Old Photo - Early cut-down T

[Rich Eagle]

There must be a story about this one.

[Susanne]

Open valve motor - if you enlarge it you can see them. Stripped to bare bare basics (I noticed a friction shock on the back end, tho...) There must be a HECK of a story about this thing. Plus being in front of a Stoddard-Dayton dealer... and the big block lettered "FORD" on the sideways gas tank... Maybe they were showing how simple the Ford was compared to that big, heavy. complicated car... Stealing away customers... So east to start and drive even a woman can run one... no big, complex motor with way too many parts... Even the dog in the background is looking on in admiration.

Tho I sure wouldn't kick a S-D out of the shop for not being a Ford... maybe...

[HornsRus]

i would say early 1911,same shocks on the frt.charley

[Erik Johnson]

I researched that photo before.

See this thread:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/17 ... 1313795189

Read all the posts after you first see my name, "Erik Johnson." Lots of info.

[perry kete]

Perhaps they went so fast that the body blew off!
look at the upper right hand of the picture when you enlarge it...In the window doesn't that look a partial script letter "F"? Maybe he sold Fords and Stodards

[Erik Johnson]

Perry:

Click on the link in my post above. Start reading when you see my name - read from that point all the way to the end of the thread.

It will tell you exactly who owned the car, who is sitting in the car, where the photo was taken, etc., etc., etc.

[Rich Eagle]

Great info.
Thanks

[perry kete]

Eric,

I saw that after I posted...I'm a slow typest and I was most likely typing at the same time as you but it took me longer to post

[otrcman]

Nice to see all the information on this photo. But my initial reaction went like this:


"Elbert, I agree that the man offered you a good price for the fenders, so I can understand THAT......... But selling the seat was a bad idea no matter how much you got for it !"

[Kaiser]

I'm thinking he's only teaching her the bare basics of Model T driving

[Dean Kiefer]

I think when he proposed to her he promised her a fancy car and that is what she got. Now I will go read Erik's story and see how close I came to being right.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I would suspect that chassis as sits was used as a stunt and demonstrator car, possibly local cross-country runs or other advertising events. The other thread mentions a climb up courthouse steps, a common stunt back in those days.
I can't see that as transporting a chassis for a commercial body, or hardly anything else. It wouldn't make sense to move the gasoline tank or paint "FORD" on it for such a mundane task as just delivering it somewhere. Those people were active in their local automobile scene, and they were automobile dealers. As time went onward, they got into some serious racing. Most likely, this was an early such venture for them, and a minor milestone in the world of model T speedsters.

I have often said that model T speedsters are one of the longest running continuous "hobbies" in automotive history. The first model T "speedsters" were the pre-production experimental chassis built by Ford in 1908 and maybe before. They were fitted with a simple seat and test driven around the outskirts of Detroit in the dark of night in order to test the various components being designed for the new model. This was discussed some years back on the old forum. The next ones of course were the two ocean to ocean racers in 1909. We now know that Ford built several "specials" for racing purposes in 1910/'11/'12. By 1910, Ford dealers across the land were outfitting cut-downs similar to this for local events and demonstrations.
Another past discussion here involved a Pacific Northwest dealership that built a few such O to O type cars, a couple they used themselves, and then sold to local customers. I wish I still had the bookmark for it (lost in a computer meltdown ). I did try to google-search it awhile back, but no luck.

By 1912, everybody was getting into the act! People were building cut-downs, and companies were building their own, and marketing parts and kits to sell to people that wanted to build one. 1915, Ames and Apco were publishing catalogs. Model T speedsters have been built in every calendar year since, by somebody, and sometimes many hundreds of somebodies. Even in World War II, kids coming of age, wanting a car, which was a scarce commodity in those years, to drive to school, often got a remains of a model T from a neighbor and cut it down into a racy kid'smobile. I have read the diaries years ago in club magazines. (I do miss being able to talk to the people that lived the days of model T Fords as just an old car.)
A hobby all its own, for OVER 110 years and counting!

[Rich Eagle]

That reminds me that I built my Speedster in 1966. (53 years ago) I still chuckle at the fellow telling me the Speedster wasn't original while driving a Mustang on a tour. I pointed out it had been a Speedster before his car was built.
Seeing a hundred or more old photos of Speedsters, Bugs or whatever they called them shows how much fun they have been for that 110 years.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Just think, Rich, in four more years, your speedster will be halfway between the first T speedsters and the (then) current year's creations! I wish I still had the one I built in 1971.