Driving any Model T is an experience, but Neil Tuckett’s brass-bodied Golden Ford is even more unnerving.
For a start, you can’t see your feet because the body is so narrow; there’s no chance of peering down at the helpful script cast on the pedal pads to remind you which one’s which.
There is no firewall or bulkhead between you and the engine.
The exposed valvegear sprays oil all over the driver’s legs at higher revs, and the single carburettor inlet points backwards so, in the event of a backfire, it gently toasts your left knee.
The Golden Ford’s sparse cockpit
The choke control is a wire loop on the left of the dash, but you won’t need it except to douse the carburettor.
It’s a racer, so it doesn’t have to be street-friendly.
None of the controls is what it seems: the left pedal is a speed control that you press down to get moving, while simultaneously applying some throttle with the left-hand lever on the column.
Once you’ve gained some speed, you come off both throttle and pedal, then gently feed in high gear by moving forward what looks like a handbrake on the right, while increasing the revs.
