MTFCA Forum

I am not familiar with early center doors, can anyone tell from these photos if this car indeed has a brass-era body? Maybe it’s not factory Ford? Not my photos, I pulled them from the dark-web.

It's a conglomeration of years. It has 1922 window latches in it, and a 1914 hood. It still has a hood rod mount at the top of the firewall where it meets the cowl.

That car was shared as a "Not mine" car for sale on the AACA website a couple weeks ago. There has been some discussion about it, especially from me.
The pictures aren't great, and clearly there is a lot wrong with the car. Whether or not it was a brass era car is still open to debate or serious inspection. My guess? Is that it is a made up car. Photos I have seen appear to be not showing important details. Engine is (NOT, thank you Frank!) pre-starter, but beyond that nothing indicates the year of the engine. Wheels, and much of the chassis appears to be 1920s, as is the spare tire carrier. The upholstery is not horrible, but not well done and hides interior body details.
As I said over there, I seriously doubt the body was originally made with only a single door. When, how, or why it was changed is anybody's guess. Whether returning it to an original configuration is a worthwhile project or not depends on the condition of a lot of things that cannot be seen as it is. One would need to remove much of the interior to see what is there and what changes were made to know what needed to be worked with.

Whether or not the body was a brass era center-door? Is unlikely, but without closer inspection, could still be possible?

As I said over there. For the right price, "an interesting car that with a little work might be a lot of fun!"
If you want a real brass era center-door? You may want to look further.

Additional photos and discussion;

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/397267-fo ... nt-2536213

Not a pre starter engine, 1922 as stated in the original listing.

Frank, You are right! I was mixing this one up with another car I was looking at online a few days ago.
Thank you for catching my error!

I always heard brass era center doors had one piece sheet metal from the rear of one door to the rear of the other door below the rear oval window - instead of three

George, parts book starts at 1915 for the sedan, but lists 3 pieces for 1916 and on, but doesn't show what was used in 15, it may be so, the 1 piece could have been used but not to successful. It seems that only 989 built in 15, how many still around?

The "true" 1915 center-door model T sedan was unique. Less than a thousand were built, and about ten to a dozen still exist.
The body metal was mostly aluminum, and the rear tub panel was one piece. Everything about the body was different. The seats, the gasoline tank, strange windshield combination visor, and the entire interior was all very un-Ford-like. I suspect the body was proposed by the coachbuilder and used for a one year trial run. Henry Ford was no fool. He knew more and more people would begin demanding enclosed cars, and that it was time to begin preparations to provide them.
While production was small, and sales were slow, he knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. So, quietly, development of a "more Ford" body went on during that trial run, and the center-door sedan we are familiar with was the result.
Oddly enough, records of the 1916 sales were lost a long time ago, and for many years, there wasn't any real proof the 1916 style center-door sedan actually existed. However, there were a number of indications that they did exist. Bruce McCalley himself and I sat and discussed the subject about thirty years ago! I at that time was restoring one that might have likely been the real thing! It was after then that actual proof in the archives was found, and a few (very few!) really good era photos have been found proving that Ford did in fact manufacture and sell a significant number of 1916 style center-door sedans!
The OP car is almost certainly a fake.

Yes Steve J, it does. And we do need to continue reminding people that that style front shock absorber should NEVER be used on a model T on modern roads and modern speeds. There is a flaw in the basic design, that regardless of manufacturer or specific model, can result in the front axle becoming unstable at speed. If conditions line up in a wrong way, that style shock absorber can result in serious front end failure and likely bad accident. A few cases on model T club tours in the past decade or so have resulted in fatalities.
They look neat! But they need to remain a wall hanger or cabinet display item only.
Several other era shock absorbers are fine to be used. Probably a thousand model Ts regularly toured these days have run Hasslers for hundreds or even many thousands of miles with no serious problems. I have seen Hasslers serious worn out to the point that they should not be used without a complete rebuild, and yet no serious problems were experienced with them. Most common H&D type shock absorbers as well as the fairly rare "Float-A-Ford" ones also seem to be fine for use.
Hanging shock towers on the front end, regardless of manufacturer? NO WAY!

The car is on eBay for $8,900.

I still say it’s a 1922 cobbled to look like a 16