History
The famous “Model T” was introduced in 1909 and produced in the millions until the Model A was introduced in 1929. It was an extremely successful automobile and introduced not only the assembly line, but was priced (in 1913) at $450, perfect for the workingman’s budget. But American’s have always had a love affair with their cars, and by 1913 a large “aftermarket” had developed, offering a wide range of “speed parts” and custom accessories for the basic black Model T.
This “Speedster” was but one of many custom designs offered by independent coachbuilders, giving the owner a less expensive option to the very popular (and expensive) Stutz Bearcat and Mercer Raceabout. Usually the chassis was lowered four inches, called “underslinging”, the wheelbase slightly extended, and the basic 40 HP motor “hopped up” with a Roof or RAJO Overhead Valve Conversion (OHV), a hot cam, balanced crankshaft with pressure oiling, and side-draft or up-draft carburetors.
And of course, the stock body was replaced with a sharp looking “Speedster Body” complete with a monocle windshield, and the heavy wooden wheels were replaced with strong and lightweight wire wheels. Stock front fenders were often used for both front and rear, giving the car a “swoopy” look.
The Model
This high resolution 1,966,863 poly CAD model, created in SolidWorks™ from extensive research, field measurements and hundreds of photographs, is one of my projects in the field of Industrial Archeology. It is full-size (1:1) and accurately scaled. The modeling quality allows for extreme close-ups and rendering. It is ideally suited for hero and foreground shots within early 20th Century period sets and CG’s. There is no motor, only the “basic block” and oil pan that shows under the chassis. All parts were color-mapped in SolidWorks™, and migrate to the .obj format. There is no logo on the radiator grill shell.
The SolidWorks™ model was converted to .obj using SymLab Composer, and the 3dS was created with SYCODE.
Renderings were created in KeyShot2 from Luxion.