Mystery holes on dash/cowl molding

[hull 433]

The Ghost has a pair of holes drilled into the metal trim piece just below the windshield, 3 3/4" apart and approximately 5/16 in diameter on the right hand side of the car.

The only thing I could find in the 1915 Apco catalogue was a dash light, but I don't know if it would fit. Any ideas or things that would match those dimensions?

[John kuehn]

The holes look like they were well aligned when they were drilled. As you said some type of dash light, clock or? Maybe a Ford accessory? I have a 1926 Ford owners Westen Auto parts book and there is several light accessories but there isn’t any mounting hole measurements in the add. The aftermarket folks made LOTS of accessories and you might get lucky finding somthing. Others on the forum might know.

[JTT3]

In Mississippi we had a metal registration holder that was supposed to be displayed inside the car. I can’t find the 1916 holder but I did find the 1928 holder. It has 2 tabs in the middle of each side for mounting. The neat thing is the ominous warning stamped on the top edge. Tab holes are 4 3/4” center to center. Best John

[Russ_Furstnow]

Thse holes are for an accessory speedometer. Russ Furstnow

[Wayne Sheldon]

I hope to see a really definitive answer to this one!
My 1915 runabout has the same holes in the same location. Now, I "know" the body is a real early 1915 body. However, like the rest of the car, it is not a good example for studying what is or is not correct as a 1915. The body, probably over fifty years ago, was worked on, very badly. Someone apparently was beginning to build a T-bucket roadster out of it. Some straightening of metal was done fairly well, however some of the worst welding I have ever seen was done to eliminate the locations for the door hinge and latching mechanisms. I had to completely reconstruct those sections of the door frame when restoring and re-wooding the body.
I also discovered that the upper cowl piece had been removed and poorly replaced. Some damage had been done to the side pieces when the upper piece had been forced into place. When I re-wooded the body, I did what I could with limited resources to repair the damage. In spite of those efforts, I had a MISERABLE time getting the upper cowl and windshield mounting brackets installed and near straight! It looks good now, but heaven help anyone that tries to redo any of that in the future.
All that wandering about to illustrate that although I "know" the "body" is an early 1915? I don't know that the cowl piece and therefore that area with the holes is actually 1915. That part could have been from a later car?

I have seen Ts without those holes there. Was that because some Ts didn't have those holes originally? Or did some people when restoring their car fill in the holes because they didn't know why they were there? Or maybe some of Ford's body suppliers had holes there, and others may not have? I have looked at and seen quite a number of open Ts with those holes. So whatever they were for, they were not all that unusual. And I would like to know why they are there.
It has been decades since I had an extra top cowl piece, and I haven't been to a lot of swap meets in the recent ten years to look at other ones. So I don't have much on this question.

Russ just snuck in with his response. Interesting.

[hull 433]

Russ, thanks, that explains it. Took a look around, found a lot of cars so-equipped, including a few with the Stewart instrument panel. From ads, "less speedometer" shows up from August 1915 on, so supply issues plus an August price reduction following the earlier rebate offer?

Wayne, if you get a chance to photograph the mounting holes on your car, would be interesting to see if the dimensions match up.

John, those metal registration holders sound very ominous.

[Russ_Furstnow]

Here is just one example of a speedometer that was mounted to the cowl.. This one is a Sears-Cross. Following July 1915, Ford did not install speedometers in thier cars. Consequently, the same manufacturers that provided the "Ford Special" speedometer continued to sell speedometers to the Ford owner. Attaching the speedometer to the cowl is just one option available to the Ford owner. I have seen examples from Stewart (Model 150-D), Sears-Cross, Johns-Manville (Model 126 as seen in the parts photo) and Standard Thermometer. I hope this helps. Russ Furstnow

[hull 433]

Russ, thanks, it helps a lot. Something like the Model 126 would fit very neatly.

The engine was missing from the car when Ken found it, but the stamped body numbers seem to read June 1915. Not much of a stretch past July, makes a lot of sense. The earliest "less speedometer" comment I found in Ford ads was from July 31, 1915. There was a brief mention of something similar in March 1915, not sure what that was about.

Russ, thanks again