First time out for my 1909 Model T touring

[TonyB]

On Monday my grandson came up and we spent the morning working in the yard and the afternoon playing with the 1909 touring. He had been up previously to help with the installation of seat backs, so he is familiar with the vehicle. It started as usual with a flood of the five ball, three cranks and the one sharp pull with the ignition on and away it goes.
So here is the video showing the highlites of the work and the vehicles first real run. https://youtu.be/06b_vez7Vtc
Don’t worry, it’s less than seven minutes long

[Walter Higgins]

So what happened with the hogshead issue? Did I miss an update to that?

[Quickm007]

Congrat Tony! Very well done thank you sharing this with us. I'm first in line when you will decided to sell that beautiful 1909. LMAO.

[Rich Eagle]

Fantastic! Thanks for taking us along.
Rich

[Mopar_man]

That looks great. Lot's of fun!!

[GEmering]

What a thrill!
Wonderful to see such an early T back on the road!

Gene

[TonyB]

On the hogs head issue. Once we decided it was a repro and I had pictures from Kim on what the original looks like, I stuck it in the mill and chopped off the excess. Now I can reach the two internal nuts with a wrench!
There were a few other items that were binding and I cut them away. Now it seems OK.

[Dropacent]

Great Tony! It’s so tempting for some to walk away from a small problem. You have powered through many. You have old time perseverance, sadly lacking today in most. Gosh, i sound like an old fudd

[Norman Kling]

That is a great accomplishment, Tony!
Glad you got it running. I know that you did a lot more than just fixing the hogshead, because I have seen it several times while in progress.
Norm

[FreighTer Jim]

Hi Tony

I watched the video.

After you started the motor I couldn’t hear a word you said but the motor sounded sweet

Looks like a nice ride - particularly in high gear.

Thanks for sharing


FJ

[ModelT46]

That is a very nice 1910 Model T. the serial number makes it a 1910 Model T made in 1909. It it finished as a 1910, brewster green, John Brown model 15 head lights and JB model 60 side lights. One may call it what you want, but when it is exibited as a 1909, people will get the idea that 1909 Model Ts were green and had JB lights, which they did not. I wish my 1910 T was as nice.

[Duey_C]

Yesss!
Thanks Tony! Wonderful video!

[RustyFords]

Very nice!

Thanks for sharing the video.

[OilyBill]

Awesome video!
That engine sounds REALLY nice!

[Alan Long]

Great video and thanks for sharing and getting another T on the road.
What I don’t understand is a previous post that said “it’s 1910 made in 1909” How can that be?
that must be a reference to “Model Year” ? Curious to know if you have documents to confirm the actual Build Date?
We don’t refer to “Model Year” in Australia but always refer to the Build Date on compliance plates. Interesting stuff
Cheers Alan

[Wayne Sheldon]

Alan, Here in the USA, most cars, almost from the beginning, had a "model" year. Usually, the "model" year would begin about September in the autumn months preceding the "calendar" year change. However, this has never been "officially" so, nor has it been in any way consistent or reliably so. Automotive history, and especially model T history, has been rife (is that a good word in your part of the world?) with exceptions to the "September model year change". Tony's model T touring car is a re-restoration of an old restoration of a truly original automobile, with a somewhat confirmed build date in October of 1909. Technically, it is considered by many to be a 1910 MODEL year model T. However, since the cars were changing so much and so quickly at that time, it should be noted as being a 1909 built model. Ford was not making clean model year changes in those early days of the model T, and basically never did (consider the whole '22 to '23 to '24 issue). Some will argue that 1909 touring cars were painted red, and most early '09s were. However Ford began painting many of them green in June of 1909, and by July, very few were being finished in red. So the color is correct for both model years.
As far as I am concerned, Tony should call it whichever year he wants to. If it is technically a 1910? It is by only slightly more than a month. And his car is early enough to have several early features that most 1910 model year cars did not have. I think he has done a wonderful job taking a nice older restoration and making it better than it has been in well over a hundred years!

[Sean Butler]

Well said, Wayne and, well done, Tony! I've followed Tony's posts, seen the videos, and enjoyed his webinar. Keep up the good work!

[TonyB]

I’m fairly confident about the date of manufacture with two irrefutable items. Both were in the video but only visible for a few seconds.
The first is the serial number tag shows 11150 which according to the encyclopedia is 4 October 1909.

Tag with serial number

The second was even more convincing, indeed when I saw the transmission shaft stamped 9 30 09, I bought the vehicle.

Date on transmission shaft

So that’s how I dated the car. Subsequently I bought the build sheet for 11150 and sure enough it was stamped on 4 October 1909 and shipped to a Michigan dealer. I also acknowledge that all cars built after July 1909 were considered 1910 models but in my mind, that does not effect the date the car was assembled.

[KimDobbins]

Tony, I remembered the day you picked the car up. You have done a remarkable job in a short amount of time. The car looks great! Well done.

[ModelT46]

There seems to be some evidence that the Ford company made a clean cut change from the 1909 model years and to the 1910. After the change there were probably none painted red, only breewster green, whihc is a 1910 color only. A local T has a serial about 8500 it it is an original tourabout, which was first offered during the 1910 model years. There are nice 1911 torpedo roadsters around with september 1909 build dates and this style is a 1910 body style only. What is important is to dress a Model T out correctly for model year and the above T is finished as a 1910.

[NorthSouth]

-
Hey Tony,

Great video.
Please remind me, is this the T that you tried to start by holding the industrial drill motor to the crank and got flipped over head first onto your barn floor?

Smiles.

[TonyB]

Now ii can hand crank it, I’ll admit I did try a huge slow speed electric drill. First time I held with my skinny arms, it threw me half way across the workshop. Next time I made a support system and managed to strip a gear in my friends drill.
After removing the engine, transmission and rear axle, I found and solved the problem.
Alls well that ends well.

[Duey_C]

Wonderful news Tony!