MTFCA Forum

Front fenders are off my ambulance project and up at the sandblasters, but walking by the front of the T this morning, I had a sinking feeling and might as well know now if I have an issue. I have installed a radiator shutter more for appearance than purpose and now I wonder if the 2" that it adds to the front of the radiator shell will cause a fitment issue with the headlight bar running from front fender to front fender.. If someone has a 26/27 with the headlight bar, can you give me a quick measurement from the back of the bar to the front of your shell? Hopefully more than 2".

Thanks in advance. The project is coming along.

This is my Canadian’26 Touring. Not looking good for a 2” protrusion from the shell!

And, here is the photo:

There are different bars. Some have the lights mounted to the fenders with the bar between the headlight mount and the fender. Others have a bar across with the lights mounted on the bar. The latter, lights can be adjusted for direction but the former need to bend the headlight bracket to adjust the direction. I suppose there were even after market bars available because the main reason for placing the bar is if the car has bumpers the license will behind the bumper unless it is moved up to the bar.
Norm

Robert, If you are using the 1926 fender mount head lights , there is a work around to your problem if you want to run a head light tie bar. Bob, better known as Fatman, in Loves Park Illinois makes a repo head light bar with removable threaded ends that go under the head lights at the fender. This would allow you to makeup your own tie bar with the two plus inch offset that you need. Sorry that I don’t have Bob’s contact phone number but he posts here on the MTFCA forum quite frequently so someone should have it.

Drats. Probably need to wait until I get fenders back and can bolt them up prior to painting and feel what I got. Since I am using this 26/27 depot hack as my donor vehicle for a 1917 replica ambulance, the bar is not correct for that 1917 look. ?Wonder if I can do something with bolting the headlights onto the feners and eliminating the bar or cobbling up something myself with the tube bender that would have a forward leaning offset to go in front of the shutter. Or, I could go totally military and make some sort of brush guard.
Where does it stop?

Thanks for the input. Just something to add to the project list..

Early 1926 headlights did not have a bar and attached to the fender just like the later headlights.

Robert I may have some early 26 fender mount headlights. Email me if you want me to look. Dan

I have 2 26's. One a Roadster has the lights mounted to the bar. The measurement to the radiator shell is 1/2 inch. I didn't measure to the radiator but it would be about 3/4 inch from the bar. Brassworks radiator with steel shell painted black.
The other is a Touring. The lights mount to the fender like the 25 lights and the lights bolt above the bar to the fender. This one has about 3/4 inch from the shell so would be about 1 inch from the brassworks radiator. The shell is brass and plated.
Norm

As Dan and Jeff state, early 1926 lights fitted to the fenders without the crossbar, so that would solve your problem. Next came a crossbar , the ends of which were sandwiched between the headlight mounting flange and the fender. Later the light bucket mountings were changed so the lights were mounted directly to the bar.

Allan from down under.

Hmmm... so here is what I got. Could use some direction.
Feeels like bar is seperate unit from two holes in fender to two holes in other side front fender. Head light feels like bolted to bar seperately. If I remove the lights from the bar, I'm not seeing holes in my fenders to mount the head lights directly to the fenders or to allow fender irons or light mounting rods to pass through fenders.
Read a recent post about a member asking about 26/27 fenders and I thought I read there were no differences between the two. But, how would head lights with no bar mount to a 26 fender and how would I mount head lights directly to these, apparently, 27 fenders?

I'm still visualizing cutting the bar between the fender and grill and letting the head light remain in place and then welding on a forward bent tube to pass around the front of the radiator shutter and grill. Although, free standing head lights would be closer to the look of a 1917 which is a plus, although my high radiator and rounded slatted grill are in contrast to that.

Thoughts? Is the 27 bar trade bait for two free standing headlights? And, if so, what would I need to mount free standing head lights? And, would the removal of the bar cause a fender or head light vibration issue? Presume there was a reason HF added a bar.

What you need are early 26 fender mount lights that don’t have the bar. I will look in swap meet trailers. Think I have at least one set. Dan
Here is example

Robert - attached photos of my January 1926 built RPU headlights and bar. As mentioned above, early headlights w/o bar or headlights with the early bar should work.

Chuck, you bar is not like the ones with which I am familiar. Perjhaps it is an aftermarket accessory. the bar is usually made just like the later bars which Bob already has, but his bar takes the later headlights which mount on the bar rather than at the fender.

Allan from down under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:33 pm

Chuck, you bar is not like the ones with which I am familiar. Perjhaps it is an aftermarket accessory. the bar is usually made just like the later bars which Bob already has, but his bar takes the later headlights which mount on the bar rather than at the fender.

Allan from down under.

Yes

That style bar (Marquette) is for the early '26 fender post mount headlamp buckets, lots of companies came out with these prior to Ford being required to fit a bar and then Ford changed too the bucket design to mount to the bar for more easy adjustment of the lighting. The fender post mount '26 buckets have to be be bent with a wrench or bar to adjust the light beam.

Allan, Dan - thanks for the clarification and info regarding accessory front headlight bars. My truck has a front bumper - someone may have added the bar to display license plate.
Thanks, Chuck.

5/16" on my '27 Touring.

Well, it looks like the bar will not fit. So, if Dan can locate some bolt on head lights, then that is a solution. Or, I get involved in bending a bar to use the current light buckets. Will wait for Dan, then report back.