23' Touring coil box latch finish?

[jwilliams81]

Hello everyone,

I have a May 1923 Touring car with short radiator and metal firewall.
I have the coil box apart for a rebuild and I wanted to make sure the side latches really should be nickel?

The judging standards show no mention of it, and the ones that I just took off are painted black.
From the standards: "Ford design steel coil box with sloping cover with no switch. Cover was the three-piece design. painted black."

[DanTreace]

Yes, the tab fastened type latches, supplied by Corbin were nickel plated at least in '17-'24 style box with the ribbon divider between the pairs of coils.

Today that nickel is almost gone on most boxes, but if you inspect the folded tabs inside the lids, you can see remains of nickel on the exposed tabs.

At times you can find a real nice box like this one that has good remains of nickel plate on the Corbin latches.

Nickel Corbin latch.jpg (38.06 KiB) Viewed 1098 times

Close up of wood and brass contacts.jpg (48.7 KiB) Viewed 1098 times

Of course the odd duck is the '25 lid, it had the upper latch catch formed into the lid, so that was painted, but the latch on the coil box was still nickel plated.

This lid is missing the hold down strip, that is tab folded too, but guess someone wanted it!


From Bruce's CD Encyclopedia"

Metal coil boxes were painted at the factory with one coat of M-101 black japan enamel (first coat) followed by one coat of M-102 black japan enamel (second coat). The paint was oven-dried after each coat was applied. The boxes were painted by dipping them in the above paints which gave a very high-gloss finish. This dipping process explains why many original boxes have paint runs in the paint on the boxes and their covers.
The original latches on the 1913 to 1916 metal boxes were brass plated. They were attached to the boxes after the painting process. Beginning with the 1917 models, these latches were nickel-plated.

[John kuehn]

Wow! Thanks for the education update about coil box latch’s. I didn’t know about the nickel plated coil box latch’s. I guess it’s because I never saw any boxes with them still fairly intact with the nickel finish.
It must not have been a a very good finish not to last. I’ve been going to swap meets and seeing the coil boxes in various condition since the 1960’s but never saw a good nickel plated latch.
Bruce did a great job on the Model T details and this was a good one.

Have any coil boxes survived with the latches still decent after all these years? Probably not very many.
Thanks again for the enlightenment!

[jwilliams81]

Dan,
Thank you so much! I am at work and couldn't access the encyclopedia. That really helps.

Next question to the group, after the box is sand blasted and painted... what is a good way to bend over the latch tabs?

Yes, the tab fastened type latches, supplied by Corbin were nickel plated at least in '17-'24 style box with the ribbon divider between the pairs of coils.

Today that nickel is almost gone on most boxes, but if you inspect the folded tabs inside the lids, you can see remains of nickel on the exposed tabs.

nickle remains on latch.jpg

At times you can find a real nice box like this one that has good remains of nickel plate on the Corbin latches.

Nickel Corbin latch.jpgClose up of wood and brass contacts.jpg

Of course the odd duck is the '25 lid, it had the upper latch catch formed into the lid, so that was painted, but the latch on the coil box was still nickel plated.

25 lid.jpg
This lid is missing the hold down strip, that is tab folded too, but guess someone wanted it!


From Bruce's CD Encyclopedia"

Metal coil boxes were painted at the factory with one coat of M-101 black japan enamel (first coat) followed by one coat of M-102 black japan enamel (second coat). The paint was oven-dried after each coat was applied. The boxes were painted by dipping them in the above paints which gave a very high-gloss finish. This dipping process explains why many original boxes have paint runs in the paint on the boxes and their covers.
The original latches on the 1913 to 1916 metal boxes were brass plated. They were attached to the boxes after the painting process. Beginning with the 1917 models, these latches were nickel-plated.