Finally joined! Been watching for a year or so, and made the mistaqke of telling my brother in law this spring that I may like a T someday. Took him about a week to find one in Chickasha for me. Love it! Get a lot of thumbs up and waves. Do have another question and I hate to keep bothering my Arkansas bother in law. What's the best way to wash your Tudor Sedan and not have water run down between the glass and body? I'm I missing a weather strip? Thanks Gary

Gary,
Congratulations on your beautiful car.
I too just bought a T. A 1924 Coupe.
This pass weekend I washed mine for the first time. I was careful not to blast the water when I was above or near the windows either. When I was done I just opened the doors and let the air and sun along with a towel dried off any leaks or runs. Hope that helps.

Wonderful Tudor !! Enjoy

Gary, glad you found a nice car. If you think washing a Tudor is hard to not get water in it you should try washing a Touring.

Gary, first, welcome to the hobby, or "affliction" as we often call it. I've only had my T's for 5 years now, still consider myself a newbie! As for washing, one way is to LIGHTLY dribble water with the hose open-ended, I sometimes do that. Most the time I just use clean clear soap-less water from a bucket with a MICROFIBRE cloth. That would be best around the windows. Only use microfibre! They won't scratch the paint. I use one to clean, then another to give it a so-called rinse, then I dry with a chamois that is designated for the Model T's only. I use a different one for my modern cars. Then I either polish with Wizards Shine Master or go over the car with Wizards Mist 'n Shine detailer. Works great.

Thanks for the info. I was hoping I was just missing a weatherstrip. So no hard rain storms either?

Welcome Gary. Great looking car. I was also a newbie a few years ago. The people on the forum are fantastic. You will have loads of fun with that T.

Welcome to the Forum, Bro -- The T looks good on you. It's good to see you here. As you can tell, there's no turning back now!

For the rest of you guys, I never thought Gary would be happy with a T, and I never suggested that he get one. He has been a Mustang guy for most of his adult life, having restored a few of those. I didn't think he'd like a T because they don't go fast, so I didn't mention it. What a surprise when he told me he'd like to have a T! He said that now that he's OLD he's ready to slow down a bit.

His mistake was mentioning that just before Chickasha last March. Kevin Prus had this one for sale there, so I chatted with him for a while and called Gary, and the rest is history.

Kevin said he had rebuilt the engine and rear end, so I knew it should be good to go. I located Ruckstell kit parts on ebay, which Gary bought and they are in my shop waiting for him to bring me his car or the rear end from it. We'll address the disturbutor problem later.

Gary is in western Michigan, so any of you guys who are close by should give him a holler and get together for some tire kicking and Model T driving. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

(Message edited by coupelet on August 17, 2017)

"LIKE"

Thanks again everyone! Tim your idea sounds like my kind of cleaning! I don't think I like the idea of water going inside the doors and body!
And THANKS to Mike and Kevin for finding me a great Sedan so I can drive it on cooler Michigan days

Gary -- Tim is the only guy I know who is more anal than you are. I knew you'd like his car wash procedure.

Nice car, Gary! We are in Grayling, and drive our Fordor often. I get over your way a few times a year, and have had our '26 T wagon out on the dunes

Ed, that's a nice looking Fordor in your profile. I bet that was a trip on the dunes with your T. Do any hill climbing? 🤔 Let me know when you're headed this way. Hope to have replaced my weathered check tires by then. Afraid to wander to far because of the condition the tires are in. From what I've heard about changing tires I'm not looking forward to it! Mike-it's nice to know the forum is ok with anal people joining. I'm sure Tim and I aren't the only ones out there!

Gary, I am not really familiar with the 26-27 T wood wheels, but I have the spit rim jack for them, if you need it. We didn't do any hill climbing in the T.

Thanks Ed! Kevin included a rim jack in the deal, but I should of negotiated him installing new tires for me!

Nice car! Bear in mind that it was probably driven in the rain for 25-30 years. Just hose the thing down, Chamois it off, and leave it in the sun with the doors open. I replaced all five tires and one rim with nothing more then a rubber mallet and two large scrwedrivers. Why the rim replacement? Because somebody got carried away with the rim jack.

You're s'pose to wash 'em?

OK, I did try once but it was ruining my dirt dauber nests.

Gary, that's a nice looking car. I also have a 27 Tudor. Got her running in the spring, and it's been a joy to drive.

Forgive my ignorance, but is your car a 12V conversion? I don't see a coil box, but there is some electrical work in the engine I'm not used to seeing.

I'm not criticizing, just curious.

It's been converted to run off a disturbutor. Old wives think that's "more reliable" than the Model T ignition. Either one will work. I have vehicles that use a disturbutor, and that's fine. I have Model T's that use the Ford ignition, and that's fine too. Some poetic folks assert that the four buzzing coils are the heart and soul of the Model T. Others think that's a heap of poo. I think they're charming.

Along with Eido's and Steve's post:
The 18 Runabout in my care has the original setup and it IS charming (just like Steve says), it works very good and it's a great conversation piece for the few that can grasp it!

The 24 Runabout here has a dizzy and works great.
After 15 years, I had to replace the points and condenser...
Gary, it IS fun going slow sometimes isn't it?
Fun thread!

How is the original way the T was designed relegated to some great conversation piece about using a distributor?

Clarification for John (I'll try) if it was directed at me: For the few that can comprehend the fact that each cylinder has it's own coil. It's an old idea and a new idea with some of today's engines.
The dizzy is all-together another subject.
How on Earth did I muck it up?
I set the 2 "systems" apart.
The 18 is as planned by Henry and his "team".
The 24 has a distributor add-on as I couldn't find the correct parts when I put it together 20 years ago.
Forgive me, correct me when wrong but please do not chastise me for using a distributor on ONE of my model T's.
Gary, please forgive my rant. I sure don't mind that your Tudor has a dizzy, they work great.
What did I do wrong? Sorry John.

Regardless, I love my 27 Tudor. Gary, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I do. I often tell people a Model T is the perfect cure for a bad mood. You simply cannot be down when you sit in that car and complete strangers wave to you, kids ask to hear the horn, and flocks of people come up to you with questions. I can't wipe the smile off my face when I'm with my T. It's awesome.

Eldo, Steve is correct. I bought the T like you see it. It's a 6 volt system that's has a ( I believe) Texas T distributor. As a Mustang guy slowing down ( speed wise) the understanding of a distributor I know. The coils are an unknown to me, like Mike Walker said ( and I think John feels also) he and I will address the distributor later. John I really like the name of your town you live in, must be some of my ancestors lived there : ) Duey thanks for your input of information to Eldo, in understand. I just love driving my T as we all should. Power to the T : < )

I would not refuse to purchase a T solely because it had a distributor, but a T with a good-working Factory magneto would be more valuable to me all other factors being equal. A small thing perhaps, but I's also rather hold a real paper book then read a Kindle or tablet.