My 1914 Model T Runabout, #395707 was made 100 years ago today on 12/16/1913. Took it out for a ride around the block. It is still a great ride. The picture is of my Model T taken in July, 1946. a
Congrats, great to reach such a milestone and be able to take a celebratory drive. Who is the kid on the fender?
Eric
The kid on the fender is the third owner. I bought the T from him in 2004. He got it from his Uncle, the second owner whom bought it from the original owner.
The documentation of owners with the T is:
Mr. Templin Marlin Washington 1914 - 1930 (1863-1941)
Mr. Birge Odessa Washington 1930 - 1988 (1908-2003)
Mr. Batelan (Mr. Birge's Nephew) 1988 - 2004 (1934- )
Myself 2004 -
Mark..just curious...how is one able to determine the exact date of manufacture? From what I've read, so many of the records seem sketchy other than a monthly "grouping" of engine numbers, and even those don't always correspond to the "car number" especially since Ford eventually quit keeping car numbers. Just curious. It'd be neat to track my '12 "down to the day", not to mention the others I have.
$10 for a car license back then must've been a heap of money, I would think! Great that you have all this history on yours. Wish everyone were that lucky.
As I understand it, at least after serious mass production took off, serial numbers indicate the exact date Detroit engines were made. But the main factory also sent blocks of numbers to Long Island, Manchester, and other plants. These may be the exact day of manufacture, or not.
In his encyclopedia Bruce explains serial numbers and how accurate they may be at different times during Model T production.
OMG! Washington has a Dept. of Efficiency? We must put an end to this! ;)>
Up until about 1915 the date of assembly of the tranmission was punched into the transmission shaft.
Jem Bowkett's car with engine #9267 was stamped 8/16/09 on the transmission shaft and was shipped out to Boston on Aug 17th 1909.
It's like solving a puzzle.
We can get one piece by identifying the casting date on the motor.
Another by the day the casting became a motor with the motor number. (Thank you Bruce.)
Figuring out the exact date the motor was put in the vehicle can sometimes be found in the archives.
If the first two pieces are close together, we can guess that the third piece is close behind.
Using the Motor number to celebrate the T's birthday is OK --
after all being off two months over 100 years is 2 out of 1200 and less than a 0.2% error
Whatever you do preserve that paper work! So few have a traceable history it's got to add to the car's valve.
Mark,
Happy Birthday to your car. Please photo a current photo of your car so we can see then and now.
Dennis, If you click on my Name / profile that is a current picture of the 14 T now. I got the build date from Bruce's book.
Happy Touring
Happy Birthday to your Roadster. My 14 roadster turned 100 on November 19th, though I don't have the paper trail you have.
Andy