MTFCA Forum

Was the gas tank cover in 1918 stamped metal part? Any body have one available or at least a picture of one in their car. Mine has a piece of plywood, not correct.

The cover on my 1917 tourer is sheet metal and hinged at the rear with about a 1" finger hole to lift it up in the middle as well as a hole over the gas cap

They look like this...

From Howell's Sheet Metal

I often have wondered about those covers, and the timelines when wooden slat or stamped steel covers were used. I suspect which covers were used depended upon what body supplier built or finished the bodies to order. I know some of the body suppliers went back and forth between the wooden and steel covers. One article on the subject that I read some years ago speculated that the materials shortages due to the Great War forced the body builders to go back to wooden seat frames and covers after Ford had switched from wood to steel. I have always doubted that idea as the seat frame and cover wasn't very much material relative to the entire automobile, and although the cover itself was a significantly large piece, the seat frame pieces were made from scraps of larger items, riveted together.
I also wonder when the last of the wooden slat covers were used on the model Ts? Pretty sure I have seen some at least into the early 1920s. Steel seat frames and covers are fairly well established as being used early in 1915 on many open body cars.

Many of our Colonial built bodies did not have a cover. It is a wonder Henry never cought on.
Allan from down under.

I believe the reason a wooden or stamped steel cover is needed is due to the design of the seat cushion which needs to be supported in the middle.

My dad's July 1917 touring has a stamped metal cover for the front seat but doesn't have a stamped metal cover for the back seat. Instead there is a stamped metal cross-piece in the middle that runs left to right that supports the seat cushion. I can't remember the body manufacturer. I have examined some earlier 1917 tourings which have a stamped metal cover in the back seat.

Also, based on my own casual observations, Ford went back wood covers, at least for a while, starting sometime during the 1918 model year. That may have been a money saving measure.

I would think a wooden lid would be more supportive of the seat cushion. Our seat cushions tend to be heavier built than the standard T items, most having support bars under the spring assembly.
Allan from down under.

My father has other antique cars and the seat cushions are more substantially built with wood frames, etc. akin to a box spring and, if you wanted to do so, you could set the cushions between two saw horses and sit on them, no problem. If you did that with the common 1913 or later Model T roadster or touring seat cushion which is like a mattress and not a box spring, it would bow and you'd end up on the floor.