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Foot Feed

D

Dean

Well-known Member
Folks, I'm old enough to remember some of the old timers using the term foot feed when referring to an automobile accelerator pedal.

How many of you remember: "I had my foot feed clear to the floor. I said, That's all there is, there ain't no more...."

FWIW, a current thread in the 9N,2N,8N forum about a Lincoln V12 flathead in a vintage Ford tractor reminded me.

Dean
Hot Rod Lincoln
 
SWMBO uses the term footfeeder referring to the gas pedal, all the time. I think she got that from her Dad. I had never heard that till she said it.
 
Yep, it was a foot feed. Here's my 45 of Hot Rod Lincoln by Johnny Bond. And for those of you that can remember the '70's there is a Youtube video of it by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. I'm not sure what the 2005 on the label refers to because I got this record in the '60's.
a280698.jpg
 
I suppose there's not much need to differentiate hand and foot feeds now, as you don't see hand feeds on vehicles much anymore, at least not mechanical ones. Neighbor had an old IH flatbed farm truck he used to haul pulp wood to a papermill about an hour (at 50 mph tops, which is all the old gal would handle) away, and I got to ride along occasionally back in my single-digit years. Once he got on the main road and in top gear, he'd set the hand feed, which was a pull knob on the dash, and we'd trundle along until we got to the turn-off for the mill.
 
In the early days of the automobile, indeed up into the early 1930s, it was not uncommon for automobiles to have a hand throttle, often within the steering column with the spark advance control, or on the dash. The hand throttle was a fixed throttle control much like the hand throttle on a tractor. Sort of an early "cruise control."

Eventually, manufacturers added the foot feed, which operated just like the foot throttle on a tractor. Push on the foot feed to add throttle, and release it to return to the hand throttle setting.

The early Charlie Ryan version of Hot Rod Lincoln is my favorite.

Dean
 
When folks look at my Model T, they think the the brake pedal on the floor is the "foot feed".
I have to explain to them the pedals and the "hand feed" throttle at the steering wheel.
Then of course they have no idea what the other lever is for, (spark advance).
Richard
 
I'm not real crazy about the Commander Cody version but the Johnny Bond version is a good one.

"[F]enders clickin' the guard rail posts. The guys beside me were white as ghosts."

Dean
 
Haven?t heard that since I was a kid. Grandpa called it that. I always thought he was saying ?foot feet? till this post.... Antenna was an ?airole? .
 
The aftermarket built by Dowden? for the Ford tractors and reproduced by Red Rock is called a foot feed.
 
My Dad also called it a foot feed. When he wanted you to go faster, he would say stick your toe in the carburetor.
 
. Heard it since a Kid but only refered to a tractor or equipment with both a foot and hand throttle. Bought my 1640 from my Uncle and in 28 years he had not worn the paint off the foot throttle . Never used it or the diff lock.
 
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