MTFCA Forum

Recently I was showing my T at a local car show and a man walked up and started to tell me that certain years of the model T did not have the Ford script on the radiator shell just below the fill cap. I doubted this but logged it away so that I could ask about it here on the forum. Thoughts?

thanks guys.

I see that you have a 1918 T and that this was the car that prompted the man’s comment regarding some radiator shells having no Ford script. The Ford produced shells 1917 - 1927 had the Ford script but there were many aftermarket producer’s of stock like Ford parts and a shell made by one of these suppliers would not have had the Ford script. Perhaps the man had run across one such aftermarket shell in the past.

Only likely on an accessory or aftermarket part.

Yup ! Also, there was quite a brisk trade in aftermarket radiators and hoods to "update" the 1915-16 cars. Those shells would not have had the Ford imprint. Peerless made radiators and placed their imprint in shiny nickel letters on the shells. Rich Eagle put one on his speedster, we would get a chuckle when spectators would presume "Peerless" was the make if the car.

I have always assumed the radiator shell on my speedster was an aftermarket shell, but other than missing the Ford script it is identical to a factory shell.

From the Ford factory, and practically speaking, the only model T Fords to NOT have the "Ford" script on the upper area of the radiator shell were a few of the 1909s. That first year, Ford's production relative to all automobile production in earlier years was so large, so many cars built, that Ford had difficulty in getting all the pieces made to produce the cars! The radiator was probably the most labor intensive single part in the whole car. There wasn't a radiator building shop near Detroit that could make so many radiators in such a short time. Ford basically swamped the production staff of most of the radiator making companies close by. 1909 radiators varied a bit more than the brass era cars that followed. Some, not a lot of them, even had a shell separate from the radiator tank similar in concept to what the black era cars had, except that the basic shape and fully assembled appearance was like the other brass era radiators.
Ford, in his efforts to standardize parts tried to have all the different shops make them alike and totally interchangeable. So the no name and separate shell radiators were few. Era photos showing them are uncommon. But some are out there.

Looking for a photo showing the early brass radiator without a script is difficult. I can in a few minutes find several that I cannot see the script. However, often that is due to the lighting and reflective qualities of the brass upper tank. I found and harvested several photos a couple years ago (actually from a couple different websites! (including this one)) that turned out to be of several cars on a road rally. It became very interesting because there were banners on the cars, and numbers painted to identify the individual cars, and certain cars were photographed several times. What was very interesting about this, is that one of the cars in a couple photographs looks like there is no script on the upper tank of the radiator. However, in a couple shots of what is clearly the very same car on that same road rally, the lighting is different and the script can be seen plain as day!
That illustrates how and why it is difficult to find good photos showing no script. And, although I may have found one? I cannot be a hundred percent certain that there is no script there. But, take a look and see what you think?
No steel support bar through the radiator. And it clearly did have a "Ford" script attached to the radiator itself, which was done from the factory in 1909 and part of 1910. No windshield, no headlamps, although those could have been removed. The script has been removed from the radiator itself, after it had enough time to stain the radiator, so some time has passed since the car was new. But I cannot see any indication that the upper tank had a script on it? The "shell" appears to be that in may be one of the ones that is separate from the radiator itself? Those had a slightly more pronounced rolled bead between the front and top/sides of the shell than others had. Which this shell does appear to have.

If I recall correctly? I believe it is one of our English friends that has one of the early 1909 Tourers that has the original separate shell radiator on it?

Were you the one that painted your car and prepped it? Some of the radiator shells didn’t have a good pressing of the Ford script when they were made.
If it was a poor pressing it’s not hard to clean up the radiator shell and when priming it and painting it you can essentially cover it up without much trace.

Or it may be a aftermarket shell with no script. From what I know the radiator shells from Ford 16-27 had the script BUT some did have a light script pressing.

I zoomed in to that photo as close as the pixels would allow. There is clearly a reflection in the front panel of the radiator of something that is outside the frame of the photo. And that reflection is wider than the area that the script would occupy if it were there. That reflection confuses the issue somewhat. But I don't see a script there myself.

Hi John, I did prep and paint the car about 20 years ago now. I had two shells to choose from when I was putting the car together. The other shell was factory with the script, but the one without the script was in much better condition so that’s what I when with. There is no stamping on the back side either. To my knowledge there are no manufacturer markings on it.

Non script shells brings back a memory for me. We have good friends in Spokane, who owned a 20's something black tourer with WHITE upholstery. It was known locally as the OREO, for obvious reasons. I bought an unscripted shell from a roadside tool vendor while there and it was completely restored in the friend's panel shop, so I could take it home with me, or so he thought. He caught me drilling two holes in the front panel after he had painted it up for me. He was not pleased!
He was quite speechless when we later presented it to him, complete with cast brass OREO nameplate affixed.

Allan from down under
PS. I'd never drill a real Ford one.

A decade or two ago, I got a small bundle of black era shells with a pickup truck load of model T parts I bought. In that bundle of shells, was one that had quite apparently never had a script on it. It was in fairly nice condition, but obviously some years old. In addition to the no script, there were a couple other slight variations from real Ford shells. I never did decide whether it was an era accessory or maybe a '50s reproduction. I do know that some repros were made back in the '50s/'60s without a script. Not sure, but I might still have it?