MTFCA Forum

Rich Bingham

What about acetylene ? OK ??

Rich Bingham

The last dialog balloon speaks to the heart of why the Model T was so universally relied on, regardless the rapid advances in automotive development !

Rich Bingham

From FB, an individual posted this picture of a serial plate found by metal-detecting and wanted to know if it was from a Model T. Can anyone shed some light on this ?

An interesting find !

Rich Bingham

Thanks for an informative reply, Scott ! Much appreciated !!

Rich Bingham

Finally !! Some sensible and informed posts to this thread. Thanks fellows !!

(anyone seen any unicorns lately ?)

Rich Bingham

FWIW, I recently acquired an original 1914 steering column complete with steering wheel. It appears to have been removed from a car and laid by for a long time. It’s a “1914” column because of the bolt pattern of the column-to-dash flange, but I have been given to understand that may be a late ‘13-‘...

Rich Bingham

The muddy runabout in the next photo - I’m intrigued by the door pocket with flap - accessory ?

Rich Bingham

Kurt, I may be wrong about this, but I think the configuration of the New Day is such that it “forgives” the timing cover being less than perfectly centered over the camshaft. At least that was my experience 63 years ago, when, as a dumb kid I found I couldn’t keep the factory roller timer operating...

Rich Bingham

Gene French makes them.

Rich Bingham

San Francisco, no date. I don’t get the connection between paper boxes and aeroplanes, but it sure is cute !

Rich Bingham

“Love2Ts” has a very good point regarding our personal information, and security issues. Folks who have been burned by hackers are understandably gun-shy of being so easily exposed to crooks (world-wide) who seek to use technology to commit crimes. The easy transparency of this forum is likely the “...

Rich Bingham

Cap and Lizzie, outstanding in their field. Lizzie is a handy “mule” to pack us around moving the sprinkler pipe and pulling up electric fence stakes so we can harrow the pasture. My faithful work companions !

Rich Bingham

Forum member “Love2T’s” has been periodically making custom orders to a carbon brush mfgr. In Wisconsin to provide both the round and square replacement brushes for TW owners. He sent an order recently. Tony apparently took the wherefore of producing the timer rotors and bodies with him when he pass...

Rich Bingham

It’s been my experience that very few reproduction exhaust pipes are made to the original profile. Mating the flange to the manifold is often difficult or impossible, and I believe stress and / or gaps at that joint are the main cause of the nut backing off, if both manifold and pack nit are sound. ...

Rich Bingham

“Out Our Way” - J.R. Williams c. 1930

Rich Bingham

Compare - it’s a ‘13, and I “flopped” the image as I couldnt get a shot from the driver’s side, but the angle is close, and the pan and support arm are clearly visible . . .

Rich Bingham

Take a closer look. The oil pan appears to be mounted to the bottom of the frame. Or, just setting the floor behind the car? Sharp eyes, Scott, that needs a critical look. I’m pretty sure what’s mounted to the bottom of the frame is the splash-pan. I need to take a critical look at my T from the sa...

Rich Bingham

This one has me baffled ! How did they pull the engine, leaving the pan in the frame, and clear the flywheel with the dash in place ??

Rich Bingham

Cook's re-run oil . . . I used it in cars that burned or leaked oil with no problems. I, too, have had cars that had no problem burning and leaking oil !! :lol: Cook’s sounds like “Eagle” brand recycled oil, 30wt only, used it in my first T back in nineteen-ought-62. Four bits a quart. I miss it !!

Rich Bingham

It's a boon for Heinrich that he can enjoy sunbeams as well as the consolation of his beloved Sciler grand piano. Not many folks know Heinrich composed the overture that appears on the fly-leaf of that first edition of the Adventures of Kalamity Dick. Etude in C flat Neutral is a treat for the ears....

Rich Bingham

Thanks Rich !

Rich Bingham

A load of wool, Australia 1910. The truck - Franklin ? Renault ? Something else ?

Rich Bingham

It was not all beer and skittles back in those thrilling days of yesteryear. Take for example the extreme displeasure of Saddlestring's Mayor Humber Coddle, his wife Molly and their coachmen. Set to attend an important meeting of Tri-burg notables, the Coddles' plans went awry when they discovered S...

Rich Bingham

On a school field trip to the Chugwater farrowing pens, little Lulubelle Suggs inadvertently discovered that sheep shears could function as a heliocentric photon interruptor, or HPI. Not long after this technological breakthrough, KD was able to store sections of sunbeams like cordwood by sealing th...

Rich Bingham

Or Buckley Q. Williams, who was foreman at the welching plant until the vein of pure hyphens in the alphabet mine played out. Unable to adapt the plant's machinery to turn lower case "L" ninety degrees, Williams retired to a hog farm near Chugwater. Making a habit of taking an afternoon nap in the f...

Rich Bingham

To regress slightly, here's a photo of Audrey Quidenfalker and the barrel of unadulterated Belch Creek water she kept in her parlor "for old time's sake" as she said.

Rich Bingham

What a beautiful, impressive car. Thanks for those photos, Rich ! Looking at images of later Pierces, it seems the integral headlights were available as late as '29. The conventional headlight was always an option apparently, giving rise to the "New York law" myth.

Rich Bingham

Escalation League president, Aloysius Cornbuckle (previous photo) was a phenomenal swimmer, credited with saving sixteen drowning victims single-handed. Having lost his left hand in a fish-dynamiting excursion, he required the help of three other League members to perform the rescues. Wearing his pa...

Rich Bingham

That's just WRONG on so many levels.

Rich Bingham

Pierce was the ultimate luxury auto in its day. That made it something of a target in comedies. Who can forget Harold Lloyd racing one in his pet Model T, or Buster Keaton (the blacksmith) demolishing one as he attempts to swap engines in a Model T ?

Rich Bingham

Thumbing his nose at "big oil". The building in the background is a gas station !

Rich Bingham

As if on cue, when the "big touring" thread drifted into thoughts on Pierce-Arrow, I found this. In New York City, even. I'm sure the mama cat appreciated the protection of the law !

Rich Bingham

Much of Audrey's lament was founded in the misdeeds of the Absquatulation League, a group of ne'er-do-wells who had been rejected by the Spaydaford Gang for not being mean enough. At one point, they drained Belch Creek entirely, putting the stream's contents into barrels. (see photo) Their nefarious...

Rich Bingham

Did the guy actually say "RAW" linseed oil? . . . Frankly, raw linseed oil would be preferable as it's unlikely a surfeit of it would remain, making a film incompatible with finish coatings. Boiled oil in excess will wrinkle upon drying, providing an excessively "fat" underlayment which will cause ...

Rich Bingham

The Quidenfalker disappearance deeply affected Cuthbert, as he himself often felt ill at ease, with a half flask of Happy Sally as he neared Frisbee's Bend, on his way home after closing up Ernie's. He went so far as to employ an expert in the paranormal, whom he referred to as his "Psyche-kick". Th...

Rich Bingham

Rich, it's always immensely satisfying to see your solutions !

Rich Bingham

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, neither smoke nor mirrors seemed to work for Cuthbert and his ranch hands. When spring rains washed out the bridge over Belch Creek, the boys figured on using differential levitation to get the commissary wagon up to summer range. Cuthbert totally misunderstood the prin...

Rich Bingham

I doubt anything would stop that truck so long as it had traction !
Massive logs that team skidded down to load, then drew them onto the truck. They are not heavy drafters either !

Rich Bingham

Another Packard.

Rich Bingham

Lookout Pass, no date. 1913 or 1914 T ?
Those front tires look awfully skimpy, even for 30x3" !!

Rich Bingham

Winter ! Fun for some, not for all.

Rich Bingham

1913. A year to remember.

Rich Bingham

Curiously, after the podium fell, Ambrose, another member of Uncle Lumby's Floating Menagerie took to the skies. Upon studying the phenomenon, KD developed his theory of differential levitation.

Rich Bingham

Herb, what a great find !! That appears to be the original Still #1, established in the Ozark Hills by Sally Philpott c. 1857. Her product was originally known locally as "Unhappy Sally" owing to her suspicious nature, and inordinate possessiveness of her recipe and methods. Not without good reason,...

Rich Bingham

Alois Somzeheimer, KD's fifth cousin (thrice removed - he kept coming back) and a researcher at the Brattlesborough Institute for the Casually Insane wrote many books on the salutory effects of memory loss. One of his theories made a connection between vanadium fumes and moss cultivation. I had a co...

Rich Bingham

Very little is known about KD's vestibule venture south of the border. Under the direction of Venustiano Mariano "El Cholo" Ixtapango, bilingual vestibules became the norm in most of the western hemisphere. Himself a veteran of "El Incidente del Nuez Moscada", El Cholo was impeccably honest to a fau...

Rich Bingham

"Car guys" tend to forget that carriages and wagons were painted (with brushes) for many long decades before the first "infernal gas buggy" sputtered to life. Resulting finishes were flawless, to meet the demands of customers who were equally proud of their horse-drawn conveyances as any latter-day ...

Rich Bingham

One notes that "Big Shoe" sponsored the Ed Sullivan Show in that era.

Rich Bingham

Photo is dated 1917. No worry that another passing car will raise dust over this happy scene.

Rich Bingham

Cuthbert allowed the movie company to use his south pasture on the promise they would eradicate the cheapgrass and purple spurgeon that annoyed his sheep. The film's producer figured most viewers wouldn't know it wasn't quackgrass and yellow toad flax anyway. The livliest action shots were filmed wh...

Rich Bingham

Tonto Larkvonnet, inventor of the elliptical bow, was known in the Basin as "Indiana Larkvonnet". Far from having an aversion to snakes, he was able to charm almost all species of serpents, and was an early proponent of "milking" rattlesnakes. There was little interest in daily deliveries, but rattl...

Rich Bingham

How about this ? No information with the photo, looks like foreign military.

Rich Bingham

Heinrich is having trouble with the new computerized search system. He asked for "snakes / KD / Indiana Jones" and got this image, tagged "skunks / ID / Irmintrude Jarvis". We'll try again tomorrow after the telephone company removes the squirrel nest from the winternet cable. No loss, Irmintrude an...

Rich Bingham

Thanks for the kind words, Herb. Your support and continued interest is what keeps the Institute and our tireless research staff striving to uncover and record new material, and maintain the high standards of scholarship set forth by our predecessors. Back to the subject of clocks and such, Bartholo...

Rich Bingham

Maybe not, Herb. A clean spring is where you want to drink. Cuthbert always made it a point to drink upstream from the herd, no matter who they were. He applied this principle when attending festivities at Ernie's Saloon as well. This attention to detail kept him, and KD too, healthy through the out...

Rich Bingham

Kalamity Dick dabbled with all sorts of minor engineering problems when he took a fancy. One such was to put springs in the instep of his boots. Coincidentally, clock springs gave the best results. Fancy worked upstairs in Ernie's Saloon, but there's no connection. KD was always roamin' around the b...

Rich Bingham

Tree farkling encountered an uphill battle in the early days. The Calhoun County Society of Upright Arborists labored long and hard to grow slender, tall trees entirely devoid of the sinuous curving branches that make tree farkling both challenging and pleasurable for participants and spectators ali...

Rich Bingham

The Soda Pop Kid's real name was Dustbin Halflinger. His sobriquet was in jeopardy as hanging around with Sanford Kettle, he developed an enthusiastic liking for Happy Sally. Overindulgence may have contributed to his unfortunate slip into the muck. His marmot wasted away, partly from grief, partly ...

Rich Bingham

". . . nobody don't make no fun of a friend of Kid Shelleen's." How very true that was. Kid Shelleen was very well liked everywhere he went, and respected as well. The fact that he was lightening-quick with a six-gun, a deadly accurate marksman and had killed 37 men, one for each of his 21 years, w...

Rich Bingham

Palomino? Not a palomino, a grey. The rider in relaxed pose is none other than Kid Shelleen !! Oh, how we could go on about the wild adventures "The Kid", Kalamity Dick and "Mad Dog" Maddox lived in those early days when Slug Spadaford and his gang of cutthroats were terrorizing the Basin . . . Inte...

Rich Bingham

Many who held terminal degrees in the sciences as well as prominent professional engineers outside the Tri-burgs dismissed or entirely overlooked KD's massive achievements as a polymath. Perhaps it was owing to regional bias, or the fact that he so often found inspiration in a remote environment and...

Rich Bingham

I especially enjoy the "minimalist" pix. Thanks for posting that, Bryant !

Rich Bingham

John, thank you for that link that tells the whole story !! Lewiston Grade was the "inspiration" ! (kinda too bad he moved the scene to California

)

Rich Bingham

Perhaps it's more fun to speculate and build our own stories around these old photos ? The truth is that this was the only good photo of a T in a collection that showed the flat dirt oval at the Nez Perce County Fairgrounds. Notes stated meets for "Model T Races" were held there fairly regularly bef...

Rich Bingham

Snowplow McDaniels was often mistaken for Kalamity Dick at a distance, as he also affected a top hat. That occurred most often on trails leading to Ernie's Saloon. Snowplow was a firm believer in ". . . takin' a wee dram o' nectar to ward off th' cold." as he liked to say. Most folks said he didn't ...

Rich Bingham

1939, Lewiston, Idaho. Model T races were popular.

Rich Bingham

I think they look better now than when I first painted them. Back then, there was a product available specifically for painting whitewalls on black tires. It was some form of rubber compound, and its solvent base definitely bonded with the tire, as the tire rubber was soluble in it. The first coat w...

Rich Bingham

This should count as a "slowster"

Sheep camp impedimenta on a TT from "down under",I believe. Has a replacement Peerless radiator.

Rich Bingham

It's a curious fact that many gulls and terns would settle on the moss fields. Judkins developed his steering technique by leaning into them. This made for rather erratic paths through the moss. The gulls objected to this sort of treatment but the terns stood it.

Rich Bingham

Pat, truly it's a national disgrace how government in Washington has marginalized mice. I understand a senate sub-committee was formed in 1948 to look into this, but without any significant results for the rodent community. I sincerely hope contributors to this forum can supply photographs of sleens...

Rich Bingham

John kuehn wrote: ↑
Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:15 am
I just wonder how really efficient it was . . . ?

In many ways, the better conversions would have been about equal to a 9N. Keep in mind the most productive ground could provide a living for a family on 40 acres, and horses were the power source even into the 1950s.

Rich Bingham

That reminds me, I'm so ancient I remember signs on paved roads stating "Lug Wheels Prohibited" although by then, practically all equipment ran on pneumatic rubber tires. By the way, "speed" is relative. Those who have never operated farm equipment may not comprehend just how incredibly fast things ...

Rich Bingham

>Sigh< Yup. They (or pieces therefrom) used to be everywhere. By the time we throw-back kids began scouring the sagebrush, whole derelict cars were seldom if ever seen, but not infrequently we'd find a complete body and sheet-metal on a chassis. Artillery wheels were still sound in that era (early 1...

Rich Bingham

Funkbunkler Street was made known to children all over the globe from the charming, and popular children's book titled, "I Thunk I Seen it on Funkbunkler Street" by Dr. Sucio. Alas, "Dr. Sucio" was the nom de plume of Tremonton Goozler, who has recently fallen into disrepute with right-thinking folk...

Rich Bingham

Long, windy thought: The 1939 "California World's Fair" car with its mis-matched headlights, visored rim on the driver's side, wears the lovable expression of a faithful old dog or horse. Writers of children's books in the 40s and 50s were generous with anthropomorphic representations of such benign...

Rich Bingham

Moss, Cambric &Moss were clever merchandisers. Their catalogue covers always featured well-known figures modeling their creations. Thing is, the celebrities were inferred as the models were simply chosen for their similarity to real persons of note. The catalogue department often hired Cwym Jones, a...

Rich Bingham

. . . A past owner who had the Coupe reupholstered went to the trouble to have faux leather applied under the seats . . . Alas, so often "fixing things too good" results in unintended consequences! :lol: A cautionary tale that vindicates the "purist" approach. Plenty of things can go wrong with a T...

Rich Bingham

Excellent follow-up on Engineer Larkvonnet and the murple surple express. Thanks, Rich ! Heinrich just sent new information via paper airplane regarding products made by Moss, Cambric & Moss. It seems repeated applications of murple surple to the sides of the locomotive tender set up to a leather-li...

Rich Bingham

Heinrich has decided to forgo Christmas festivities and continue with his research at the Institute. Topmost on his list this week is to verify just what sort of product Moss, Cambric & Moss was producing with illegal child labor. As you can see from the photo, searching through the Institute's arch...

Rich Bingham

Practically no T project is a profitable proposition, whether "purist" authentic, a "parts salad" DIY, or a speedster. I think it's safe to say the entire gamut of Ts exist pretty much to gratify the desires and vision of their owners. Let whatever you find affordable, available and fun as your noti...

Rich Bingham

Bartholomew recently found an article in Hair & Organs (Vol. 5 No. 13) on Egbert Goleman's development of the under-water steam engine. A trunk line from the alphabet mines to the moss beds was laid out along Galoppus Creek, where it submerged for fifteen miles. A great advantage, as Galoppus Creek ...

Rich Bingham

Willard's older sister Aspidistra Clambroth was used to murple surple overflows. Likely the mother-lode that Willard unleashed had been leaking for years into Humptulips Creek, just north of Cuthbert's ranch. A true lady, and fastidious beyond belief about her dress and personal hygiene, she trained...

Rich Bingham

John Boorinakis in Auburn, California makes sockets.

I don't know how confidential he likes to keep his contact information, message me and I can give you a phone number.

Rich Bingham

Pat, I'm sure you're right about that. Funny how entertainment runs in cycles, repeating similar themes after the originals have faded from the popular collective memory. One such was an itinerant singer/songwriter who called himself Roger Goriller, who wrote and sang several songs that became very ...

Rich Bingham

I looked at the face again and that part looks like a woman, however, she is not shaped like a woman and in those days most women didn't wear pants! Either sex one slip would not be very comfortable and the hood would probably be bent. Norm Pretty sure that's a slim little gal, dressing up for the ...

Rich Bingham

License plate is Montana, 1928.

Rich Bingham

TWrenn wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 20, 2021 12:28 pm
Rich...guessing '19 or '20?

Wishbone under the axle, that's what I thought too. Maybe as late as '21 ?

Rich Bingham

Re-inventing the wheel, look to the methods used for flat standing tops back in the day. As noted, the profile should have some camber in both directions. Usually, light "chicken wire" was underlaid to support the fabric between bows. Next, a thin padding like a quilt batting is laid down before str...

Rich Bingham

No wonder I never found one worth saving in my rust hunting days !

Plate is Montana, 1928, can you pin down the year of the T ?

Rich Bingham

I applied to the Institute for more details on airborne primates, flying pigs and nocturnal phenomena in the North Slope area during certain phases of the moon, but Heinrich was less than forthcoming. He informed me neither he nor the rest of the research staff had ". . . bothered to monkey around w...

Rich Bingham

The moon has always had a curious effect on people and animals. Take the curious case of Hyrum Ladbluster, who showed up one spring at Cuthbert's ranch looking for work. The poor kid was so down and out, Cuthbert, ever soft-hearted, couldn't turn him away, though he didn't know straight up about a c...

Rich Bingham

Definitely ! If you deem it's worth having for the price asked. There may have been more touring-to-pickup conversions "in the day" than roadsters with pickup boxes, or factory pickups, so you're in good company. Think it over before modifying the original panels, touring vestiges are nothing to be ...

Rich Bingham

Odd you should mention that, Herb. Bartholomew just came up from the Institute's basement with a document showing that the Ruffians, who had operated as a secret society in the Tri-burg Basin for many years, registered a corporate charter with the State of Wyoming in November of 1901. Even more puzz...

Rich Bingham

Fire Commissioner Spizzickz also had a daughter, Marsha. With flaming red hair and a fiery temperament, school mates called her "The Fire Marsha", but not to her face. It was no surprise when she quit the Chugwater Normal School to run off with Excelsior McTinder, a fireman on the Chugwater & East S...

Rich Bingham

Rich Eagle wrote: ↑
Thu Dec 16, 2021 3:57 pm
Ignition switch sticks!

Rich Bingham

Looks all brand-new. Is this a "Mercury" ?
Mighty spiffy !!!

Rich Bingham

Leland Codswollop, DVM wrote several articles for the Hair &Organs series. His extensive study of the mushroom gas emanations revealed that not all of the mushroom products produced the hazardous miasma which could not only floor a full-grown healthy horse, but also adversely affected motor traffic....

Rich Bingham

Institute bulletin: In response to a query in the main discussion boards, Heinrich is currently researching the wherefore of grass barns that were prevalent on farms in the Basin at one time. Interviews with descendants of the first Littopig family to settle in Chugwater differ from opinions of old-...

Rich Bingham

There's a good chance that wreck (definitely not a Ford) sat right there in that fence row until it completely rotted/rusted away. Perhaps enough remained for an enterprising "old car nut" to salvage and restore . . . ? I'd like to think so. For those readers who don't follow "The Adventures of Kala...

Rich Bingham

Your comment aside is well taken, Pat. Although only one photograph on display includes Cuthbert's image, a few visitors to the Institute have remarked on Ken Curtis's passing resemblance to Cuthbert "Mad Dog" Maddox. In fairness, Cuthbert had mastered mule whispering decades before Mr. Curtis wore ...

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