy enough to identify. Finding a good one is another story. The supercharger is still a bit of a mystery. Neither pic shows a supercharger so we are assuming it was mounted on the front of the engine. The pic below is currently being professionally enhanced and we hope to have more detail of the right side of the engine. The while circle, where the carb would normally be, looks similar in shape to a Miller 122 carb. But, it's a bit too big and, if the top bolts show so clearly, why not the bottom bolt and linkage? The carb has to be on the other side of the supercharger so we are hoping the enhanced photo sheds some light on this. I'm confident it was actually blown: family owned a Dodge dealership and knew race cars and the driver and owner were present for the photos and they, and the photographer, all knew each other very well. Old newspaper race results showed this car beating Millers, Laurels, Frontenacs, and Duesenbergs and that takes some horsepower. I don't think a T with nothing more than a basic 8 OHV and a good carb could win at that level, which reinforces the supercharger scheme. I'm trying to be as historically true as I can to the pics but I have to take some latitude with the supercharger because they are so rare, so expensive, and I don't know exactly what model was actually on it in the first place. Hence, looking for anything out there. If you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them!post-86636-143139088722_thumb.jpg

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Im glad I asked! Very Cool story and a great project.

After looking at the first photo, I would have to agree with your theory that something is going on, on the front of that motor. I only assume this by the fact that the Elesmann (looking) mag is 90 degrees the the motor, so this leads one to believe that the front of the crank has been alterd for some reason.

Great story and good luck, keep us informed of your research.

Edited by paulrhd29nz (see edit history)
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