In between all the Christmas related activities. I got the NOS rear body panel installed on the 56. The grandsons had to help. The boy busied himself removing the wheels, and teaching his little brother how to add air and check the tire pressure. I'm doing the body work on the car so there isn't a lot they can do, especially the little one. After a barrage of "What can I do, What can I do" from the little one, I told him he can take the engine out. He said he needed a tool, I handed him a screwdriver and he was happy, but told me "the engine was to big for him to lift up".












The Ford Farm, prior to 1937

Neat photos especially the one with the Fordson. I talked with a guy about buying his Fordson. he said to get back with him in the spring as he has a couple of Model T bodies put away in a building that he was also willing to discuss parting ways with. Can't wait for spring to get here. The cold weather and snow is a drag. - Matt

Great pics! In the second one, you'll notice the two subway entrances.......there are two of those in Goldfield, Nevada just sitting behind a building. No one seems to know how they got to the middle of the desert, so they just sit there waiting for Goldfield to install a subway system.......

Matt, if the Fordson deal doesn't work out, I have a few of them and might sell one.
George, glad you like the photos. In the one photo they are actually public restrooms in Syracuse NY. I remember them when I was very young.

Public restrooms ? With all those windows they would be a little too public for my tastes.

Dick, the restrooms were below street level. They covered the entrance stairs down to them.

You're a good grandpa. :-)
Great pics and does the barn still stand?

Find the Choo-choo in the above photos.

There is a train sene above the ladie’s room in the 2nd picture.
Check out the pointed roof on the car that looks like a Renault in the 3rd picture.

A train can be SEEN
Damn iPad spellcheck

Wonderful pictures! All of them (even the modern car).
Something I find very interesting, is the two street scenes (second and third pictures). Both of them have a late '10s '20ish Franklin sedan (first one, near the middle of the picture, second near the edge), parked nose into the curb. The first one (second picture) is a straight windshield with what looks like a visor over the front. The second Franklin (third picture) is a V-windshield sedan (a rare style they were somewhat famous for). This second one (third?) I would imagine is the car Aaron G mentions with the pointed roof. So many wonderful things to see in both these street scenes. And thank you Mark G for pointing out the "Choo-choo". In my rush earlier to look at all the cars, I missed it.
The first picture is also very interesting. That touring (maybe a '12) is looking pretty tired. Headlamp rims and lenses are missing. I also like the Fordson.
Fourth picture is most intriguing. A gathering of model T Fords? Maybe not unusual in the '20s? Certainly not unusual in the modern decades from the late-'50s onward. I tried to zoom into the photo, but the detail didn't seem clear enough for me to identify, at least with my limited knowledge of Eastern plates. On two of them, I think I can read N Y. But I can't make out the year on them. (Maybe someone that knows N Y plates can clear that up for me?) It appears to be mid to late '30s. Other details would seem to substantiate that the cars were about ten (or more) years old when the photo was taken. An early model T club, perhaps?
Great stuff!

Duey, the barn still stands. Here are some current pictures. I bought this place in 1974. Everything was worn out, and the barn was ready to fall over. I winched it back onto the foundation, jacked it up and replaced the main wall. The previous owner was going to pay a guy to burn it down so he could collect insurance and lower his taxes. Fortunately the man chickened out. The coupalo was too far gone to do anything with it.
Yes there is a train. It was a mainline through Syracuse New York until 1936 when they elevated it. The cars parked in the second Syracuse picture are parked where the Erie canal went through the city. Erie Boulevard replaced the canal, it was the main east-west route through Syracuse. A few years ago the powers to be "Idiots" decided to close it off and install a skating rink that very few use. Now you have to detour around it, fun!

Wayne, good eye. Franklin‘s were manufactured in Syracuse so they show up in many old pictures of Syracuse. The first picture also shows my barn, the picture is old but it isn’t as old as it looks, just a poor camera. The T is my 14 shortly after I bought it at Hershey in 1975. I bought the Fordson about the same time. The headlight doors and lenses look like they are missing but they weren’t and are the same ones that are on it today.

Glad you all enjoyed the pictures.

Ya, third picture, the pointed roofed car in the center of the picture is definately NOT a Renault.
It is a Franklin. I know that now. The Renaults had no grill opening, they took air in the sides and blew it through the radiator behind the engine.
There were supposedly six 1919 Franklins built with a V shaped windshield.
Could this really be that rare?

That WAS your barn! I looked several times and finally decided no... different barn. :-)
Have we seen a model T on the wood floor in your barn?
I lipped off about a sweet model T on a wooden floor some time ago.

We don't have squat for snow here in MN!
Thank you Dan!

Duey, Yes it is the same barn. Paint, missing cupola and someone installed the windows on the side, change the look of it. Also, check my first picture and you will see the end of the barn is the same as the current picture. Yes the post that you mention with the wooden barn floor is the same barn. The 20, 26, and 20 TT and some "modern" Fords are in it. I also have a line drawing that someone did from the old picture when it was taken. I’ll dig it out and post that. Hopefully later on today

Dan,

My, now wife, and I, sure enjoyed visiting your place during the MTFCI tour. Thanks for your hospitality and for sharing your wonderful cars with us! It was a great day, (and a great tour too!).

Duey, This is the line drawing that was done prior 1937 (I know this because the house didn't have electric until 1937, the photo shows no power lines to the house).

When I cleaned the barn out, I found the photograph and this drawing with a bunch of trash.

Sorry for the two piece copies of the drawing, as it was to big for my scanner.

Jerry, thanks for the compliments. Glad you enjoyed the tour. We had fun hosting it

What a charming thing to have.
It is nice to see it.
Rich

What Rich said. :-)
Thank you for taking the time to post these images! Oop! Your barn doors open! ;-) Sorry. :-)
The line drawing is just fantastic!
I note the perspective of the drawing verses the photo.
As if the person sat on top of a car with the photo and started drawing. Wow.

Gosh, that drawing nudged loose a memory, somewhere up in the house is the original painting and one of the smaller lithographs of my grandparents house. Painted from a photograph (taken around 1910) by a cousin's husband in the 70's.

Eh hem, how's that Ford coming? :-)

Duey, sometime in the early fifties the road was lowered and some of the yard was lost, so the angle of the of the photo I took is different also. The tree in the center is the same one today, not in good shape, but still produces leaves.
You should find that painting and post it.
The 56? It's coming SLOW. I only work on them in the winter. In between the Christmas and other holidays, plowing the place out ect. cuts into my work time. The other thing is I hate doing them but enjoy the results enough that it forces me out to work on it, but it dosen't take much to keep me distracted and out of the garage.

Dan, I hope it's OK to post that pic here. I've had some computer issues lately and haven't been able to post a pic if I wish.
This painting was done in '76. Great grandpa William (Bill)'s wife is talking to another lady while my grandpa John and his sisters Blanche and Jessi are hanging about with the ladies.
Too many funny stories about those people.



The house was burned down in the 70's by the local fire departments per the family's request. It had that white slate-like shingle-like siding and as the pieces heated up they POPPED! and blew off.
The next property owner did a valve job for me in the late 80's on some antique engine in that old red shed before he tore it down and built a new one.
I still like that line drawing of your place!

Duey, that's a fantastic painting. That house must have been beautiful. To bad it no longer exists. You are lucky to have a painting of it. Thanks for taking the time to post it.