Body numbers for Hap Tucker

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2009: Body numbers for Hap Tucker
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By brian c lawrence on Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 11:55 am:

Hap, here are numbers off my 27 Fordor


Brian


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By brian c lawrence on Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 12:13 pm:

sorry my pic did not go through. Hap, I sent you a private email.

Brian & Nate


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By "Hap" (Harold) Tucker on Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 01:41 pm:

Brian and Nate,

Thank you so much for e-mailing the photo of the HP A 11636 number from your 1927 Fordor. I think the size as well as the type of file may have prevented you from posting it to the forum. I opened it using power point so I could save it as a JPEG format. That made it small enough and is one of the formats that will post to the forum.

I posted it and the information about the car at the thread we have going – Model T Ford Branch Assembly Plant numbers and markings located at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/111490.html?1256366963 Please add any additional comments or corrections there so it will be easier to find later.

Again thank you for your help and for raising up the next generation of Model T drivers.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 19l5 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and l907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Rossi on Saturday, November 07, 2009 - 10:32 pm:

I have found a brass tag on the firewall, right side, with the following " MVIN 63379 IND " This appears to be a vin number...Am I wrong? I am trying to determine when my '25 roadster was builtm, as my parents were married on OCT 31, 1925...THEY ARE PASSED NOW, But I am amazed at the condition of my T after all these years...I was born n'27 just after Lindy landed in Paris....THANKS FOR ANY INFO YOU MAY BE ABLE TO PASS ON....JACK ROSSI


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By "Hap" (Harold) Tucker on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 12:15 am:

Jack,

I believe that tag was put on the car sometime after the VIN came into being. Originally all the Model Ts were identified by the engine serial number. In some cases that same number was put on a tag on the dash of the car (up until sometime in 1911) and then the serial number was stamped onto the frame rail starting during the 1926 model year.

If you look above the water inlet on the driver’s side of a USA Model T it normally will have a serial number there from late 1912 to 1927.



The one above is from a 1912 and is used by permission from Bruce McCalley’s “Model T Ford” pg 132. You can compare that number to the engine serial number listing at: http://mtfca.com/encyclo/sernos.htm which is broken down by months. There is also a listing by day if you want to get down to that level of detail – but there are some other factors that make the month and year good enough for most uses. Note if the engine and transmission was assembled at the Highland Park or later River Rouge plants outside of Detroit – the day the serial number is stamped is very accurate. If the number was sent to one of several Branch Assembly Plants then the date is the day it was sent to the plant and not the day it was stamped onto an engine and transmission that was assembled at the plant.

They also used casting dates – but by 1925 on the USA engines I don’t think they were still using those. Also note that often times the engines were swapped out as in the 1930s-1950 it was often less expensive to purchase a good used engine than to pay to have the old one rebuilt.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker l915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and l907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Rossi on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 08:47 pm:

HAP, YOU WERE RIGHT. I JUST CHECKED AND THE NUMBER IS, 13847574, CAN I GET ANY MANUFACTURING INFO FROM THAT....I'M A GM MAN RETIRED 27 YEARS, SO I AM NOT IN TOUCH WITH VIN ANYMORE...THANK YOU VERY MUCH....JACK


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Neil Sommers-Cain on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 10:16 pm:

My 1926 RHD car, engine No C638*** has A 830 or A 820 stamped on the firewall, engine side, near the radiator support rod. Letter sizes correspond to those mentioned in the other thread.
Neil.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By "Hap" (Harold) Tucker on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 10:40 pm:

Jack,

That engine serial number is shown for Jun 15, 1926 as the assembly date. (That will be a little later if it was assembled at a branch assembly plant.) And that is the date for the engine assembly the car would have been a little later (a few hours to a couple of days depending on where it was produced and if the River Rouge was producing the engines and shipping them to the Highland Park plant. But easily in Jun 1926. No -- you cannot find out much else from the engine serial number. But that hopefully help you some. Yes, a Model T with that engine number could have easily been purchased and used by your parents for their Oct wedding. Do you have some photos of them at the wedding with the car?

For Neil -- thank you so much -- and it looks like this is your first posting. Thanks so much for helping us run this down.

For all -- hang in there -- Bruce is working to get the spammers gone and "this to shall pass."

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker l915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and l907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Rossi on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 11:26 pm:

HAP

THAT IS GREAT NEWS AND IT MEANS I DON'T HAVE A 1925 BUT A 1926...I DON'T HAVE THE TITLE YET, IT'S IN THE MAIL, SO I GUESS IT WILL SAY WHAT I WILL CALL IT...MY PARENTS WERE MARRIED IN 1925 SO THE CAR WAS BUILT EARLIER...I WAS BORN JUNE 2, 1927 SO IT'S OLDER THAN ME....I AM THINKING ABOUT MAKING IT A PICK-UP IF I CAN FIND A GOOD BOX. THANKS AGAIN, HAP....I USE UPPER CASE AS MY EYES AND FINGERS ARE NOT QUITE UP TO THE 65 WORDS A MINUTE I USED TO TYPE....JACK


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Neil Sommers-Cain on Monday, November 09, 2009 - 12:02 am:

By the way, my 1926 is in Australia and has been for at least 31 years. Given the 'A' body number, Canadian block and RHD, probably has been all its life.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Monday, November 09, 2009 - 09:34 am:

Just sent you pix of a '21 Roadster body number, Hap. It's not my car; I just showed the owner how to drive it two years ago, and haven't heard from him since.

Here's a sample:

.bod number

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By "Hap" (Harold) Tucker on Monday, November 09, 2009 - 10:35 am:

For Jack,

1. Your engine serial number of Jun 15, 1925 falls just short of the introduction of the 1926 model year cars. I would think you will find that you have the 1925 style body, frame, etc. rather than the 1926 style body, frame, etc. that was officially introduced in Aug 1925. Take a look at the photo section at: http://mtfca.com/gallery/year/1925.htm and compare the 1925 to the 1926 roadsters. That should help clarify which way your car currently is. Note, it was common to swap engines out back in the day so it is fairly common to have a different year engine in a different year chassis/body combination. And of course just about any Model T part will fit more than one year. The 1926-27 fenders are harder to find/more expensive and so you will sometimes see the 1917-1925 style fenders and running boards on a 1926-27 car. If you have any questions after looking at the 1925 vs 1926 cars, just post and/or send some photos it will be easy for us to tell which body style your car has.

2. You can increase the size of the print by placing your cursor in and clicking it inside the window you are viewing. Then press down and continue to hold down the “ctrl key” (lower left side of most key boards) and while still holding down the “ctrl key” rotate the wheel on your mouse. Rotated one direction the text gets larger the other way it gets smaller.

3. Recommend you check out the links at: http://mtfca.com/clubpages/chapters.htm and http://mtfca.com/MTclubs.htm to find the nearest local Model T chapter. You will meet a lot of great new friends and save yourself a lot of effort. They can help you learn to drive and help you check out your car to make sure it is safe/ready to crank up and drive. One of my Dad’s cars would crank and drive – but it was a death trap as the front end needed to be rebuilt. That was not a problem for us – it was parked. So just because it runs doesn’t mean it is safe to drive etc.

4. Bruce McCalley’s book “Model T Ford – The Car That Changed The World” is excellent. But it is also out of print – so it gets a little pricy depending on who has one for sale. You might ask the family you are purchasing the car from if they have any Model T related books that they would like to let you purchase so you can do research on the car. Bruce’s hard copy book is NOT a “how to fix it” type manual but rather a “How was it originally equipped” documentation along with lots of other details. You can see the text portion at: http://mtfca.com/encyclo/intro.htm . Bruce does not post a lot of pictures there because they take up lots of space. The pictures and the text are both included on his “Comprehensive Model T Encyclopedia” along with other information that Bruce has added or updated since the book was originally published. That is available at: http://mtfca.com/encyclo/mccalley.htm . Just the book part is covered Model T Encyclopedia – but the other parts are very helpful also. For example the “Comprehensive” version also includes a digital version of “Ford Service” which is a very much “how to fix your starter equipped Model T Ford.”

5. For information about removing the car from mothballs/storage see: : http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/8538.html and scroll down to Tom Mullin’s posting the third posting from the top.

6. The T is very similar to more modern cars except in a few areas. Before you start driving it in other than an empty area be sure to check out: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/13483.html it describes some of those “gotchas” that more modern cars don’t have. I.e. with the standard Model T brakes if anything happens to your driveline (key way breaks, rear axle thrust washer babbit crumbles, u-joint breaks, etc) your standard service brake on the transmission no longer will stop the car). Again having someone from the local T club there in Charlotte help you look over things can be a great help. Note: the Sep – Oct 2007 Horseless Carriage Gazette page 50 there is the picture of a wife with a cast on her arm standing next to a nice 1915 Model T Ford. The car had been running a little rough. The husband was doing a little trouble shooting and had asked his wife to turn the engine over so he could figure out what was causing the problem. They probably wouldn’t be allowed to sell a modern car with that sort of track record. But if you have someone crank it over for you with the hand crank – always be sure the spark is properly retarded, the timer is not shorting out (i.e. is clean) [that is what caused the backfire/contributed to the poor running and need for the trouble shooting], and that the person pulls up on the crank, doesn’t wrap their thumb around the handle, and doesn’t push down on the crank etc. You don’t want to be that husband…..

7. For information on how to drive it see http://www.mtfca.com/books/bookmenu.htm and scroll down and click on the 1921 instruction manual at: http://www.mtfca.com/books/21manual.htm they share more than you may need at first -- but it was given to new Ford owners -- along with a how to drive from the dealer. A quick 10 minute check out with someone will save you lots of time.

See also:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/8538.html

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/6815.html

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/6/1662.html

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/15776.html

+++++++

For Neil,

Thank you for the additional information. Folks with Australian, New Zealand, etc. assembled & manufactured cars may want to add that information to their profiles. You car is much more than a Canadian -- the Geelong (sp) plant was up and running.

+++++

For Ralph (RDR)

Thank you so much for sending the photos. It looks like “22” on the end – but I need to do some checking first. If you ever have an easy chance to obtain the engine number and/or the date the engine records say the engine was built – that would be nice. Although we usually never know for sure that the engine was not changed – but I wonder if it was a 1922 or not?

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Respectfully submitted (while on break),

Hap Tucker l915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and l907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Hjortnaes, Menomomonee Falls,WI on Monday, November 09, 2009 - 11:49 am:

Dear Jack:
If you have problems reading smaller print, I would recommend Bruce's $50 DVD. You can enlarge the print and the photos to make everything easier to see and read. Definitely worth the money. The Model T Ford Service manual is included on the disc.

It has definitely cleared up a few things for me.


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