1890637_735007801787_1623549415_o

1890637_735007801787_1623549415_o
Trying to date this Model T.
model t plugs with 45s
1924 Ford Ole Leeland dealer-1000

tonykapolka
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:00 am

1890637_735007801787_1623549415_o


Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:04 am
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Wayne Sheldon
Posts: 3639
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:13 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Sheldon
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout 1913 Speedster
Location: Grass Valley California, USA
Board Member Since: 2005

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:10 am

When dating an early model T, one should start with a tankful of clean gasoline and a quart of fresh oil as gifts. Polishing the brass will also make a good impression.

Moving on to the photo in question.
The model T touring car is a 1913 model. Although the photo quality is poor, and detail is lacking, one can clearly see that the doors extend from the top of the body line clear down to the bottom of the body line. 1913 is the only brass era year to do that. 1914 through 1925 had doors that cut down to about three inches above the bottom of the body sill. Earlier brass era Ts varied, but were similar to the later ones. The doors on the 1913 cut down into the body sills enough that it resulted in a weakness in the rear section of the body, requiring dealer recalls to add bracing to prevent the body from flexing enough that the rear doors would pop open while being driven. The weakness caused Ford to rush the design of the 1914 bodies and introduce them into production a few months early. The 1913 style touring car body was only used for about nine months. Model T runabouts didn't have the sill weakness issue, so the runabouts continued in the 'long door' 1913 style for the full model year.
Interestingly enough, the updated 1915 style open cars (the runabouts and touring cars) also ran into design and production problems causing a significant delay in beginning the 1915 style open cars. Therefore, the 1914 style not only started a couple months early due to issues with the 1913, it ran late well into the 1915 model year while those production issues were ironed out. The 1914 style touring cars were produced for fully a year and a half!. Which makes the 1913 fairly rare by comparison.

Wayne Sheldon
Posts: 3639
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:13 pm
First Name: Wayne
Last Name: Sheldon
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1915 Runabout 1913 Speedster
Location: Grass Valley California, USA
Board Member Since: 2005

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:11 am

An additional detail is the windshield and its support rods. Looking at the windshield hinges, the hinge-pin (pivot point) is forward of the windshield, causing the windshield to fold forward. The straight support rods confirm this. The 1914 style windshield folded rearwards, with the hinge-pins behind the windshield. The 1914 windshield support rods have a 'dogleg' in them so that the windshield when folded back and down can fit between the support rods.

Another thing about the photo itself, is that it has been flipped at some point. USA built model Ts were left side driven, unlike most other cars that early. Some Canadian built model Ts were right side driven, so that does show up from time to time. However, the license plate confirms that the photo is flipped. The license number appears to be 45580 (?), but flipped. The 4 and 5s are backwards.

The car also has an interesting accessary electric horn and electric conversion in the headlamps.

KMcoldcars
Posts: 86
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:07 pm
First Name: Keith
Last Name: McGowan
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 coupelet
Location: Puyallup, Wa.
MTFCI Number: 24767

Post by KMcoldcars » Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:01 pm

The headlights and sidelamps look like 1913 - 1914 style. The doors are 1913. Therefore, I would say the car is a 1913.

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