MTFCA Forum

I have heard all my T days that 26/27 shells are different than 23/25.
Looked in my early 28 original parts list and it just says 23/27 radiator shells. Does not show different numbers for those years.
What is right? Why did Ford say they are same if they are not? Thanks Dan.

26-27 shells have sides that are angled to match the hood. Earlier shells have parallel sides.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:55 am

I have heard all my T days that 26/27 shells are different than 23/25.
Looked in my early 28 original parts list and it just says 23/27 radiator shells. Does not show different numbers for those years.
What is right? Why did Ford say they are same if they are not? Thanks Dan.

I've never noticed what you have noticed in T parts lists, however, along with 26-27 shells having the sides flared out to match the wider hood, 26-27 shells were nickle plated on closed cars. Open cars are said to have had the standard black except there was reported to be a "sport roadster and sport touring" option which included the nickle plated shell as part of the package. so, other than Ford trying to save ink and printing costs by says one size fits all, the shells should have different numbers.

Again I ask, if they are different why only one listing in parts list? Will they interchange? Ford would not list just one it there was a difference?
Early 26 open cars were black.

Pretty sure the 26-27 TT used the earlier shell. Used the earlier fenders too

Was not in the TT section of parts list. It was the car section.

Kevin Pharis wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:23 am

Pretty sure the 26-27 TT used the earlier shell. Used the earlier fenders too

You are correct on the straight sided shell used on TT's, plus, they weren't plated.

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:21 am

Again I ask, if they are different why only one listing in parts list? Will they interchange? Ford would not list just one it there was a difference?
Early 26 open cars were black.

Dan, I don't think anyone is alive who is old enough to definitively answer your question. It could have been a overlooked mistake before the list was printed or as I said, maybe it was to save Henry printing costs. Everyone knows he pinched pennies.

As far as using an earlier shell on a 26/27 car, I'm wondering what issues would you really face? I would guess that the sides of the shell could certainly flex a bit if twisted to simulate the taper of the later shells. Could it be that Ford, by 1928, chose not to differentiate between two subtly different shells when supplying aftermarket parts?

Maybe if I had ever tried to use an earlier shell on a 26/27 I wouldn't suggest this, but in my ignorance, I'm left to wonder. Has anyone tried it?

I have one on my 26 sport touring with a brass shell which was nickel plated, but I had it Chromed. The Roadster is standard with the black shell.

The question is if the 1923-1925 shell SHAPE is the same as the 1926-1927 shell.

The nickel shell in the April 1926 parts list does not show back dated to the 1923, just a stand-alone item but the black shell was the same for 1923-26.
The July 1927 still shows the nickel shell 1926/27 as separate item as does the 1928 parts book.
Going by that information one could surmise that the brass nickel shell may have been different, re the taper to match the hood and the black one with straight sides as it had been since 1923 introduction.
I recall some talk years ago about the brass/nickeled shell having a taper to match hood.
Guess one would have to look at several survivor cars with the actual brass/nickel shell to see if that all adds up. So many 26/27 cars today have the steel shell plated.

The reprint avail Price List of Parts, late Aug 5 1928, after the T cars and trucks were no longer made, is a homogeneous listing of parts for service field. Many more specific early parts were then combined to the late designs.

As for the Nickel plated brass radiator shell, T-3974D, Factory # 8737D, came out in late 1925, and fits to 1927. (It will fit '23 and later high radiator cars, but wasn't std. except on higher priced closed cars beginning in 1926)

The nickel shell was avail. to dealers in 1925, and a dealer or agent part that could be sold and placed on open cars or any Ts or TTs.



The std black steel shell, T-3974C, Factory #8737C, came out in 1923 for the 'high' radiator and fits 1923-1927

There isn't any design difference in side panels, but the brass nicked plated ones usually have round holes for the welting lace, as opposed to the early ones with square cut away notches, as that type would be hard to bright finish on a revolving polishing wheel.

Thanks Dan , that is what I thought. Now I know what I got.?Dan.

I believe physically they are the same. The round holes versus square lacing holes is the only difference. On our Canadian sourced cars most {not all] had square holes. I have seen both on steel shells used in 23-5 too.
Regarding the flared sides to follow the line of the hood, on all the high radiator cars the flare is the same. Only the low radiator cars had the sides square to the front.
The reproduction Dan shows only ever had square-to-the front sides, so even if it was made the correct height, it was never going to fit a high radiator car correctly. Without the flare on the sides it was narrow at the top. Reshaping the hood to fit there would drop the side panel at the front.

Allan from don under.

Thanks Allen: I am of the same opinion. Dan

For Jerry, an early shell with square on sides is for a low radiator car. It will not be tall enough for a 26-7 car. The sides would flex out at the bottom OK, and could be fitted with the angled bottom feet. However, it will not flex out at the top, so the hood would be a poor match. This is the situation with the reproduction shells.

Regarding TT's, if they were fitted with high radiators at the same time as the cars, and this would make sense in a work vehicle, they would have had hoods with flared sides to suit. There may never have been improved 26-7 TT's, but the 23-5 models would have had the flared sides just like the cars.

Allan from down under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2025 1:12 am

For Jerry, an early shell with square on sides is for a low radiator car.

... but the 23-5 models would have had the flared sides just like the cars.

Allan from down under.

I was addressing the suggestion, made by someone else, above, that the high shells came in two different designs, "square sides: 23-25", and "flared sides: 26-27". Subsequent discussion seems to have debunked such a difference within the 23 - 27 shells.