I have my first T, a 1923 Coupe, and it has had the interior redone, not original, but nice. The window lift straps have been changed and only have one grommet at the end for the windows to be either full open or full closed. Also, it appears that the male stud the grommet fits over may have been changed. Mine looks more like the common sense, oval fastener but a picture from a 1919 door shows a round one. Does someone on the forum know what the strap and the fastener for the '23/'24 model would look like? How many holes or grommets should be in the strap? As a note, it appears 1923 was a transition year; mine has front hinge doors opening at the rear. I will redo the entire interior properly but that is after more pressing "T" issues are taken care of.
Thanks for any help to this very new T owner!

When Ford went to the newer body style in the closed cars with front hinged doors the question in my mind would be if window lift straps were still used.
I have a 24 Coupe and it has crank style window risers instead of straps to raise the windows.

Someone on the forum probably knows when mechanical window risers were introduced in the closed cars. Maybe in the high radiator cars?

Ronald -- Since your Coupe has front-hinged doors, it's actually a '24 model year car. Ford produced '24 cars beginning in '23, and most states titled them by calendar year back then, not the manufacturer's model year.

Ford announced refinements in the closed cars in april 1922, that included a change from window lift straps to a handle that runs vertically along the frame with the window, holding it in notches. I think the earlier strap type may have been fully up or down, nothing in between?

I can only find a picture of the strap that was used on TT closed cabs 1925-27, they had one hole in between for partially lowered window

Thanks for all the info! I have started reading the forum starting with 2015 and am only half way through 2014. It is truly a wealth if information. From what I was reading I had guessed my car was a late '23 but really a '24.

I hope someone has the "definitive" answer though it appears much is fluid as to when features were transitioned.

Dave Sosnoski is the resident expert on everything 24/25 coupes - he's writing a book about them. Google his posts and you'll learn a lot

Do you have any pictures you can post of your car?

Dave S is the resident expert. As far as I know, all '24 style coupes had mechanical roll-up windows. I know my April '24 does. There were a couple different mechanisms, most were prone to failure and they are difficult to find in decent condition (fortunately for me, my coupe's both work well, but I don't have spares). Probably yours had failed and/or were missing, so a previous owner rigged up an older "fix".
Having some reason to think about it, and having talked to several other coupe owners. If I had a coupe where they were missing or beyond repair? I would probably get some model A window riser mechanisms. They are readily available, and with some modifications can be made to work well. It DOES require moving the crank handle away from its original location. That is offensive to some purists (guess I may have to turn in my card?). Most '24/'25 coupes original handle location is near the middle of the door. It varies some depending upon which series of original mechanism it had, which in turn varied depending upon month of manufacture (don't ask me for specifics, those are Dave questions). The model A mechanism requires moving the handle close to the edge of the door (front edge is easiest to crank upon). But a couple people I have spoken to have said it works well and doesn't look bad.
Just an idea to consider.
Welcome to the world of model Ts! And coupes in particular.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Thanks again. It looks like I need to take the door panels off and see what is inside. I won't have access to the car for a couple of weeks, I still don't have it moved to my house. The Model A idea sounds very good but I think that it will have straps for a while. There are several other things that need to be done first. I may see about putting more grommets in the existing straps to make them more usable. As was mentioned earlier, my rear windows do have the handle with the notches to hold the window.

Ronald -- Coupelets from 1915-18 used straps like the ones you're talking about. They had a strip of leather sewed to the back side of the fabric strap, and the leather had holes in it to hold the window in several positions.

Ronald when I was restoring my 24 Coupe I replaced the Model A window riser I installed in the passenger side door years earlier.

I was determined to find an original window riser and finally found one that matched the other original. It was rusted and locked up but I repaired it by using the opposite side as a guide for repairing it.

There was a thread earlier that asked what parts people would like to see reproduced.
Window risers for the closed 24-25 T closed cars ought to be on that list. They are almost impossible to find in any condition. It took me 3 years to find mine.

If I'm not mistaken the riser that's in my 24 Coupe will work on either door.
Dave S. probably could answer which risers would be universal.

There was some threads and pics about the 24-25 closed car risers a few years ago in the earlier forums.

Side note; When I got my 1921 coupe it still had the original window straps. They did not have any grommets nor were there any hooks. The windows were ether closed or open all the way, nothing in between.

Here are pictures of my 24 which also had the straps, with 26-7 regulators adapted. I made new mounting boards so I could save the originals just in case I found the correct regulators.
Now I just have to figure out how to make the quarter windows work as they are glued in place. May have to bring back the straps, as I have none of the hardware or window moldings.
PS Ronald, My car is registered as a 1923 also!





(Message edited by BBrewer on February 04, 2015)

Roger,
Can you post that pic of the TT strap?