MTFCA Forum

Coupe photos are always welcome here. A while back, I posted photos of a tin toy my father owned as a child. It was a centerdoor with "witty" sayings written all over it. One was: "Chickens, here's your Coupe.". Maybe that was why my first Model T was a "coupe"???
M.

And pic #6 begets the question as to how did they get the car up on the sawhorses. Then, the question WHY would they trust them?

Okay...I looked again, closer...there's some kind of "gizmo" with what looks like wheels barely into the right side of the pic, maybe
it tilted and a bunch of guys were able to lift the front end of the car up, then go around and do the opposite end. Who knows! Woulda been fun to watch tho.

The one in the dealership has a new hood, maybe a reman from Rootlieb?

Below the coupe there's a "family portrait"... I don't know what worries me more, the "bulges" in the 2 guys respective pockets ("Mr. Sneer" has a revolver in his right coat pocket, the guy behind him has a smaller one in his left jacket pocket), or the eyes on the woman holding the guy with the sneer...

I think I'll take my chances with the guys, thank you!

Number 2 that coupe looks to have broken at least the lower portion of the glass window if you look close it is across the street from the Lincoln Theater. I reversed the photo so I could read the reflection better.

You have quite an imagination, Susanne !

Defiant guy in the thirteenth picture seems to be saying, “One more crack about my curtains and I’ll deck ya”...

I have seen some opinions here of those that claim that original factory applied Model T paint back in the day, was not a real gloss, so that applying a beautiful modern mirror paint job is over-restoration, as if the Model T is not worth the expense or effort. Although the paint back then was inferior and the shine did not last very long, when it was first applied it was a mirror shine to rival the look of modern paint as can be seen in the third photo. Jim Patrick.

Jim,
Original paint is a fascinating topic and a rabbit hole too. I think closed cars got a little more attention than open as they were the expensive models, but that's just my intuition talking. I did see the Rip Van Winkle 1917 touring car at Bakersfield a few years back, and it still has original paint. Although the surviving paint was shiny, it wasn't a deep shine. It didn't look like a modern two-stage paint job or a fresh nitrocellulose lacquer paint job. It's hard to put into words, but it was kind of a shiny Bakelite front panel from a 1920s radio: shiny but flat. I bet the dealers and some owners waxed the cars too, and that would definitely have made them look great, for a while.

Then 1926-1927 Ts were painted with nitrocellulose (Pyroxylin) lacquer. One T guy has argued that late Ts and As until 1930-1931 were delivered without the paint being buffed out, and they would have looked somewhat matte by our standards. Polishing the car would have made them shinier with time. I think there was a Duco ad that said "the finish improves with age" or something to that effect. It'd be fascinating to replicate some of the old paint formulas and see how they look.