MTFCA Forum

There is a strange little foot pedal in the center of the floorboards just forward of the seat that is no longer hooked up to anything on my 1915 touring car. What was the purpose of the pedal?

Most likely was connected to an accessory exhaust cutout.

Is there anything below the floorboard? Such as a switch or a lever? It could have been a starter switch if the car had a starter at sometime in the past. Or it could be a muffler cutout switch or a switch to an exhaust whistle. If you can show what is below the floorboard, it might be easier to figure out what it is for.
Norm

What does the business end look like?

If that pedal is a 'locking' pedal, with a small toothed notch and spring too), then an exhaust cutout was once installed. The locking is to keep the cutout open, until you hit the pedal and release the lock, before the cops catch up with you .


If the pedal is just plain hinge, that is for an exhaust whistle, as you press and hold for just the instant sound, and a typical spring mounted some where in the connections allows the release for stopping the sounds.

Early roadsters which featured a "Mother In Law" seat were often modified by young husbands such that a small pedal on the floorboard released a catch that allowed the Mother In Law seat to tip backward. Operating the device while underway would provide an immediate reduction in noise levels.

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:08 pm

….allowed the Mother In Law seat to tip backward. Operating the device while underway would provide an immediate reduction in noise levels.

Now that’s a good one! Ejection seat 1909….way earlier than Bond, James Bond

i finally got a chance to check the pedal out in more detail. It has the tooth that locks it down and the spring……so it looks like i had an exhaust cutout at one time.

Take a look at the exhaust pipe towards the rear o see if you have something attached to it. May be that the spring from the pedal is gone