Finally got the ole gal ready for the paint shop. She's showing off her new ash thru-out. On to the next project..
Great job!
just make sure and pre drill all your upholstery and top nail holes. charley
I've just spoken with Leonardo da Vinci and he says you are indeed more talented than him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doubt it Norrie, but he is defiantly better looking ! Thx
She's going to be beautiful.
Don,
Great work! Keep us posted with updates etc.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
Don looks great. Tim
Wow looks great. Tim
I have a 26 Fordor that needs the same treatment. I'm envious of your skills! Excellent work.
Eric, I see you're in Michigan also..........
Ha! I met you at the 2016 OCF. I thought the name sounded familiar.
Nice!
The owner will be one happy camper next Summer. Looking forward to the next project thread!!
Hey Don,
Would you take that a part again with step by step pictures on how they come apart and then reassemble it again with pictures so I can save them on my computer.
Thanks
Denny
(very nice work)
Well sure thing Dennis, just as soon as you get out of "detention" I will work on it.
Who exactly has put you in detention?
Well Don detention sure beats the principals office and the wooden paddle! But then of course the principals office only lasted a few minutes while detention was an hour at a time. Lets see now I've been out of school 46 years and I think I only have another 5 or 6 years of detention left!
Are you going to paint it maroon like original 1926 factory fresh Fordors? Your job makes me happy. Jim Patrick
Looks great Don, nice to be done I bet. Now you can just enjoy the great weather we are getting... Load some more pellets in the stove! Happy New Year, JD
Jim Patrick, I do believe that is the color the owner has said he wants. I won't be doing the painting on this tho. It heads south to the Chelsea area to be finished up.
JD It is nice to see it completed and have the shop cleaned up once and for all. I'm starting on the interior of the centerdoor now. Denny Newman has offered to come up and help me out. He has a "easy" way of installing the headliner. Denny does outstanding work and I really can't turn down his offer. Happy New Year to the Derocher's !
The correct upholstery material for the 1926 Fordor is grey fabric with thin maroon stripes running vertically. www.Classtiqueupholstery.com supplies the upholstery kits. Click onto the link to access the home page, then click onto catalog/pricing for a description of the available kits. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the finished car. It always makes me feel good to see such a good job being done on a Model T. Jim Patrick
Thank you Jim. The owner was here yesterday and he had a good look at it. At the risk of sounding boastful, he was thrilled. It will be another month before the body shop can take it in. I have no idea what will go on after it is gone. I'm hoping it doesn't end up back here for me to finish but I have a feeling it will. I suppose there aren't too many people out there that can figure out how to reassemble a fordor when the parts are in a pile and no written directions as to where things go. Time will tell on this car...
Is the owner a member of this forum? If not, introduce him to us. If he knows nothing of the Model T, he might be able to use the collective knowledge we can provide to any questions he might have. He should enjoy the threads over the past several months you have posted, documenting your progress on his T. Jim Patrick
Jim I believe he is a dreaded "LURKER". I've sent him the link to the thread and he comments on the photos and such. I'm sure he will respond one of these days. He is a real good guy and I enjoy his company and questions.
Don, the owner should be thrilled. Your work is wonderful.
Thanks Duey I appreciate that. He seems happy with the job. I warned him about shimming after the engine and tranny was installed. I made the doors a bit snug but they won't be popping open on him. I hope to see the car when its completed I just don't want to be the one completing it. Way too many other things going on.
Hi Dan, Thank you for your post. I am working on a 1926 four door sedan which had an interior fire which burned out maybe 35% of the wood and may have done some metal distortion but the body has no rust out. I am concerned that it may be more difficult to re-wood this car, what tricks would you use or how would you do the restoration? I can add photos if you wish. Thank you for the post it is both helpful and inspiring. Erick
Without seeing it I would say there are no tricks ... However if its just a panel or two out of shape then the wise thing would be to replace them. The wood is more a mental thing than it is a difficult thing to do. If you don't have patterns to replace a piece you can sometimes get by by using the contour of the metal. The best I can say is take it one piece at a time and don't permanently mount anything until you know its correct. I have hundreds of picture if you need visuals, just holler. I've been lucky with the 3 fordors I've done. I had patterns from one car or the other that I could work with and then fine tune when the time came. But even then nothing was permanent until it was all put together and the lines were right and the doors opened and closed the way I wanted them.
Don, your work looks great. Earlier I asked you about the window regulators. I have a 26 Fordor with bad regulators. You requested pictures, I will attempt to upload pictures. The gears in mine are bad and the windows fall down. Do you have any suggestions on how to repair these regulators? Thanks Glenn
Hi Glenn, I've used the repair kit from Lang's with success.
https://www.modeltford.com/item/50401RK.aspx
You may only need certain parts of the kit. It wasn't difficult and well worth the money.
Thanks Don, I ordered the repair kit you suggested. I have a set of gears on backorder from Lang's. Maybe with some luck I can get the windows to stop falling down while driving.
I have no doubt you will fix em... If all else fails get out the duct tape.
Don, I hope you will document the headliner installation on the Centerdoor that you are working on next. I have one and will be tackling that job in the future and would love to have some guidance.
I have learned from the best on tackling the Centerdoor headliner. Denny Newman has just completed a '21 and he was very kind to give me a call. I took the drive to visit his shop and see the magnificent work of a D'Elegance quality restoration. Here are some pictures of his Centerdoor he just recently completed. When the time comes feel free to contact me and I will walk you thru the easiest way to do it. You will amaze yourself with the results.
a few more....
Denny and I have a great new friendship going on and he is knowledgeable in every aspect of the Model T. The '19 Coupe I bought from him was his 123rd Model T he has owned. He has begun to focus on doing the engine and transmission work and has actually passed a customer for restoration on to me. Yes, I'm sorry but I am bragging a bit... Here are some Buick's he's worked on last fall.
Now here is my Centerdoor ('22) that I'm just about done doing the interior. Val, the headliner is done last on these cars which is opposite of the other closed cars. You can actually put everything else before the headliner. I won't go into details here but contact me and I will walk you thru it.
Don that would be great. I am glad to hear that the headliner is the last step as I was hoping to be able to do it without disturbing the rest of the interior since it is original and, except for the headliner, in decent shape. The headliner has some holes in it and a bit of water staining. Fortunately, the wood is still good although I would like to replace the top as well but am wondering how to do that because of the way the rear body panel seems to overlap the top material.
Your '22 is amazing! Mine is unrestored and I bought it to keep it that way but after seeing your car I am not so sure anymore!
If you decide to replace the top you will need to carefully lift the rear panel overlap in order to get under it. I would be surprised if the wood around the back was usable. Ford had a aluminum trim that covered that seam and they tended to part ways with the car while speeding down the road. If the trim is still on your car then the wood must be in pretty good condition.
Don, great work. I am proud of your accomplishments. Also happy that you and Dennis are linking up --two craftsmen still having fun. Joe
Thanks again Don. The trim is all there so I am hoping the wood is good back there. I think the car has always been garaged and was a very low milage car. Someone over the years was diligent about keeping the top sealed as it has many, many coats of top dressing that was applied over the years.
Joe, thanks for the good words. We have fun, that's for sure.
Val, you be very, very lucky !!
What is lucky is having a forum like this as a resource. I belong to a number of other clubs and find little or no help there. The support that this Forum provides is what makes the hobby!