MTFCA Forum

Here is an old photo identified on a Facebook post of a Model T crossing a bridge over the Brazos river in 1915. But I’m thinking it’s really later than that possibly closer to 1923. At first glance it looks like a low cowl Coupe but maybe a 24 high cowl? I can’t tell if it’s got the cowl vent on it or not for a high cowl T. Whatever year it is it’s misidentified to early.

Any ideas out there?
It does look like the wooden bridge timbers are getting used up. Notice the hole in the bridge? I guess the extra length wise timbers were added for safety!

Of course the absolute earliest it could be is 1917, because of the black radiator. I'm hazarding a guess, using not the car but the bridge and how it's built, to say it was early to mid 20's.

As to the bridge -

It was VERY common on wood deck auto bridges to have a second course of boards as "tire tracks" to drive on, and as those boards wore down or rotted, replaced. It added dimensional stability to the bridge - the "tire track decks" are long 8 or 12" wide (2x12?) timbers 90 degrees to the actual bridge deck "cross" timbers (some of which are in bad shape in this picture)... it also made a MUCH smoother and durable surface to drive on... also made it easier for the workers who maintained the bridge to replace those tire tracks when needed...

There was also a tendency to use board roads over unstable surfaces (like, well, a land bridge)... the highway across the Mojave Desert (in Califorinia) was a board track highway, because otherwise it was difficult to plow, er, drive through the unpackable sand... and it was similar to this, cross boards with a tire course on top.

Anyway, it was VERY common on US highways to have bridges like this (probably some standard spec somewhere) in the late teens to the early 30's... when portland cement and asphaltic concrete started to be used for road surfaces.

Used to be a number of those bridges in service here. A few remain, alongside (boring) newer bridges.

There is a website with pictures of many old bridges in Texas. It may be called "Bridges of Texas" or something similar.

Steel truss wood deck bridges were common, and a few cable suspension bridges survived into the 1970s.

A few multi-span steel truss /concrete deck bridges may still be in service.

I would guess it's '24-'25. The visor was standard those years. Also, the tires could be 21" I like the fact that it has that radiator guard, not that I what one.
I love having been on those bridges before. They aren't around so much anymore.
Rich

We drive on lots of covered bridges on the Covered Bridge Tour in Rockville, IN every year. The Tour is at the end of September, just before Hershey. In some places we "Ford" the river. We visit lots of interesting places like the Wallce, IN Model T Garage, several Amish businesses and more. This is not a tour for restored cars as we drive on lots of gravel roads.... But this is a fun tour. This tour is listed in the Events section of the MTFCA magazine, The Vintage Ford.

Keith