MTFCA Forum

I brought this one home a few days ago.[attachment=0]20231005_105641.jpg[/attachment.
It is a 1922 Adelade built Duncan and Fraser tourer, standard except for full leather upholstery.
I have the job of assessing whether it is worth preserving as is, but making it safe to use. It will depend on how well the motor and trans perform, so the first task is to get it running . It is a fourth generation car to the family, so they would like to preserve it.
I took on the job when they gave me a realistic budget to work to.
I hope to report progress as we go.

Allan from down under.

I'd be willing to go to some expense to preserve the car as-is, or with some selective refurbishment, given the family history and the fact that so few original builds survive.

Very interesting barn find Allan. Yes, I’d attempt to preserve it too. Reinvigorate the dried out spokes. Lightly sand the rusty sheet metal and apply a satin preservative. Tell us more about those 2 interesting ‘scuff plates’ on the splash apron.

Looks like a good survivor. Get it to running, check out the transmission bands and try to get it to run. It looks like the wood structure might still be solid enough and stable but you’ll determine that as you get into it. Then there is the radiator and we hope it will still cool.
It’s good to see it’s pretty much kept inside and not left outside and that’s great.

I for one would be interested in following a blog like thread as this beauty is resurrected. Could be lots of fun to watch and learn.

It's gorgeous just the way it is.
Thanks for posting the photo of it.
Rich

I just noticed it has a wood firewall. I wonder if the steel firewall came out around the same time the American T’s did. Interesting.

Auxiliary belt driven magneto addition. ?

That is quite a beauty! Keep us posted in how the preservation goes.

John, our parts books list the steel firewall/dash for 1923.

As I understand the way Ford dated his cars the steel firewalls came out in the 23 year which would have started in around Sept-Oct 22. So if the Aussie car is a 22 that would make it an August or earlier 22 or pretty close to it if the Aussie cars followed the same time line as the US cars did.

One can go grey trying to figure out the time lines on parts between the 2, example, the likes of the sloping windshield and one man top started in 1920 for the Canadian T.

Nice to see an original intact car in Oz Allan, not to many around at all.

The thing to remember with Australian bodied T's is they are all different for any year up to 1926, as all states had their own body builders, in fact there were two in my home state, South Australia.
Duncan Motors were the State distributors, selling their own Duncan and Fraser built cars. This style first cam out in 1919.
George, the scuff plates are D&F made brass cast accessory. Duncan's had Line of accessories on offer. This car also came with a nickel plated radiator shell, headlight rims and windscreen pillars. It had a Corbin speedo. It has a steering column mounted pair of controls for an extra air intake on the intake manifold and a knob to adjust the mixture. This car was painted dark green, including the fenders and running boards.
It has the original leather upholstery. I have never seen this before in a standard bodied car. The magneto is a farm fit job. It is chain driven. There is no facility to adjust the timing, so it looks like they hand cranked it with the hood up, and reset the timing before driving off. My son fitted a set of temporary plug wires to the magneto, we put fuel in the tank, made good the connections at the carburettor, and he cranked away. It sounded like it wanted to fire up. With a timing adjustment of the magneto, it went on the second pull. We had a mad scramble to shut it down again, as we had forgotten I had removed the starter motor!

Tomorrow night is the due start-up and run check. If all goes well, she will have new Kevlar bands while the firewall is off, and we can start on the refurbishment.

Allan from down under.

Just to keep it as is there will be some general expense that cannot be avoided for things such as new tires, new wiring, new battery, new top frame and top, new upholstery, new bands, new oil, new grease, new windshield (windscreen), radiator flush, coils cleaned and adjusted, carburetor rebuild w new gasket kit, gas tank and fuel system cleaned and flushed. The engine may be fine depending on its’ condition when last run. Instead of sanding the metal I would treat the rust with Ospho will halt the spread of the rust and convert the active rust into an inert and protective material. Sanding will take it down to the bare metal and destroy the patina, the uniform appearance and the original paint. Sand only if you intend to paint it. Jim Patrick

I blew a considerable hole in the budget today. We have five new Blockley tyres on the way, and 5 Michelin tubes, as Blockleys were out of stock.

In the tradition of "Do what You have to do to keep her going!" three of the tyres fitted were straight sided 4.40 X 23". They fitted these on clincher rims by cutting the rims at one of the loose lug lands. I have no idea how they then collapsed the rim to fit the tyres, but they did. What they did do is rely on the loose lug to the hold the rim joint in place, with no locking device at the joint!!!! I figure if the rims are otherwise sound, I can weld then closed again while they are bolted to a wheel felloe, so they can be used as normal. They will have to have good thick edges to the clincher to warrant the work involved in restoring them.

I have straight side tyres on my 1924 Tarrant special tourer. 4.40 x 23" tyres were part of the "special" package, but clincher tyres of that size are long gone. Three of mine are on split Chev rims. One is another of the "do what you have to" category. I bought this one already mounted, so i have not had to work with it. Some keen soul has split a clincher rim, and added a latching mechanism at the split. Then they have handworked both sides of the curled in clincher edge until they are straight sided! On the car, not one person has ever picked up this handiwork, so neatly hs it been done.

Allan from down under.

That's really neat the old DU mag was still hot Allan!

We need a few bits to replace some missing items. I have posted here, rather than the classifieds so you have a better idea of the condition of the bits required.

A couple of no 53 ignition keys.
A coilbox lid I similar condition to this coilbox. A headlight rim that was once nickel plated like this. I have a volunteer in Texas who will gather the bits and make up one parcel for me, so local postage applies for any items you may be able to help with.
Please email me if you can help.
I forgot one item. New headlight lenses are out of stock. An original one may be abetted option anyway, if anyone has a spare.

Next part of the project is to replace the bands, while the firewall is off and greater access is afforded.

Allan from down under.