MTFCA Forum

I am in the process of restoring a 26 roadster pickup. I have brand new body mounting wood and am wondering if people put any finish on them like spar varnish.
I am pretty sure that Henry didn’t put anything on them but was wondering what people might use.

No. They are pretty well protected under the car and the are made of some very hard and sturdy hardwood. Jim Patrick

Dennis

when I rewooded my runabout, I made a "wiping varnish" out of 50/50 turpentine and SPAR Urethane. Then put on 3 coats on the entire wood structure prior to reinstalling the metal panels, as well as coating the generic steering/engine blocks of which you speak. Might not be necessary, but it made me happy and has kept dirt and grease from wrecking/staining the trunk floor. Additionally, when I moved to WY, I got caught in a blizzard and an interstate coated with salt. My "new", un-upholstered project was on an open trailer and got packed with slushy ice, dirt and salt. I was mighty glad that the wood was sealed as I was flooding the car with clear water for hours to get the dirt/salt mixture out of and off of the car.

One man's opinion (and anyway, real men smell like turpentine)

I think if they were finished from the factory it was either by overspray, laying in the floor on the assembly line or etc. The wood they were made from was used because it was a good hardwood that was durable and after a while they acquired dirt,oil and grease that helped in preserving the block.
These days when we build or restore a T we tend to really want to make it nice and I’ve done that too. That’s OK and to each their own. But to say the blocks were sealed with a preservative I really don’t know for sure. The ones that were in my cars or the ones I saw at swap meets didn’t appear to me to be sealed with anything other than the oil and crude from years in use.

I have a bunch of NOS wood blocks. I have steering bracket block, engine mount blocks, running board blocks, hood shelf blocks, and several different years of body blocks. All were finished with a thin black paint of some kind. It appears they were dipped in a vat of paint and then took out of the paint to "drip dry" you can see where they stuck together. After dipping or painting they were probably just piled in a big pile or in some kind of container to dry. No attempt appears to be made to make them look nice. On my 27 touring it appears the rear body blocks were installed in the body before painting. It is a black car with original paint. It also appears they were still painting the black cars with the flow on technique. My rear body blocks are virtually glued in place with excess paint. I also think my body was painted upside down because all the "runs" in the paint run from the floor area to the top of the body. There are many runs in my paint and lots of puddles in the corners.

That’s good information about your original cars paint job and a good reminder how Model T’s really were when they left the factory. Thanks for the information.

I usually give them a coat of flat black paint.

Using a good coat of flat black spray as recommended is as good or better than Ford used at the factory. Longevity is in the hardwood used I think.