MTFCA Forum

Was not looking to buy another one...who am I kidding??
Just Browsing the Craigslist and this one popped up and cheap!! Drove 2 hours to pick it up. Blew the transmission pump seal in the tow vehicle, but managed to limp back with the car in the trailer!!! Rajo head, Hayes Wires, Ruckstell, Atwater Kent distributor. Owner said hasen't run in several years. As I am not a purist, this was titled as a 15, but has a 22 motor. How do I id the frame age/year? It has all kinds of weird accessories. A Greaese lubrication pump in the center of the dash but the line is missing as to what it lubricated. More photos to come!

If it has a clear title I wouldn’t worry about it! It’s a fun T that someone built for fun. One way you may can tell the age of the frame is to check the hand brake quadrant. If it’s held on by 4 rivets it’s at least older than 25. If it has just 2 it’s a 26-27.

Speedsters were not originally built by Ford. They were custom cars made over the years from Ford parts and other modifications. It looks period correct and many if not most speedsters have parts from different years. The car looks great and you should be proud to drive it.
Norm

Being a speedster it's home made. That usually means a mixture of Ford and non-Ford parts from several different years. For registration purposes I suppose you could go with a majority of the parts, or the frame, or the engine, or whatever suits your fancy. If you want to use the frame, this will help you date it.

I love that chart! I will retain it for future reference.

Paul

Very nice!

Nice car!
Hood and front fenders are basically 1915. Hood former, rear fenders, and lamps are 1914 or earlier. The Rajo, the Ruckstell, the Atwater Kent, the steering wheel. all are later accessories. Most were not manufactured until about 1920. The wheels might be as early as the late 1910s. From these photos, most of the rest of the car, I can't tell what year the parts are.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!
The first thing you do, Is get rid of those "hanging from the tall tower" accessory shock absorbers on the front axle!
Those are a dangerously flawed design. They were an early design to give the hard-sprung model T a softer ride. The basic design was manufactured by a dozen companies and began being made before 1911. They worked on the bad roads and LOW SPEEDS of the day. The problem is that their design takes a three inch loop through the spring perch and shackle to give a flexible connection to the spring, and replaces it with about ten inches of tower, tube, spring, and a long hanger, all of which is not nearly ridged nor strong enough to hold the axle and chassis steady.
The front axle becomes unsteady, in ways that at fifteen miles per hour may be okay. However, as speed increases, so does the need for strength and stability. These needed strengths and stabilities increase exponentially! At about twenty miles per hour, the risk of collapse is still small, but becoming significant. By thirty miles per hour, the risk is serious enough as to be unacceptable.
The truth is, that a lot of T owners over the past half century have driven cars for years with those shock absorbers on them. And most have not had serious problems from them. On the other hand, a very few years ago, in about one year's time, there were two fatal accidents that were cased at least in part by that style of shock absorber. One occurred at about 35 mph, the other at an even lower speed pulling onto the shoulder of the road. Several other accidents have also been attributed to those shocks. A little stress, a mechanical oscillation, and steering control is lost. One wrong move, wrong place at wrong time, a bad spot in the roadway, and a T can be flipped over.
Again, the truth is, it could happen to any model T. However, the flimsy manner in which these shock absorbers connect the front axle and chassis makes that about ten times more likely.

The most popular Hasslers, less common Float-a-Fords, and H&D type shock absorbers all can give that 'better ride' some model T owners want. And they do it without a significant added risk.

The rear axle match to these shock absorbers was also available, and can be found today. The pressure, drive, and dynamics, are enough different on the rear axle, that I wouldn't consider them to be significantly dangerous provided they are in good condition.

Great looking and well accessorized speedster! I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

Very nice. Lots of high dollar accessories. Great score. Looks like the grease pump thing is actually an air pump to pressurize the fuel tank. There is normally a low pressure gauge near by that goes to 5#'s. I see a gauge to the left of the pump. Might be that if its not an ammeter.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/33 ... 356806.pdf

PDF version found here of the frame chart.