Question about Canadian 13 cars?

[Dan Hatch]

I know that in 13 before Canada started making their own engines they got them from US and ground off the “Made in USA”.
What did they do for lights? Did they just USA lights or what.
I have a Canadian 13 I am thinking about what lights I need. Came with USA so I may just use them.
Thinking about making it a Southern Wide Track too???

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

I believe my friend's Canadian '13 has Clasco lamps on it.

Does your Canadian '13 have the proper Canadian fenders? If so, it would be a shame to remove them in favor of the wide-track style, (assuming those are not also Canadian).

[Darren J Wallace]

I have an October 1912 build 1913 touring. My grandfather bought it from the original owner’s family in 1956.
It has Jno Brown model 19 headlights and E&J cowl lamps, and a Jno Brown 110 tail lamp, all brass, no steel, and was documented as such in a 1929 photo I have, of the original owners family wedding.
There’s no Canadian markings on anything other than the radiator, and the ID tag.
Even the all brass oil cap says made in USA. The block is a B series and shows no Made In USA on the left side.
If I can help with anything else, my car is a real survivor as far as being complete and correct.

[Kerry]

Dan, your post is not worded right, 1913 Canada started their own serial numbers on engines, still grinding the made in USA until they started casting engines for them self's in 1918.

[nsbrassnut]

Hi All

I'm following this discussion with interest as I am working on a 1913 Canadian Ford also. Late model year 13, build dated believed to be in the March to April 1913 period.

Like the US models, the Canadian 13s have a lot of running changes. Canadian engine assembly didn't start until May of 1913, and may not have kept up with production for the first few weeks. The Canadian built engines used USA blocks with the Made in USA ground off and also started to use the C for Canadian in the engine number.

From Bruce's book notes, US engines started marking "Made in USA" around January of 1913. So I suspect that for the first few months of 1913, Canadian built Ts used USA built engines that were likely marked "Made in USA" and with the US engine number sequence. The import duties at the time were high for anything with "Made in USA" at the time, so that may have been a trigger for the Canadian plant to start building engines while still largely using imported engine parts.

CLASCO started making lamp parts I believe in late 1912 or early1913, but I'm not sure when. So early "13"'s likely came with US branded lamps, while mid or late model year '13s could have come with some or all of a set of CLASCO lamps. An interesting note on the early CLASCO black and brass head lamps, the chimneys are only marked "Ford" with no other markings. Perhaps the stampings were imported for the head lamps. While the side and tail lamps were marked CLASCO and were shaped differently than the US lamps. Mine came with a set of Victor 2 headlamps and JN Brown side and tail lamps.

Most Canadian '13 Ts would have come with Fisher bodies, as Fisher Canada started up in September 1912. Before that Canadian bodies were made by Gray. My '13 T is a touring with a Fisher body, and with the added rear door braces which appear to be factory installed. The additional frame body mounts are also present for under the door. And interestingly they were mounted with bolts and you can see where the frame was drilled to mount the additional body brackets while the rest of the frame is riveted together.

My '13 project came as a dismantled mess which I am working on sorting out during the restoration. The engine that came with it has an early 1914 block, but the transmission shaft was stamped early 1913 (Feb or March) so that is period that I believe it was built It also still had the teacup crankcase. The first owner may forgotten to drain the water out that first winter and damaged the original '13 block which was then replaced with a '14 block.

Always interested to hear what others have found out about these early Canadian Ts.

Drive Safe
Jeff

[Allan]

Darren, I was pleased to read of your early 13 T with all brass lamps. My chocolate van has a 3 digit B series block which was assembled on 26 9 12. When piecing the car together, I had black and brass headlights, but preferred the all bras earlier ones. Once I found a pair of 666 E and J lamps, I was made. Side and tail lamps are all E and J too.

Allan from down under.

[Dan Hatch]

Thanks for the info. Should help me out with what I need to do. Dan

[Wayne Sheldon]

Dan H, For whatever it is worth? I wouldn't consider changing a Canadian T to wide-track simply because I doubt they made many if any of them. The wide-track was a Southern USA phenomenon to fit automobiles into the same road ruts as cotton carrying wagons. I would be curious to hear if Ford of Canada did in fact build any?

[Aussie16]

There are enough original photos and surviving Canadian 1913 T's in Australia to prove that all manufacturers of lights were represented. E&J, both all brass and steel and brass,JNO Brown and Glasco. We even had English manufactured brass lamps installed as well.