My apologies in advance for my complete lack of knowledge about vintage cars (or any cars for that matter). My grandmother recently passed away & I found the attached photo with her belongings. Sitting on top of the hood is my great-grandfather who I knew well as a child. Although I can identify 4 of the 5 people pictured I am curious as to the type of car (model, year?) in the photo. Thank you in advance for any help. JASON
1919ish Ford Model T Roadster?
I'm a rookie...what do I know??
I'd say Daniel has it about right at 1919-ish. Most of the features I see say 1917-23 Runabout. It looks like the wishbone is below the axle, so that means 1919 or later. The clear headlight lenses say pre-1921. So my guess is 1919 or 1920. The rear fender doesn't appear to curve down at the back, so I'm confused about that. Maybe it got bent upward, or maybe it was damaged and replaced with an earlier one.
It is a 1917 - 22 Model T Ford torpedo runabout. Ford did not use the term "roadster" to refer to this model.
Hey Mike,
I thnk the shadows hide the back of the rear fender.
Best
Gus
Yes .. Gustof is correct .... the rear fender does bend down, and ends up much lower than the top of the rear wheel.
Love these old photos!
Dennis
Gus, that be so. The shadow hides the bush stalk. On a sad note our ole friend Wally Shipley passed away peasefuly this week at the age of 86 at his home in Garland, Texas. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 Sunday and the funeral services will be at 2:00 Monday at Eastern Hills Baptist Church here in Garland. Wally was a founding member of the DFW Lone Star T's Club and a long time member of the MTFCA. He will be missed by every person who knew him. Pray for Wally's wife Faye and his family in the days to come.
Everyone is typing faster than me today – I guess I need more coffee. But for what its worth here is what I typed up and I lean towards the 1919 date although clearly the 1919-mid 1921 is possible.
Jason,
It is always great to have old photos of your family. Danial – you actually did great on your ID of the photo. Clearly it is a Model T Ford. Many folks and probably even the majority of folks call them roadsters today but they were actually listed as Runabouts back in the day in the Canadian and USA Ford brochures and parts catalogs.
Jason if you have any other photos that show a little more of the car – we could possibly add some additional details but probably would not change the date range of the car.
Above is a photo with some arrows pointing out that the car has the under the axle wishbone that was introduced during the 1919 model year production. Cars produced Apr 1919 and earlier used the older style. And once stocks allowed all the trucks to be fitted with the below the wishbone they would have used up the above wishbone on the cars and then used the below the wishbone on the cars. Not sure how long that took or how much of an overlap when both styles were used on cars. But clearly it would have occurred after Apr 1919 and not before. [ Ref: http://mtfca.com/encyclo/doc19.htm see Arp 14 1919 entry ].
It still has the cast iron running board supports because it has the cast iron running board support truss rod visible. See: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/199756.html?1300932995 and scroll past the 1921 hood discussion to the 1920-21 running board bracket discussion.
Note the car has clear headlamp lens which were phased out starting in Dec 30 1920 (there would have been overlap when both were used and then the standard Ford H lens introduced around Jun 1921 Ref http://mtfca.com/encyclo/doc20.htm see Dec 30, 1920 entry).
Note on the driver’s side it has the older style front spring shackle. A new style “L” shaped shackle was introduced sometime around 1916-17 but both styles were used for a while. The old style would indicate the car was more towards the 1919 end than the 1921 end of the production.
Based on the above and the assumption (that can get us in trouble) that the car still had original parts from the factory. Most Model Ts after they were used a while obtained parts that were not originally installed on the car. But the bulk of the parts still point to an Apr 1919 to Feb 1921 or so Model T Roadster. And the driver’s side shackle would cause me to lean towards a 1919 Model T Runabout.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Well whattaya know....I am actually figuring some of this stuff out. grin....
The original 1920 touring from Ill. Bob Bergstadt shows in this thread: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/299440.html?1342284736 still has the over the axle wishbone.
After introduction april 14 the better design was used on the TT's only, perhaps for quite a while since this original Touring now owned by Richard Gould has an engine dated september 3, 1919 = well into 1920 production.
http://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/doc19.htm
APR 14 Acc. 235, Box 39, #385, Ford Archives
"From this date two distinct designs of front radius rods, together with front spring perches, right and left, one on the Model T and the other on Model TT.
"The Model TT design will be assembled beneath the axle, instead of above the axle through the spring perch as heretofore.
"Although it would be possible to use the Model T design on the Model TT, we request this be resorted to only in case of a shortage serious enough to threaten loss of production."
Thus I suspect we can limit the runabout pictured above to model year 1920 or early 1921?