MTFCA Forum

Hello...I know the manufacturing date of the engine in my car because it is cast into the side of the block, but I am not sure what the exact date the car was manufactured. Does anyone know a good website to look on?
My VIN is 362045.
.
It seems a lot of different things were going on at the Ford factory at that time. They were testing the idea of an assembly line, speedometers were being discontinued, processes were being changed...etc... I find conflicting dates on some of the articles I read. Where would I find the most accurate information?
.
Thank you....Bryan

October 28, 1913

Here is what has been discussed before. Assumption: you are referring to your 1914 Model T. The experts may require more information.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/59 ... 1461808340
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/270020.html
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/292831.html
Lots of "IF's"

One of the reasons I was curious about the assembly date was to determine if the car came with a speedometer and the second was to figure out if it was made by hand or on an assembly line. According to the date provided it should have a speedometer. As for how it was built, I am not sure because there are a couple of different dates given for the start of assembly line production. Maybe it was one of those built on a test assembly line where the cars had a rope tied to them and it was pulled along by hand. Anyone have an answer?

As old owners of the T's die off, the history or their particular T dies with them. The new owners want to know a bit about the provenance of their new acquisition. And all that can be given is, the build date if the motor? Granted the Henry Ford Can provide information up to the late teens. After that records are destroyed, and no new data base established. So if you have a 1920 Fordor good luck on getting any information from the company.

Those that have a British vehicle know about the records available from The British Motor Museum.

Oh well.

https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/ar ... rtificates

bdtutton wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:08 pm

Hello...I know the manufacturing date of the engine in my car because it is cast into the side of the block, but I am not sure what the exact date the car was manufactured. Does anyone know a good website to look on?
My VIN is 362045.
.
It seems a lot of different things were going on at the Ford factory at that time. They were testing the idea of an assembly line, speedometers were being discontinued, processes were being changed...etc... I find conflicting dates on some of the articles I read. Where would I find the most accurate information?
.
Thank you....Bryan

First the engine serial number was not cast into the block but stamped, the date the block was cast was cast into the block.
Since there is always the possibility of a rebuilt/replaced engine, you should see if the engine block casting date is in agreement with the engine serial number. As stated earlier, expected to be withing days.
Decided to do some math - no one needs to agree.. Looking at the range of engines built by month, it would appear that the average production was about 17,000 a month, this would imply that they had to turn over 4,250 week (storage space limitation). It is reasonable to assume that engines built in late October and the first 2 weeks of November 1913 were used to build Model T's prior to the first generation of the new assembly line going into went production on December 1, 1913. Given the date of your engine (and assumptions) it would reasonable to believe that it was used to built a T in the first week of November 1913.