An International excercise in trust and patience

[Aussie16]

In mid 2018 I was very excited to be on an outback Australian adventure with my son and the T. Unfortunately we had a low speed rollover accident in some deep loose dirt. I assumed that my car would be assessed as a write off by the insurance company so with that in mind I began the search for another car to buy. Brass radiator T's are hard to find in Australia so I started to scan the internet for a car. As luck would have it I spotted some pictures of what looked like a pretty complete 1915 Touring for sale at the Longbeach Swap Meet. The pictures were part of a swap meet report that someone posted on the forum. My problem was I could only see the for sale price but no contact details. My next step was to contact the swap organisers and they were able to put me in touch with the vendor.I was so lucky the swap meet organiser did indeed know the vendor and was able to supply me with his contact details. The vendor agreed to store the car for me until I had the funds to purchase and I also had to engage a shipping agent to move the car from Los Angeles to Australia. There is where it gets interesting! I had to pay the seller,pay the shipping company and trust the vendor that the car would be delivered by him in person to the shipping company. I was extremely pleased when the shipping agent sent the pictures of the car in thier safe keeping ready to be put in the shipping container. The trust part was now over but then I had to wait patiently for its arrival. Sadly for me the car was stuck in customs and quarantine here in Australia longer than it was in transit from the USA to Australia. I am very happy with my purchase and have spent my Summer holidays getting it ready for touring. A bit more work on the steering to go and putting a new top on and it will be good to go. I have also procured enough parts to restore the wreck back to its former self, so eventually I will have both a Canadian and USA 1915/16 Fords. This whole exercise would not have been possible without the help of some great USA Model T people who were very honest and trusting all the way through the process. Model T people are great!

[George House]

What a sweet testimonial to our developed fellowships and common denominator - our beloved Model T s. Thanks for sharing !

[Steve Jelf]

It looks like the Canadian car is wearing an aluminium bonnet without louvres. Did it come from Canada that way, or is that an Australian feature? USA Fords got louvers in 1915. When did they appear in Oz?

[Norman Kling]

You have both 15-16 Canadian and 15-16 American tourings! A friend of mine has a 15 Canadian which needs new top irons. Do you know whether the tops are identical on these two cars? We are looking for a set which will fit. The top now has home made irons and bows and is permantly in the upright position and we want to restore the top so it can be lowered or raised.
Thank you for any information.
Norm

[ChrisB]

So now you have an extra car for the next time we come for a visit!

[RustyFords]

That's neat to have them together, to see the differences in real time.

[Allan]

Norman, when I restored my 1915 tourer way back in 1992, most of the hood sockets were rusted way too far for recovery. I ordered a complete set from John Boorinakis in CA and they fitted perfectly. The forgings at the end of the tubes were identical to the remains I had, so my impression is they are the same.
One major difference visually is the Canadian's use of Robertson screws with the square socket heads rather than the slotted heads on US production cars.

Allan from down under.

[John Warren]

Warwick, Hope you and your son are OK, The t can be repaired. The new one looks to drive on the wrong side mate!

[Norman Kling]

Thank you.
Norm

[Manuel]

Hi
I heard Customs are clamping down on asbestos in cars. Did they find any in your car?

Manuel in Oz