MTFCA Forum

Can't be totally sure, however, picture numbers four, ten, eleven, and thirteen appear to be the same car. Nice a lot of spokes wire wheels, 1924 or 1925 (I believe 1924?) roadster. Shiny paint, nice radiator cap (radiator neck solder be damned! I like nice radiator caps !). The same woman is in both number ten and eleven. I "think" it is the same man in numbers four and thirteen?
Add another stock body T model Ford with wire wheels!

The first picture, I think was taken more recently because of the man wearing shorts and a T shirt. The woman is wearing short pants and the all have short sleeves. The man on right is wearing sneakers.
Norm

Picture number five intrigues me. The car appears to have wooden spoke full wheel demountable wheels. The car appears to be a late 1917 with uneven folding windshield and horn button on top of the steering column, which would fit in with some type of demountable wheels or rims as Ford was not yet offering them.
While such wheels were offered after-market in the USA, they were never a popular accessory here. One can find them more often on English early model Ts, other British Empire Ts and other cars, and sometimes in Europe. Rambler offered similar wheels on their cars in this country about 1912. However, otherwise, the idea didn't seem to take off here.
But what intrigues me isn't the wheels per se. It is the bright contrast of the whitewalls!
The "history" of "whitewall" tires gets discussed a lot on the AACA forum. The fact is that "whitewalls" were not mostly a decoration thing during the 1910s or early 1920s. They were a natural progression in the development of tire technology and manufacturing. As technology, and materials improved, making tires stronger, better, and longer lasting, the wear surfaces of the tread used tougher materials than the sidewalls got. Making the tires that way resulted in lighter shade sidewall than the tougher materials the tread was using. That method of manufacturing resulted in a "sort of" whitewall tire.
Before the mid 1920s, better quality tires were using the tougher materials on the sidewalls as well as the tread. It wasn't until the late 1920s, that tire companies and automotive stylists began touting "whitewalls" as "fashion statements".
Curiously enough, during a time in the late 1910s and very early in the 1920s, multi colored tires were marketed in part as fashion statements! Not merely "black and white", colors of reds, greens, and blues were used, sometimes along with gray, in delightfully bizarre combinations!

Era photos on this subject tend to be deceptive. Not only does the black and white film of the era not show the colors, even the contrast between the black and white of tires is often obscured by the omnipresent dirt and mud of the roads those days! Tires in era photos have a tendency to appear gray regardless of what color they were. Only careful close examination of most photos can result in the conclusion that some of the tires did in fact have whiteish sidewalls. Looking through a hundred era photos might find a dozen that really show white sidewalls on cars late enough to not have actual white tires. Rarely do whitewalls stand out as do these two tires! And the left front tire doesn't stand out the same. I can only wonder why? Why would someone clean up his tires that way? Why would they not have done the left front the same?

Thank you Tom R for another delightful bunch of photos!

Picture 17 shows a '14 Roadster with the horn apparently mounted "wrong". Wonder if it was done at Highland Park or a train depot assembly??

Picture 11, that woman is taking a chance of getting knocked off and from the angle of the picture, the photographer is right in the middle of the tracks. They could jump off if they hear or see a train, but if they trip, they will be "road kill".

Well, the last picture intrigues me. 1916 ?. Brass radiator and crowned fenders ? I’ll worry about that scene for 3-4 seconds before I fall asleep tonight.

George H, That appears to be a 1915 or 1916 T with later fenders, and four people in the front seat. I wonder if it is a runabout? or just a posed picture with everyone in the front seat of a touring car?
After-market fender sets were sold by several accessory companies including Ames and Peerless. However, these appear to be common 1917 or later Ford fenders. Actually, quite a lot of people replaced the fenders on 1915 or 1916 Fords to keep their year or two old car looking a bit more up to date. I have seen a good number of era photos showing updated fenders on brass Ts. Most of them showing Ts with later Ford fenders rather than the after-market company fenders.

Sleep well!

Yes but doesn’t it appear incongruous? Tom’s fascinating fantastic photos have been the only era T photos I’ve seen. And I’ve been programmed to see and appreciate “correct” T restorations on local and national tours. I had no idea someone would spend money to replace flat fenders on which one could rest a beer for crowned fenders that would spill it. That last photo really popped for me

George H said "Yes but doesn’t it appear incongruous? "

Yes, but that is one of the things I naturally look for in era photos! I began looking at them more than fifty years ago with a magnifying glass in club magazines! I have collected and stored three to four thousand photos on my computer for my personal study and occasional sharing in forum discussions. Most of those photos have been posted on this forum by others in the past. Unfortunately, my "photo handling" program stinks and doesn't make for cataloging or finding photos easily.
Like you, I like my cars "era correct". I am always looking to see what was commonly done, as well as things that were not common.

It was possible to buy later fenders from the Ford dealer over the years. Quite probable that the fenders had been bent in a minor accident and were replaced with later ones.
Norm

Here's an ad urging Brass T owners to buy some modern fenders for their rattler.