New Model T owner-just got it yesterday

[BMonoModelTFord]

Hi everyone, New Model T owner and very excited. I have my serial number and matching body number from frame. I am confused the number when I looked it up said Oct 1926 but my title says 1927. How do I figure this out?

Also, I am mechanical but not a mechanic, any suggestions on what simple books to purchase to (1) go over Model T and make sure its road worthy (2) Maintenance instructions (3) diagrams, I really need diagrams to associate what I see on the car and engine compartment to know what I am looking at

Help,,,,,,,,

[Humblej]

Get the model t service manual from langs old car parts, or snyders antique auto, or similar parts suppliers.

[Duey_C]

I might as well be the one to do this: We like pictures.
If you wish for a digital copy of the service manual, you can also go to this nice site. http://cimorelli.com/mtdl/servicemanual/default.htm
If you wish for a digital owners manual. http://cimorelli.com/mtdl/1927/default.htm
But the real paper manual can come with to the shop and you can get the pages dirty!
Welcome to the affliction!

[fliverfan]

Hi everyone, New Model T owner and very excited. I have my serial number and matching body number from frame. I am confused the number when I looked it up said Oct 1926 but my title says 1927. How do I figure this out?

It possibly was sold and originally titled in '27. Back then not all states concerned themselves with correct manufacturer's model years or even issued titles. Also, a many title errors can happen depending on how many previous owners and states were involved.

[Scott_Conger]

Welcome to the affliction!

Once you get your "Model T Bible", typically PN "T1" at any supplier, READ IT.

Then be SURE to ask for help before you:

1. remove the starter
2. attach the wire from the top of the transmission to any place other than where it is attached right now
3. disconnect the wire from the generator
4. tighten the starter cable

otherwise have fun!

[Ruxstel24]

Welcome aboard, Bill !!
All sound advice above. Take your time, ask away and have fun.

October 26 would have been titled a 27.
I believe August is the cutoff...

[BMonoModelTFord]

hi Humbleij, duey, fliver, scott

Thanks, all great pieces of information, greatly appreciated.

As you stated Scott "welcome to the affliction" Im really starting to feel it, and am enjoying it

Thanks for the advice

[Rich Bingham]

As we like to say here, "Welcome to the affliction, Bill ! " If I weren't so 'puter challenged, I'd post a link to Steve Jelf's "Dauntless Geezer" website, which is excellent information for every Model T owner. I bet he posts with a big welcome and the links soon. Great to have another T owner to chat with !

[Oldav8tor]

Newbie here too....got mine last August and have spent the time since tearing into it and inspecting and repairing everything that moves. It's quite a learning process. My advice, read everything you can find on the subject!

This forum is a good source of information but get in the habit of using the search function before asking questions.... The forum was updated this year so sometimes posing your questions in google will bring up info in both the old and new forum.

I didn't get any maintenance history with my car so I had to start from scratch. Hope you have more to work with.

Welcome aboard!
Tim

[Andy Loso]

Bill,

Welcome to disease! The others have great suggestions. I am president of the T Totalers of Minnesota. If you have a heated garage and room to host about 40 people, our club needs a work meeting location for the second Saturday in April. We could come in and help you out. You just have to provide a lunch for everyone. Feel free to contact me via a pm on this website or at aloso@q.com.

[Norman Kling]

The 1926 and 1927 Model T's were almost identical. There were just a few parts different and even at that most were interchangeable. In the day, the year models as we refer to them today were not as well defined as they are today. Some plants continued with the parts on stock until they used them and then made the change. So if you got a car assembled in one plant it might be different from one assembled the same day at another plant. Also, some states dated the cars by the date "first sold" rather than a particular year model, so if a car hadn't been sold by the end of the year, it would be dated as the next year's model. Do not worry about it. In fact, you are one of a few who actually have matching numbers on the engine and on the frame!
Have fun with your car. That's the most important thing about the hobby. Some like working on the car and others like driving their car, and still others like to show their car. And most people who see your car won't even know what year it is anyway. I have had people ask if my car is a 1946? I guess they don't even know that cars were made in the 1920's!!!!
Norm

[Steve Jelf]

...when I looked it up said Oct 1926 but my title says 1927. How do I figure this out?

I'm always a bit exasperated when folks go into convoluted meanderings about "early 1923" Fords being very different from "late 1923" Fords, etc. etc. These folks fail to understand that model years usually don't exactly match calendar years. In the case of your car, the 1927 model year begins with August 1926, so your title is correct. It's really a simple concept. http://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG90.html As Norm says, the two years are identical in most respects, with a few details being different.

Welcome, Bill. I won't overwhelm you with a flood of information. Pay attention to Scott's good advice, and here are a couple of links to get you started.

http://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG80.html

http://dauntlessgeezer.com/DG79.html

[Jeff5015]

Hello Bill,

I'm sort of new also. I got my '16 last December. I've been around model T's my whole life though. My father was a charter member of the model T Ford Club which started in 1952 and became MFTCI sometime in the early 60's.

I never owned one until I inherited my dad's car last year. It is a privilege to be the caretaker of a machine that has contributed so much to the transportation world.

I think you will find a great group of guys here who really care about sustaining and advancing 'the affliction.'

From one newbie to another, welcome.
Jeff Schroeder, Pensacola FL

[Erik Johnson]

Bill:

If the Pioneer Minnesota license plates on your car are below number 2159, I can tell you to whom the plates were originally registered.

Erik in Minneapolis

[John kuehn]

I wouldn’t worry about your title. Lots of Model T’s have titles that don’t exactly match the model year. Maybe because of changed engines, the bodies looking closely like the earlier or next year, cars that were built in the earlier year but not sold until the next and the list goes on.
Don’t go to the DMV and tell them you need to get your title corrected! Don’t volunteer a lot of information. If you do they will ask and want you to verify twice as many questions as you asked.
If you have a clear Title your good to go.

[Erik Johnson]

A lot of unnecessary confusion regarding a simple question that has a very simple answer.

It was already answered by Steve Jelf.

A Ford passenger car manufactured in October 1926 is a 1927 Model T Ford. 1927 is the model year. The title is correct.

[Burger in Spokane]

This is going slightly aside, but being a history guy as much as an old car guy, I
find this relevant and interesting .....

I have not been around Model T's long enough to have learned how they were
marketed in the day. But I DO know from other period makes that the modern
concept of yearly designated models really did not exist for most carmakers at
the time, and that the various agencies that issued/enforced licensing, assigning
a "year" to a car for licensing purposes, was an entirely unrelated subject.

As an example, there is no such thing as a 1924 Packard. Packard built their cars
by series designation. A series might run the course of several fiscal years. Where
such a car might get a "year" designation is from the fiscal year in which it was first
licensed. So, let's say (I am making these numbers up) we have a Packard with an
early straight eight, we can look it up and see the straight eight was debuted in 1924,
but that series car was built until 1928 and called a " ____________ " The only real yearly
designation might come from the license that was applied when the car sold, or if
one wishes to carefully research how and when running changes were made on a given
series, or use production numbers to find a build date, then an actual date can be
ascertained. But for most carmakers back then, yearly models like we see today just
wasn't the paradigm from which they operated. And this did not stop in the 20's for
some ....

I have an International truck. It is an A-120 designation. International built this
truck in 1957 and 1958. Mine happens to be licensed as a 1958, even though it was
built in late 1956, because it took a while to sell, and by the time it was finally
purchased and licensed, the year was 1958. For 1959 and 1960, International kept
the model numbers the same, but designated the series "B" instead of "A". Had
my truck been the next generation, it would have been called a "B-120".

[Steve Jelf]

The first Model T Fords were made and sold in the fall of 1908. Ford called them 1909 models. Throughout Model T production, major changes were usually introduced in summer (most often August) or fall. Whether you call them model years or fiscal years, they walk like a duck and quack like a duck.

[RustyFords]

Welcome Bill.

I'm two years into the Model T disease and see no cure in sight for me...not that I'm seeking one.

[BMonoModelTFord]

Bill:

If the Pioneer Minnesota license plates on your car are below number 2159, I can tell you to whom the plates were originally registered.

Erik in Minneapolis

Hi Erik the plates on my care are Wisconsin 17-400.

[BMonoModelTFord]

Hi Andy L----No heated garage, and 40 people would be shoulder to shoulder next to the boat. Would love to host if it was warmer weather to meet and understand more,,,,,

Thanks everyone for your input, it was all great new understanding for me

[jeffstag]

To make sure a car is roadworthy with no glaring safety issues, I run through the International club's tour safety guidelines. It's a good general checklist for any car that's going to be spending time on the road. I'll post the link below, but if that doesn't work, it's on the website for the MTFCI.

https://nebula.wsimg.com/9482e524e4c791 ... oworigin=1

[Erik Johnson]

Bill:

I have information only on Minnesota Pioneer license plates 1 through 2159.

I have no Wisconsin info so, unfortunately, I can't give you any insight to the history of your car.

[Steve Jelf]

The safety checklists of the two clubs are virtually identical.

http://www.mtfca.com/clubpages/2018%20M ... elease.pdf