On page 394 of Bruce's book there is a picture of the early and late model windshield stanchions. Did the change occurr right at the model year change (August 1, 1926) or at a different time? In other words can one determine if an open vehicle is a 1926 or 1927 by looking at the windshield stanchions?

One gentlemen had a 1927 touring that had the lower of the three fasteners holding the windshield stanchion with a slotted head. He indicated that the vehicle was in his family since new and that it came from the factory that way. Does anyone know if the lower fastener in the 1927 open cars windshield stachions was the slotted head type?

Arnie
You would have to get the Ford factory drawings for the 1926/27 windshield stanchion and bolts and the record of change cards to determine when these changes were made.
And then it would only be a guide as to what actually occurred in production.
What the branch assembly plants were doing will likely never be known because of the production lag.
I have a December 9, 1925 factory roadster pick up with (both) early style stanchions and the early door jambs shown on page 393. I have seen many 1926 open cars with both types stanchions and sometimes mixed type on the same body.
I think it is important to remember there are no hard and fast parts changeover rules.
These guys were making cars as fast as possible and NOT making any attempt to make sure they all the same at any given time.
Many changes to Model T parts depicted on the record of change cards specifically allowed production to use up all the old parts in production and one can easily imagine a parts chaser dumping a load of new parts in a bin of older parts. Whatever the assembly line fellow grabbed was installed.
To paraphrase the USPS Priority Mail commercial "If it fits it ships".
Ron the Coilman

Ron:

The parts books only give one number for each side; part # T-40325X or factory #40325X for the right side and Part # T-40326X (Fac # 40326X) for the left side, so I do not think I will be able to find in the record of change cards any infomation about the change, since Ford used the same number for the part before and after the change!

I hope some members will indicate what year vehicle they have and if they have the stronger or the earlier windshield stanchions.

I am particularly interested in knowing if the late 1927 open cars had the lower mounting screw (of the three) on the windshield stanchions showing as a slotted head. One person has a vehicle like this and says it is from the factory that way, as he has the vehicle history from when it came from the Ford dealer (was in his family all the time) to the present time.

I am curious as why Ford would put in a fastener of a different "style". There must have been a purpose, as it would mean stocking of an extra part!

Does anyone out there also have a 1927 open vehicle with the lower stanchion fastener showing as a slotted head fastener? If so that would tend to add validity to this question.