A story about a Model T Belmont Dye Works

[Tbird]

A few months back I stumbled across a photo of a man standing next to a Model T with a delivery body that was built for his business called Belmont Dye Works. After following the link to the photo I landed on this lady’s blog about her family and the man that had the Model T and it’s business. I reached out to her to ask if she had any more information about the business and the car. She made a blog post about it and a nice little write up about it. A very interesting read. Enjoy

C4CDB34D-27D8-433D-8FA4-C1AB570167B4.jpeg (62.63 KiB) Viewed 1706 times

https://bewareoftherug.blogspot.com/202 ... d.html?m=1

[TWrenn]

Interesting story Mike. In the pic of the two Delivery cars, the right one with no doors looks almost like they took the body/firewall off of one of their older models, possibly an 11-12, and put it on a newer chassis. The car to the left that the author refers to as possibly a '15/'16 is later than that, given the hood style, black radiator and cowl, etc. What year it is, I'm not that good enough to
tell, and the picture isn't clear enough. Maybe a 19? 20? I notice they both have demountable rims. Thanks for the post.

[Tbird]

Looking at the details of the body that does not have any doors, no doubt they just repurposed the body on an updated chassis. Looks like they gave it a fresh coat of signage. The story states he had two delivery cars and #2 is what is pictured early and then again with updated chassis. I’m really intrigued by the body of the delivery car with the way it’s formed. It looks like a touring in the front part then it has a neat detail that forms the sides. Has anyone else seen a body like this? I asked the family member if she had any other pictures of it, she said those were the only two.

[Mark Gregush]

I am pretty sure the one with the newer body was a roadster/runabout with the delivery installed in place of the T-deck.

[KWTownsend]

Mike-
Maybe others will chime in, but please share with these folks the following information so that their information is accurate.

The first photo of the C cab is a 1912 chassis. Curved rear fenders were introduced in 1912 on commercial vehicles, however, the C cab is NOT the standard the Ford C cab that Ford offered.

The vertical tank is NOT a prest-o-Lite tank, it is a standard issue acetylene generator, made by Jno. Brown. On top is a water tank and below is a basket that holds calcium carbide crystals. A valve allows water to drip onto the calcium carbide crystals which forms acetylene which is piped to the headlamps. The side and tail lights burn kerosene.

In the photos with the two cars, car #2 is the same body as in the first photo, but put on a newer chassis. This tells me that Harry Oliver was a prudent conservative businessman! The bulb horn had been removed by then. As Mark points out, the car on the left looks to be a runabout with, again, a non-Ford C-cab body. (I think it is a cool design.)

The chassis are from 1919-1920.

The front wishbone mounted below the axle indicates it is 1919 and later. If demountable wheels are Ford, they would have been available after 1919. The car on the left has the upholstery tack strip on the outside of the body, so that puts it as pre-1921. The design of the starting crank also dates the chassis as pre-1921. The coil springs on the front axle are an accessory spring called Hasslers. Both C-cab bodies are non-Ford aftermarket, which would have been available from any Ford dealer. William O. McKay Ford was a big Ford dealer in Seattle that started during the Model T era.

Gas, water, and oil tanks mounted on the running boards were accessory items, never factory items.

The car, on the left, has one door on the passenger side. The driver side door is a dummy door. It does not open. Notice it has no hinges.

Nice family history photos!

: ^ )
Keith