MTFCA Forum

I’m in the process of putting new sockets and bows from John’s on my car. I have a new top also. I have done a few searches and I am not able to figure out how long the sockets with the bows are supposed to be. I think I could figure out the upright one and the front but I don’t know how long to make the back one. Is it a little bit of trial and error? Or is there a specific dimension?

Thank you in advance.

Brian

I found these on an older forum post, hopefully they are accurate.

That is great! It looks like it’s probably the right one unless somebody out there has different information. I’ve looked everywhere for that thank you.

The above drawings are for a 1923-25 one-man top which has very different geometry than 1915 two-man top.

There are "The Ford Owner's" magazine drawings which show the dimensions of the two-man tops. They have been posted a few times over the years on the forum. They will help you determine the height of the respective bows.

For example:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/11 ... 1263181825

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1232855463

I've been helping my dad put a new top on his 1917 touring and the respective touring drawing seems to be accurate so I presume the roadster drawing is also accurate.

You’re absolutely right I jumped the gun on that. It is still nice to have those drawings for the one-man top. Thank you so much for posting those drawings for the older cars. That’s the one I need.

I wish I had known about Murray Fahnestock's drawings before I installed my new top.
I might have done a better job of it.

When I was Googling to find the drawings, I also found this one where the late, great R.V. Anderson posted that the dimensions in the Ford Owner/Fahnestock drawings match those in the Ford factory drawings.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/33 ... 1372028072

Oops! The drawings I posted are indeed for a one-man top. Here is what I could find about the two man top:

December 17, 2016 posted "I used that diagram to do the top on my '14 Runabout and it worked for me and I think the top is the same for '14 and '15."
January 01, 2014 "The dimensions for the 1915-1922 roadster tops are shown in Murray Fahnestock's diagram".