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How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:35 am
by Dan Hatch
Here is how Ford sent parts to Dealers back in 1925. I say that because these came out of a small town in Tenn Dealer that quit selling Fords in 25. This is how they were found in the parts bin.
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You can see they appear to be coated in a wax.
Here is after washing in thinner.
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Look like still new. Maybe Ford knew what they were doing. Dan

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:55 am
by Pep C Strebeck
More than likely Cosmoline.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:47 am
by Original Smith
There should be a Ford script along the oiler.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:54 am
by TonyB
No nut or split pin??

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:02 am
by Dan Hatch
Like this Larry?
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Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:13 am
by katy
TonyB wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:54 am
No nut or split pin??
They had separate part #s and cost extra.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:08 pm
by Dan Hatch
Nuts and pins were different parts. You are correct. Henry did not bundle anything. Dan

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:33 pm
by Dropacent
Great post, Dan. I had a large amount at one time and it varied in appearance like yours to very heavy, thick and almost unrecognizable. Depending on storage conditions, it can even turn black. I always considered it black gold, and wish i had it all back. I’ve got enough squirreled away for my needs. Also, wish I had a picture of the wood bucket filled with NOS cams.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:49 pm
by speedytinc
I ran into a pile of axle shafts many years back. I thought the had been thru a fire at first, they looked to be painted flat black. Could see grind marks on race areas & script in key ways. I concluded they were N.O.S. & treated with a black oxide or parkerizing by ford.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:53 pm
by John kuehn
That’s neat to find Fords parts as they were sent and in the parts racks and bins.
It would be even better to see what a T actually looked like after it hit the sales lot fresh from the factory.
I have a feeling a lot of us who like working on and restoring Model T’s would be in for a surprise for sure to see them as they really were.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:21 pm
by George Mills
Cosmolene of days of old was remarkable stuff!

One cosmo story makes me belly laugh every time I hear the world cosmolene...

A long time ago I got dropped in the middle of the jungle on a MACV-SOG assignment along with two Conex Boxes (shipping containers filled to the hilt). I was met by a group of Viets that had been farmers the week before. They were to learn how to use 'tools' that were in the Conex Boxes and do special projects for a government contractor called Air America and their Silver Hueys.

I had been use to using hammers made by Acme Tool works with heads that chipped nd fiberglas handles that didn't last a day when you'd sink a 16 penny nail with three whacks max. Generators built by "Bill and Joes Generator Co to govt contract. You get the picture, our 'tools' in Vietnam were all made by the lowest bidder, usually someones cousin, and usually still cost the gov't 10 times what they were worth.

So...whoever at MACV decided to have a Viet unit as para-engineers for Air America projects had simply requisitioned two Conex boxes of 'stuff'. Whoever the supply officer was figured out it was for the Vietnamese and in true form decided to send the oldest date items he had from the back of the warehouse. The net result is every item had last seen the light of day somewhere in the final weeks of the Korean War! Someone had dipped everything in Cosmolene back in 52-53 and here near 20 years later someone drew them from main supply!

So now what? I was the only American with no other help. Set about with the cadre, 'how many buckets and pails can you guys gather....good...fill them with Diesel Fuel and find some rags...start unloading the Sea Containers, dip/soak/rub until all the goo is gone! Let them all dry in the Sun and then give everything a quick wipe with motor oil! Looked like a high end hardware store when we were set up!

The point of the story and my belly laugh? As the goo turned to liquid...the hammers were made by Stanley and had hickory handles...the field saw mill was actually a DeWalt...the generator was an Onan...everything that in 1969-1970 would have been brand names at the top of their field! Meanwhile, American GI were suffering under the 60's buy plan...low bid counts first and foremost, if it lasts a day then the task was probably complete.

In fairness, buying junque also had advantages in true American fashion. When I was between MACV assignments, folks there didn't think it was fair for me to have hang around days (although I was running a sidebar experience called-customize your hooch while you're gone for the guys at the MACV compounds) and I'd have to do an assignment back in the real world of Vietnam...For April of 1970 I ran the American Seabee road crew for a while that kept QL 1 North together from Chu Lai to Tam Ky. That crew was done by lunch most days....lol. Each morning each cargo truck was issued a given quantity of pry bars- all bent like pretzels, 5 sledges, 2 mauls, a certain quantity of 3x12 and two full cases of 8" spikes. Mount out. The sledges of the new miracle material would all have broken handles by lunch along with at least 1 maul. SOP was to come in for lunch, declare tool failure, one guy from each truck would volunteer to rehandle the sledges and mauls while the rest went to the Chu Lai beach or one of the enlisted clubs that never closed. Whole new meaning to what did you do in the war Daddy? (grin). I don't think the Vietnamese with their super high end gear ever had such issues.

Yes, my guess is the conex boxes saw salt water several times, had 20 years of humidity and temperature changes, without seeing daylight, and that cosmolene just suspended things in time and a little diesel fuel made in brandy new...amazing stuff.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:38 pm
by Randy SR
In the mid 80's the Air Force allowed us to upgrade our special ops helicopter by replacing our tail mounted mini-guns with M-2 .50 cal machine guns. They came in cosmoline, which our gun plumbers grumbled about, but when cleaned off the guns were brand new, never been fired. The serial numbers started with the year of manufacture, 45. The guns had been in storage since the end of WW-II, but 40 years later, they were still like new. Cosmoline was amazing stuff.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:44 pm
by J1MGOLDEN
I have a NOS Ford Crankshaft that came in a wooden box and appears to be coated with a blue green wax.

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:06 am
by A Whiteman
Still available - $39,95 for 1 qt can !!

Re: How Ford sent parts

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:04 pm
by RustyFords
During my days as a K-9 handler at Clark Air Base in the 1980's, a group of civil engineers was bulldozing a site for a new building when they unearthed a Japanese cave. Being a bomb-dog handler, I was called out to help clear the cave.

We found a room with an intact/closed door and inside were many nifty items, among which were two rifles wrapped in a heavy paper and something like cosmoline. I stopped by the base museum a few weeks later after they had cleaned them, and they were like new.