has anyone found the remains of a Model T "Autoport"?

[Luxford]

What in earth is an "Autoport I can hear everyone say. an autoport is a six wheel automobile usually a Ford built by adding a second chassis frame hinged to the rear of a Model T chassis in reverse so the front axle can be attached to the front steering making it an easily controllable vehicle which made for a comfortable ride for passengers especially in the rear seats. Having six wheels the load was spread over the wheels evening out the bumps in the road.
These became popular in the mid teens when Jitney's were being subjected to laws trying to limit or kill their effect on the business of the trolley cars they were competing against. Having greater seating capacity with little extra load on the motor and suspension the Jitney now could make more money per trip. Florida was one area where they were popular but they were in cities all over the States.

I have recently found a patent for this system taken out in the USA and Canada in 1918 by an Australian but there was never one taken out by its inventors in America as far as can be determined. These vehicles were featured in articles in the Vintage Ford in 1970 and 1999 but discussions on the forum and elsewhere since have either been completely wrong or only just on the money. The best answer to their design was by Wayne Sheldon in a post of a photo of a Florida Autoport in November 29th 2021 of one in Largo Florida
I am writing an article on their history and it occurred to me that someone may have found the remains of one of these vehicles in the past, is there anyone who has or maybe found parts on a chassis which they may now realize was from an an Autoport?
As adding photo's on here seems to sometimes be a problem I will post some which may be mixed up in an order but will show you what the Autoport is.
Fingers crossed!!

[A Whiteman]

Here is one I think in the Netherlands:

[Luxford]

Yes Adrian, That is a TT truck based bus which was the subject of the 1970 Vintage Ford article. The design was a copy of the Autoport beefed up for use in cities in Holland in the 1920's after the Autoport had run its course in the USA.
The article is a good read, I liked the story how an opposition company started up using non starter TT truck chassis for their buses. They used to park right up behind the buses of the first bus company to prevent passengers getting in the rear entry.
The drivers in the front buses reversed into the rear bus bending the crank handle with the rear step. They then moved forward so passengers could get into their bus but when the other bus went to start without a starter motor and with a bent crank handle they were unable to use their bus.

[tmodeldriver]

Hi, Peter. The pic of the jitney of the Dunedin-Clearwater-Largo line difference in seating arrangement (one less seat) and apparent use of front fenders at the rear suggests it may have been a homebuilt machine. Or perhaps just a different year.

As the rig hinged up and down over uneven places in the road I wonder what this did to the roof.

[TRDxB2]

Not sure if these are the same undercarriage

bus 8.jpg (18.01 KiB) Viewed 2537 times

[TRDxB2]

Link to discussion with these pictures http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/82 ... 1530478668
Looks like its a complete front axle tie rod, pit arm etc u-bolted to springs - The frame ?

[Henry K. Lee]

I had the rear axle with all the fixtures but have given it away to a friend to build an era correct trailer.

Hank

[Luxford]

Henry was the axle you had the same as the one Frank shows?
That rear chassis is from an Arnold Motor Company from Paterson NJ Autoport who produced their own version.
The one showing the touring car with rear trailer Is the Australian version. The guy at the front is Pat O'Keefe who took out the patent.

Robert, the roof and body move independently from the chassis, if you look at the bodies they are one piece from front to back.
Seating is different some were able to carry up to 20 people, The Florida Autoports all appear to have the same body maker but have different year features. Probably means they used second hand Fords. The tourist bus in Florida has 1912 features but as they did not exist till 1915 has to be second hand.
Lots of guesses under photo's from year being wrong to "two chassis welded together"

It appears that several versions existed, some have a wire rope and pulley steering set up, the chassis shown has a series of levers and shafts for the steering.

[Henry K. Lee]

Mine was solid square, with no I beam.

Hank

[tmodeldriver]

Thanks for clearing that up. Good luck with your article. I look forward to reading it.

[Luxford]

Robert, if you are a MTFCA member you will be able to read it when I submit it to the Vintage Ford editor "if she agrees to publish it".
I'm going to wait a few days first in case someone comes forward who has the remains of one or can provide anything more to add to their history.

I see you are from Florida, if and when you are at any of the Florida Museums there, maybe you can enquire if they have any more photo's or information we haven't seen yet, though that appears to not be the case!!

Only two of the ones I contacted, the "Heritage Village in Largo FL " ( thanks to member George Mills who arranged for the museum to supply a High Res photo to me of the one with Largo written on it under the colored postcard TRDxB2 posted above) and "The Dunedin Museum" who also had a different photo taken when the postcard was photographed were able to help. Those two museums now have an article on the Florida "Autoports" I gave them in reply to them supplying photo's.