Author Topic: Show us your T's  (Read 11031 times)

Gerilgambeth

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Show us your T's
« on: 27 April, 2013, 08:38:31 am »
I really loved seeing all the model A's in the earlier thread, but given that Mr. Ford sold more than 15 million model T's, I suspect that there's at least a "T" story in everyone's life.
So, lets hear your "T" story or see your T pics?
I'll get the ball rolling with my wife's old girl "Anastasia". A 1921 Canadian built, Steenbhoms (Sydney) bodied, 3 door tourer.
Back in 1964, her original lady owner gave her to my mother, on condition that she never sold it to a man. Consequently she has had 3 owners, all ladies.
I'm also in the process of building a brass era speedster from bits and pieces. Given that there is a huge supply of repro parts available over the counter, its just a matter of $ availability that's slowing me up.
The 3 pics I've attached are of "Anastasia" now & before I started work on her and another of how my speedster should look when I'm done.
I hope you like the pics and I look forward to more form you folk.
Cheers,
Rob
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

franco

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #1 on: 28 April, 2013, 11:29:13 am »
Rob,

This one (1927) belonged to a friend of mine about 1951, but I did quite a few miles in it. He paid seventeen pounds ten shillings for it ($35) including twelve months registration. We drove it until the registration ran out, but the new registration would have cost thirty pounds. Since we were still at school this was difficult, so he left it parked in the street outside his house pending being able to raise the money. While he was away for the school holidays his mother sold it for thirty bob ($3) because she did not like it sitting outside her house! It appeared to be a fairly low mileage vehicle.

It was notable for two features. The ignition had been modified to normal coil and distributor, but the mod was definitely non-standard! A bicycle chain from the front of the crankshaft drove a Chrysler 8 cylinder distributor at 1/4 crankshaft speed, and there were two leads to each spark plug, so one revolution of the distributor fired the cylinders 1 2 4 3 1 2 4 3. It actually worked quite well except for an unfortunate tendency to shed the distributor drive chain during long down hill runs. We got quite quick at retiming the ignition after walking back up the hill to retrieve the distributor drive chain.

It had the worst set of tyres on it that I ever came across,  probably dating from well before WW2. Being still at school, new tyres were out of the question, so consumption of five minute vulcaniser patches was phenomenal. On one occasion it took us over two weeks and 17 punctures to drive the four or five miles between his house and mine!

I often wonder what happened to it - I never saw it again after it was sold.

Frank
Cairns, Queensland

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #2 on: 28 April, 2013, 11:51:35 am »
What a great story Frank.
Proving that 'necessity' is indeed the mother of 'invention'.
Love it.
Rob
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

Triumphline

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #3 on: 28 April, 2013, 03:48:52 pm »
We used to have this 1915 T. Nice car but not as practical over long distances as the A.
Patrick
Patrick M Livingstone
The Austral Register
Sydney, NSW

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #4 on: 28 April, 2013, 09:09:40 pm »
To help celebrate Ford's centenary in 2003, the Ford Motor Company built 6 (I think) brand new 1914 Model T tourers.
The image attached shows the 1st of them which along with one or two others, is used regularly to ferry folk around Greenfield Village in Dearborn.
I've ridden in it, or one just like it, myself. Because of the modern techniques used in its manufacture, its a much quieter & smoother car than my/our T.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

ianoz

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #5 on: 09 May, 2013, 05:45:39 pm »
Not Mine ,But Add it to your thread .This one was at the Gladstone vintage car club display over Easter .
fowler vf,david brown 30td,cat D24U,D47U,D47J,D46U,R4,D68U IH TD9,TD6 and many more
 Benaraby Central Queensland

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #6 on: 14 November, 2016, 06:52:11 am »
This old chap was at last weekends Bombala rally.
It was running a Ruckstell 2 speed diff, an aluminium "Z" high-er compression head, a distributor, an alternator and hidden deep inside was a chrome-moly, counter-weighted Scat crank.
Originally from Delegate, he now lives in Bairnsdale I believe.
Cheers,
Rob
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #7 on: 06 January, 2019, 08:38:22 am »
In the first post on this thread, I mentioned that I'd started down the track of building a c1915 Model T Speedster.
Well, I'm proud to say that I've nearly finished the project. Evangeline has just arrived home after several months in the Panel & paint shop. She is now waiting on having her seats trimmed (red leather) some wiring jobs, a fuel line, and her floorboards cut and installed.
Bearing in mind that she is not a restored car, but rather, built from bits n pieces I've scrounged from all over the world, I guess you could say she's something of a Frankenstein.
Should anyone be at all interested, just say so, and I'll post all the period/era correct performance mods, made to her.
There are many people who have had a hand in creating this car, but none more than Steve, WeeAllis, who frequents these pages. Thanks Buckets-full mate.
I hope you enjoy the photos. They were taken the day Steve and I picked her up just before Christmas. What a present, eh?
Cheers,
Rob
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

franco

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #8 on: 06 January, 2019, 12:51:55 pm »
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the photos - she looks like a very nice vehicle indeed. I would be interested in some of the details of the build, and your impressions on diving it. A friend of mine has an older speedster. It has a Whippet radiator which gives it a more streamlined appearance, but everything else is either late Ford T or period accessories. I haven't seen it for some time, but from memory it has:
. An OHV conversion cylinder head - can't remember which one
. Overdrive/underdrive gearbox - can't remember which one
. Rocky Mountain brakes
. Not sure whether it has the two speed diff as well, I suspect it has

Knowing the capabilities and brakes of the standard T I found it rather terrifying as a passenger with very little to hang onto at speeds estimated at over 80 kph!

Before you ask, I doubt that he would be keen to have its photo appearing on the internet.

I'm sure you will enjoy your new vehicle, and wish you a long and pleasant association with it. It is quite an achievement to build a vehicle to registerable standards from scratch.

Frank.
Cairns, Queensland

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #9 on: 06 January, 2019, 03:24:58 pm »
Hi Frank,

Thanks for the kind words.

Your friends Speedster sounds like a very "full on" example.
The taller Whippet radiator is/was often used to elevate the hood in order to clear the OHV/OHC conversions......as well as giving the thing a much more streamlined look.
It most likely had either a Rajo or Frontenac OHV conversion head. There are others but given the rarity of just these two and the astronomical prices fetched by all of them I'd guess its one or the other. The gearbox you mentioned would again, more than likely be a Warford. There are/were relatively, lots of them around.
With the extra gearbox there probably wasn't a need for him to have a Ruckstell 2 speed diff as well, but he may have. That makes a lot of gears to chose from. 12 if my Arithmetic is still OK.
Accessory brakes are mandatory on any Model T made to go faster....,better make that ANY Model T FULL STOP.

Although nowhere near as developed as your friends, mine has quite a bit done to it, starting with a counter-weighted chrome-moly Scat Crankshaft. A Chaffins 280 thou high lift cam, .020" OS Egge aluminium pistons, high volume intake manifold, Stromberg OF Carb, Chev small block V8 valves, Turbo Hydro clutch plate set, Kevlar band linings, big end dippers, and a Waukesha Ricardo side valve head. -062". Because I decided on using a Bosch 009 distributor, I dumped all the flywheel magneto stuff. The field coil plate came in at 8 Kgs and the magnets spools brackets etc weighed in at 7 Kgs. So that's an all up saving of 15 kilograms out of the engine. Oil slingers are installed on the flywheel now. I wanted to fit a Model A exhaust manifold to it but because the block is a late casting (1925) and has rounded ends where the earlier ones have squared ends, I couldn't make it fit. Presently I have a stock manifold on it but am actively thinking of options.
Instead of using a dropped axle I tracked down and installed a set of "Laurel" underslung brackets that effectively moved the front axle forwards 2 inches and lowered the front of the vehicle behind it 5+ inches. The back has had the cross member cut from the chassis and raised 5inches also using Laurel brackets. I've installed a set of friction shock absorbers. All the friction producing, performance sucking Hyatt bearings (5) in the drive-train have been replaced with modern roller bearings. The diff thrust washers have also been swapped for a set of roller bearing washers.
This was my poor mans best effort of juggling performance against my wallet.

Thank you again Frank, for the good wishes. Thank you also for recognizing just how difficult it can be, chasing period correct performance parts and putting them altogether to make one of these things.
Cheers,
Rob

Considering a crankshaft is the heart of any engine I've attached a photo showing why I went down the route of replacing a stock T crank with a Scat.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

wee-allis

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #10 on: 06 January, 2019, 03:30:20 pm »

Rob's old crankshaft now holds my letter box up. In reality that was all it was good for.
If it's old, treat it like gold.
 38 Allis B,50 Morris Six,  Moruya, Sth coast NSW.

Gerilgambeth

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #11 on: 06 January, 2019, 04:45:45 pm »
Steve,

To be fair, a stock Model T only spins at a maximum of 1,800 RPM. Hence Henry's reluctance not to go through the added expense of having counter-weighted cranks made.
My other Model T still has her original 1921 crank in her belly and as long as I don't go lugging around slow corners in High Gear and mistreating it, I reckon it'll out live me.

But, the Speedsters old crankshaft sure does a good job at your place. Both the Postie and Santa like it.

Cheers,
Rob
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". WINSTON CHURCHILL

wee-allis

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #12 on: 06 January, 2019, 05:20:47 pm »

It never ceases to amaze me how T and Austin 7 cranks stood up to the punishment some guys gave them, spinning to amazing revs without breaking. I guess they were thin enough to flex without snapping.
If it's old, treat it like gold.
 38 Allis B,50 Morris Six,  Moruya, Sth coast NSW.

Triumphline

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #13 on: 06 January, 2019, 08:21:55 pm »
The T is looking great Rob.
Patrick.
Patrick M Livingstone
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Sydney, NSW

franco

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Re: Show us your T's
« Reply #14 on: 07 January, 2019, 02:58:40 am »
Rob,

Thanks for the reply, description of the modifications and the crankshaft photos. I hadn't seen a photo of the Scat crank before. There is quite a bit more meat on it than the standard one. You are correct about the gearbox on the local speedster - it is indeed a Warford.

Frank.
Cairns, Queensland