1950 Chrysler Town & Country

[alsancle]

Someone please explain the brakes to me.   Since I thought Jag was the first with 4 wheel disks in 1958.   Otherwise I LOVE this car.

 

323 CI Inline 8, Fluid Drive, Very Rare Factory 4-Wheel Disc Brakes

 

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1110409/1950-chrysler-town-country

 

 

1 of approximately 700 built in 1950

Final year for the wood-bodied Town & Country

Very rare factory 4-wheel disc brakes, only available for Town and Country and Imperial models in 1950-1951

Comprehensive frame-off restoration

323 CI inline 8-cylinder engine

Fluid Drive transmission

Finished in Green

Chrysler wire wheels

 

 

[Ed Luddy]

Here's a picture of the front disc brake set up on 1950 

[Ed Luddy]

These pic's are from a MT article. 

[Ed Luddy]

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/chryslers-pioneering-disc-brake-system-explained/

[alsancle]

Look at that. And I thought I knew everything!

[58L-Y8]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

Look at that. And I thought I knew everything!

A.J.:

Ausco-Lambert internally expanding disk brakes, standard on 1950-'54 Crown Imperial and '50 New Yorker Town & Country Newport.  I have to check if they continued on the 1955-'56 Crown Imperial lwb models.

Steve

Edited December 9, 2023 by 58L-Y8
syntax corrected (see edit history)

[B Jake Moran]

I have heard they are very complicated to adjust and practically use. Plus, parts are unobtainium. 

[StillOutThere]

The A-L brakes continued as standard on the '55-56 Imperial Crown Limousines.  A '56 Crown Limo I owned originally came with them but was still on the road BECAUSE it had been converted to drum brakes from a regular production Imperial.   And though it can happen that a part for this system can appear in someone's inventory, one really should say the parts were discontinued from Chrysler about 1960.  

What is still common is to see the VENTED wheel covers that were part of the option.  Several of these for the year range of '50-56 have shown up on ebay and dealer sites still into recent years.   The wheelcovers had an interior stamping of a sort of turbine to draw air in from the face of the tire and then through the standard vented Imperial wheels to add additional cooling over the A-L drums.   Photos of my 56 wheelcovers attached.   Because of the turbine backing the covers sat off the felloe of the wheel with a half inch clearance for "air intake".

 

Its was the A-L brakes on the '51-52 Chrysler entries in the Carrera Panamericana (Mex Road Race) that caught up sand and dust and overheated causing multiple cars to drop out.

 

The T&C this thread is about has its A-Ls "cooled" via installation of the Motor Wheel (NOT Kelseys!) chrome wire wheels.  Authenticity point:  Those wheels were first offered for the 1953 model year, ending option availability with the '56 M.Y.   But of course anything and everything with the same bolt pattern gets them installed to wow the show crowd and auction bidders.

 

I like the car.  I'd plan changing the brakes to drums on day one.

[TAKerry]

3 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

I have heard they are very complicated to adjust and practically use. Plus, parts are unobtainium. 

When I saw the diagram I thought that may be the case!

[Andrew_Latvia]

I have read somewhere, that these Ausco-Lambert disc brakes are the reason why conventional disc brake discs are still called rotors. In Ausco-Lambert system brake discs are not rotating unlike other, conventional disc brake systems we know today.

[cjmarzoli]

Wow! Never heard of these.  Learn something every day.  Doesn't look like they would evacuate built up heat very well.

[StillOutThere]

Some of you might be familiar with Kinmont brakes.  I'm not, but understand they are rather similar to Ausco-Lambert in design.

 

Any of these early automotive disc brakes are very relevant to the evolution of aircraft disc braking systems. 

 

I have had in my posession one still A-L equipped car.   It was a '53 New Yorker club coupe special ordered for the Carrera Panamericana, though it did not compete due to experimental induction it received at the factory.   I had the car running but other than opening up one of the A-Ls for "education", I did not attempt to get them functional.   Any A-L equipped car is power boosted with a frame mounted unit.

 

Couple of A-L pages posted for you below.

[32tatra]

I learned all about theses brakes, when I rebuilt this same brake system on the 1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton owned by New York City.  That was over 18 years ago, and it still works fine.