MTFCA Forum

Hello all,
Are these older bands the "good" desirable Scandinavian bands?
Thanks,
Mike

They are not scandia. Scandia have a distinctive brown color.
They are repackaged. Look like wards Or another Plain cotton lining.
Not to say they wouldnt be a fine runner. Looks like a tight weave.

To me, they look like Scandinavian bands from the 1950s or iso. I remember the sewn edges. The early ones, as I remember were that color. Brown ones are later. These would be good to use.

Thanks for the replies. Looking at purchasing these.

Just make sure they are long enough and have not shrunk, and that they are not rotted. Some of the nicest old bands you've ever seen ended up prematurely in the oil funnel.

My opinion is that cotton gives the best "feel" and is the safest on drums if you're intent on maladjusting and abusing them. My '15 received a set in 1983 when it was rebuilt, and are clearly unraveling despite having almost no miles on it since rebuild and storage by the previous owner. They are wonderful, but I suspect have a very limited life left by the looks of things. I even occasionally buy NOS old cotton for the day I finally feel like installing them. I haven't reached the point of "feeling like it" because I have not convinced myself that I know how to detect if the band is fit for service or rotted. Once the wheels are rebuilt and safe to drive on...really safe...then I'll be forced to make the decision of risking NOS cotton, or Kevlar like is in my other cars.

I put a 1960 set in my 1910 two ytears ago. I have not driven it for enougth miles to show up a problem, but they fit real nice.

The lighter colored bands are either Sears Allstate or maybe Montgomery Wards. I have some Sears Allstate that look just like them.
The older T bands by some of the makers are woven in just as tight a weave like the older Scandinavians are.
Sears and Wards and a few others are are about as good or as good as the Scandies. Mark also made some good bands.

It’s the tight weave that makes the bands durable.
It could be that other older brands that were the tight weave were made by the same company that made Scandies. But that’s a guess of course and it seems that the weaving machines were sold years ago.

Of course cotton won’t last as long as Kevlar that’s avaliable now. But how you drive makes a difference too.

Cotton deteriorates with age. As Scott says, it rots. Some people don't believe it, but it's true. I put ancient cotton linings in the same category as NOS Firestone clinchers and NOS Babbitt thrust washers — for display only.

I installed Scandinavian lining in1977 and just removed them in March 2023. They were getting ragged but still worked. The replacement lining is cotton with green edges. They are of unknown brand but not Scandinavian.
There Is now 140 miles on the new ones and they have a nice and smooth feel. Absolutely no chatter.

I have one more unused Scandinavian set as spares and I don't know what I will use when they are worn out.

Art Mirtes

...I don't know what I will use when they are worn out.

Installed correctly and driven correctly, Kevlar will be fine.

Those are 26/27 bands, the wide one is for the updated transmission brake. They look good to me.

First off, they are called Scandinavia not Scandinavian. Second, those in the picture are not Scandinavia linings. Third, those look like they might be very good tight weave cotton linings that should work fine, perhaps as good as Scandinavia linings. I would use those before I would use kevlar.

Jeff, perhaps you didn't read early replies to this post ? Darel Leopold, who has been an avid "Model T-er" longer than many of us have been alive (since 1946) stated the pictured linings look like Scandinavia linings c. 1950s used to, before the brown ones that came later.

Just in the interest of satisfying curiosity, what are your reasons for saying they are not Scandinavia ? They do indeed look like good material, any road.

Here’s an earlier post about the early Scandinavia bands.

The ones in the initial early post don’t look like the earlier lighter colored bands. If you look closely at them the early Scandinavia bands didn’t have the red thread on the edges like these do. Allstate bands had the red edging thread. The early Scandies were lighter in color but not as light as the Allstate and a few others.
As long as the cotton bands have a good tight weave they are pretty good.

The later Scandies were darker and the weave wasn’t as tight. https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/7 ... 1489334927

Thanks for that, John ! It appears the earlier buff colored Scandinavia linings also carried the name, stenciled in yellow like the later, darker ones did.

Again, thanks for the replies! So much to learn!!!
Mike

I like ABBA, and they're considered a pretty old band by now.