Today I helped a fellow fit a new set of fenders and running boards, prior to having them painted for final fitment. The ones removed were like nothing I have ever seen. They are standard in every respect, except that the Ford script is rotated 180 so that it reads the correct way up from the front of the car! They do not appear to have been altered in any way, and the mounting holes are all in the usual relationships.
Any one care to enlighten me?
Allan from down under.
They would be correct in the Northern Hemisphere.
Installed backwards or on opposite sides of the car.
Norm
They would read the same on ether side of the car if you swapped side for side. You can't just turn them around the holes would not line up. The distance from the rear iron to the end of the running board is less then the front.
Or I could say, the distance from the mounting holes is not the same at both ends.
Sub-contractor in need of corrective action.
But, you could swap them and leave the same side attached to the splash apron. That way they would read the opposite!
I'm sure it's not necessary to point out that a northbound Model T with southbound running boards will tend to oversteer on a left hand curve, except of course in the southern hemisphere, it would tend to understeer on a rightha,......oh never mind,.....this is all just common knowledge anyway,.....harold
I'd restore them and put them back on the car. They were original to the car and would start many conversations about the T with observers. Wish I had such a unique feature on mine!
Only in Canada eh?
You didn't mention if the car was USA, Canadian, or British etc. but most of the cars and later the chassis were supplied by Canada to Australia. Also what year was the car? Ford of Canada had a few odd items every now and then.
Below is from page 25 of the Sep-Oct 1988 "Vintage Ford" article by Kevin "Bill" Mowle. The article covered a 1920 Roadster and 1921 touring and it did not say (or I missed it) which one had this shell.
The author commented: "The radiator shell, showing the country of origin. Note the backward “N” in Canada. A good number of radiator shells had this mistake. Apparently it just wasn’t the die-maker’s day."
Hap's thoughts: And if the die was paid for already -- they probably would have used it. Actually I suspect Ford would point out the die had the script wrong -- get a large discount if it was ordered from an outside supplier and still use it.
If you have a chance, would you please find out if the running boards have the "Made in Canada" on the running boards or "Made in USA" and also let us know the year of the car (or year range for the running boards etc.) and let us know?
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Hap, the car is a 1914 four door Canadian tourer. The running boards have no 'made in'.... anywhere! They are not reversible because the drillings to fit them would not line up with the chassis brackets. Nor have they been re-drilled. The diamonds either side of the mounting holes are foreshortened just as they usually are.
In every respect except the lack of place of manufacture and the turned Ford logo, they are just as you would expect.
I will get the body number for you for your records.
Allan form down under.
Allan,
Thank you, any additional information would be greatly appreciated. I wonder if the 1914 you will be looking at has a Canadian produced body? If so they will often have an "F" for what I believe is Fisher's Canadian body plant. Or perhaps it might have a body assembled in Australia such as the ones David Chantrell has posted before and is reposted below:
The photo clearly shows the 1914 Ford style bodies and documents that they were assembled in Australian by Duncan & Fraser. Dave pointed out there are no visible differences from the Ford supplied bodies other than the round, bulbous shaped Duncan & Fraser Ltd. cast hinges. His research on the photo indicates it was taken during Jun 1915 so the "Since Feb" on the sign would be since Feb 1915. I suspect those bodes were similar to the 1926-27 style Australian Ford open bodies. For those Ford of Canada supplied the panels but the bodies were assembled in Australia using the local wood and a labor. [Side note, the Australian 1926-27 “New Fords” still used a wooden skeleton/frame and the body panels were tacked onto the wood frame. Unlike the USA and Canadian open cars that were essentially all metal with the wood used for tacking the upholstery to. Fro additional information about that please see: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/68831.html?1225239602 ]
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Cool. Quite the conversation starter. Pics?
: ^ )
Hap, the body number does indeed begin with an F, in smaller script than the 5 digit body number. It is a Canadian body, complete with many Robertson screws.
Keith, I am not yet into photo posting without help.
You will just have to imagine a running board with the script up side down!
Allan from down under.
It sounds like the running boards were end swapped before they had the holes stamped into them, probably a whole pallet were delivered to the worker wrong and rather than waste time turning them, he just ran them through.
Gustaf, I don't think so. If the holes were simply drilled with the running board the opposite way round as you suggest, those holes would not co-incide with the sets of truncated diamond treads either side of the usual holes.
The ONLY difference I can see is the 180 degree turn around of the Ford logo. Strange!
Allan from down under.
Interesting, I would think that he logo may have been a removable die in the stamping process then, and it was installed backward for a period of time, but that dies not really make sense either as it would have to backward in both sides if they are not reversible before they are holed.