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Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 9:24 pm
by frontyboy
It has a Rootlieb flat wood dashboard. I want to add a sheet metal cowl. more of a curved shape. Any ideas or does anyone have one for sale? or a blue print or patterns?

thnx
frontyboy.

Just respond here is the best

Re: Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2026 9:06 am
by Mike Silbert
Frontyboy,

I can not give you a quick answer because what I think you are building is around 10% (guess here) of the speedsters built.
That makes getting information harder.
I don't know what is in your head so I can only give you areas to look and maybe something will stick.

Most I have seen use a setup like a '15-'16 firewall to cowl adapters.

There is also the style that Everett Currier makes in Maine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRuYUH3WfNE
Screenshot 2026-02-04 084152.jpg
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The Northwest Vintage Speedster website has a huge collection of information from cars to builds to plans
You could spend days drooling over that stuff.
https://www.nwvs.org/Technical/MTFCA/Sp ... Body.shtml
https://www.nwvs.org/Technical/MTFCA/Construction.shtml
https://www.nwvs.org/CarPhotos/CarPhotos.shtml

If you search MTFCA Speedster Build then select Images you can get a preview and find pages that have the style you want buried in them like
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/114634.html
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/5 ... 1424117466
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/7 ... 1493584480
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... ld.835391/
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/for ... meck-32259

Hopefully others will have more ideas for you (and me) on your build.
I have a chassis in the corner of the barn that I plan (hope, dream) to make a full body speedster but that is a project with no priority or scheduled start time.
Beauty is in the eye of the Bee Holder
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Mike

Re: Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 3:08 pm
by skyhunter
Mike.

In the spirit of a few on this site. That is a wasp, not a bee. :D

Re: Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 10:16 pm
by Mike Silbert
SkyHunter - Very true,
After 10 minutes of searching, the internet was not on my side and providing me a picture of someone holding a real bee so I gave up.
I took a shortcut.
It seems like those who hold bees in ones hand don't take many pictures while they are at it.
Tonight I found a better picture tonight in seconds, that's how it goes sometimes.
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The lowly honey bee often gets little respect and is under a lot of pressure and issues these days.
They provides an important service that is required for a lot of the food we like to eat.
She likes bees and has even taken classes to learn beekeeping, debating about getting her own hives.
There is a lot more to it than it seems.

Speedsters are very personalized and everyone has their own idea of what looks good.
There are many more ideas than there are builders.
Build the one that makes you happy.
Safety, Reliability, and looking like a complete package that was built back in the day is all I push for.
I have my own ideas but am always looking for more.
Mike

Re: Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 6:19 pm
by J1MGolden
There were several Speedsters in Maryland about 50 years ago, when I moved here.

Most were copies of a kit that Sears and Roebuck sold, just for Model Ts in the earl 1915s and later 1925.

I have copies of some of them and some kit photos that someone sent to me.

Here are two I remember.
Model T Speedster.jpg
Early Speedster.jpg

Re: Building a 1913 brass speedster(Help Needed)

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 5:52 am
by Luxford
Is this the kind of thing you are looking for, the original builder of my speedster had a metal curved shape built in the shape of a tiger moth cowling.
It just goes back from the normal wood dash and around the sides.