Here are a couple of pictures of my great grandparents and their car. Can anyone identify the car? It looks like grandpa made a few changes to the car. I could be wrong but it almost looks like the roof is an add on that sits on the car. This was before my grandma was born so she does not remember it.

Must be a Chevy, since Great-grandpa is having to push it.

mod t ford custom. charley

Lol, you have a point. I didn't think of that.

Found On Road Dead
Looks to me to be a Model T with aftermarket body, just which make body?

Nathan,

The first photo you posted has the most clues. Clearly a Model T Ford front axle, front fender, etc. There is an very good chance if you scan the original photo at 600 dpi you will be able to read "Ford" on the running board. You should also be able to tell if the wishbone is above or below the front axle which would possibly help date the chassis (assuming it was not changed out). The last photo you posted looks like the wishbone is below the front axle -- if that was original to the chassis it could have been a mid-1919 to 1925 chassis. But if it was below the front axle then a 1917-early 1919 chassis (assuming the fenders were also original to the chassis).

The first photo also contains some questions. Such as clearly the spare tire is mounted to a rim. But when I look at the wheels on the side of the car I can see, I do not see the bolts that would hold a demountable rim to the wheel. Not sure how those two clues go together.

The body and steering wheel appear to be accessory after market items. As Layden shared -- I also wonder which body maker? And are the disc wheels only covers on the original wood spoked wheels or were the wood spokes replaced with actual disc wheels.

If you can e-mail a higher resolution copy to me, I will gladly look closer at it to see if there are any additional clues I can see. If you click on my name, it brings up my profile and my e-mail address is the third line down. Please limit any single e-mail to 10mb or less. Also please put Model T or something similar in the subject line and it will be read much sooner. You could also scan them at the higher resolution, crop them so they are smaller -- i.e. showing just the wheel, just the front axle area, etc. and post them so we can zoom in on them better.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

Model T Ford custom, and Great Grandpa has to push it!

The first photo shows wood wheels. The other two show steel discs. Could have been changed? The rear fender contour and fit is different. Maybe the fender was damaged? The tail lamp is in a different location. The color appears different but that could just be the shadow it is sitting in (hard to tell with black and white).
Could it be two different cars? Or one car separated by a couple years? The body and top is quite unusual. That would suggest it is one car.
Recently, there was a thread discussing the maker of a similar styled open runabout/speedster body. (My skills at locating past threads is lousy at least, maybe someone else can find it and provide a link?) The conclusion of that thread was that there were at least a half dozen different builders and/or suppliers of similar style open bodies. Some of them likely would have had a top available, removable or fixed.
It is a really interesting aftermarket bodied model T. I like it.
Thank you for sharing the pictures!
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Do the hood louvers give any clue? 'Paint line' doesn't help either..

Thanks for all of the replies. To tell you the truth I did not think it was a Ford. I figured that if anyone knew I would likely find them here. Great grandpa died before I was born so I never got to know him. But I know he was a tinkerer. He loved mechanical things and woodworking. So it is no surprise that he would have a modified car. Lets just hope that the pushing photo was a joke.

Nathan,

I've tried zooming in and changing contrast with the hopes of narrowing down the date range etc. So far I am not having much success.

I will post a few zoomed in areas and ask for some "eagle eyes" of the forum to let us know what they see or don't see.

Below is the hood area -- which has 10 small louvers rather than the standard 6 larger ones the Model T hood had. Note to me it appears the hood is mated to a radiator shell that is more of a rounded or curved shape than a standard T radiator shell. It also appears to have a single hook hood clamp similar to the Model A Fords rather than a circle with a hook on each side.



I've posted 3 photos of the wheels that are disc looking. I'm trying to figure out if they are dics installed over the wood spoke wheels or actual disc wheels.




(above has the shadow of the photographer on the rear wheel)



Below is the photo with the wood wheels. Note it appears to have the same hood radiator and body.



So far I have not been able to clearly see the lugs or bolts for a demountable rim. Might just be my eyes. Might be the black paint and the way the light is? Might be they are square fellow non-demountables but then why would they have a spare tire and rim?



I'll try to post more later this week.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off