MTFCA Forum

Would a 1917 Touring have had door check straps? If one is not careful it is easy to smack the doors on either the edge of the fenders (rear) or sidelamp (front).

Yes a 17 would have check straps with the footman loops as shown. Material as I recall would be from leftover upholstery scraps.

My original 17 does not have footman loops. It has a very thick fabric strap. This is tacked behind the door cardboard and on the body it is fastened with 2 oval head screws thru a trim washer.

The June 1917 Rip Van Winkle Ford has black cotton webbing that is nailed to the wood, under the respective panels.

My unrestored May 1917 touring has remnants of the door check cotton webbing under the panels.

R.V. Anderson makes and sells the appropriate door check material. My dad put a set on his July 1917 touring.

I believe he also is the supplier for Langs:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/posting.ph ... c87352174a

PS: if you want to "dress up" your car with leather door checks, you don't need to use footman loops. Instead, you fasten the leather strap over the panels and use nickel-plated oval head screws with nickel plated finishing washers, similar to what was done with 1913 and 1914 Fords.

https://www.modeltford.com/item/3876LSN.aspx

I used genuine U.S. Navy belt material on mine. It is exactly the same as Ford used.

I didn't think of belt webbing..... Anyway, I ordered a set from RV. Anybody got photos showing the correct placement? Also, when installing them how much do you want them to hold the door off the fender / sidelight? I assume over time they'll stretch.

BTW - thanks for all the info. It helps

Dale, that's interesting. Personally I have never seen door strap footman loops on a black era open car but they are pretty much universally used on closed cars. My '14 touring doesn't use footman loops but does use the fancy cupped finishing washers to hold the straps.

This was the webbing on a rear door. I thought it might be about 1924 but don't know for sure. It was tacked and about that long.