My Car is 100 Years Old Today

[Jones in Aiken SC]

It is the 100th birthday of my 1926 Model T Ford Coupe. Well, the 100th anniversary of the engine assembly anyway, serial number 12546822.

This car was owned by my grandfather in Frankfort, South Dakota and he used it as his fishing car. He drove it up until 1953 and parked it out behind the barn where it sat out in the weather for several years. My father had the foresight to save the car in 1959 and brought it to our place in Aberdeen, South Dakota where it sat in our barn for another 20 years. The family moved to Washington state and I got the bug to restore the car. I met Ken Jones and he helped me by introducing me to the Model T world in western Washington. There are lots of Otis Clinton parts on this car, not to mention a pair of NOS rear fenders from a guy in Yakima, Washington.

This was the first car I ever restored, and there are several things I would do differently if I was restoring the car today. For one thing, I wouldn’t use lacquer for the paint. I also made the car look more like a 1927 and should have stuck with making it an early 26. Maybe when I retire I will paint the car dark green or even black (which I think it was originally), go back to wood wheels, etc. Or maybe I just keep it as is and call it my “old Ford.” That is probably the most likely option.

[Shannon_in_Texas]

Greg, love the Before and After pictures!

[tiredfarmer]

Well we are pretty close to be sisters with my T. I believe that the Roadsters and Tourings were painted black and the Coups and Sedans were painted different colors.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I believe that the Roadsters and Tourings were painted black and the Coups and Sedans were painted different colors.

Do not rely on the sales literature of the day. Sales literature was published by the marketing department before production began, and continued to be published with "information" that they, the marketing department, wanted to have happen. What in reality happened wasn't quite what they wanted. Material delays for the new type paint meant that many coupes and sedans were in fact painted black during the first half of the 1926 model year. Some coupes and sedans were painted in the new colors early in the model year, so that is still correct for them. However, black on them was and is also correct.
My interest lies mostly with the earlier model Ts. So I haven't paid much attention to the timelines of the "improved" era cars. However I do know, and have seen quite a number of early 1926 enclosed cars that were black originally. I also know that the open cars, touring cars and coupes, were available in colors at some point, however I do not know when that occurred.

The sales literature is also incorrect about things like the wheel options. 21 inch and clincher type wooden wheels continued to be available until the end of production. Open cars were available with non-demountable rim wheels until the very end. Not "all" sedans had wire wheels, no matter what the era sales literature says.