MTFCA Forum

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Hello fellow Model T-ers,

My father and I purchased a period-correct solid brass robe rail for the back seat of our 1915 Touring. It has two good size screw holes at either end. Would any of you have advice on how to best attach this to the back of the front seat? I don't want to just screw it into the sheetmetal do I? But I don't really want to remove the front upholstery either.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you may be able to offer.

Lee and Steven

Note: Luckily Larry Smith is away at Hershey right now so he won't see this "less than absolutely original" plan.

Hey Steven,
I did the same with my 1917 touring. Supposedly you attach brass wood screws thru the drilled holes into the framing under the sheet metal, but I didn't want to remove the sheet metal or upholstery either to find out where the wooden frames are.
I went to a "real" hardware store (a big box version of a hardware store, and some ACE hardware stores in Calif.) and asked for metal certs. That may not be the exactly correct name, but they'll know what you're talking about. They come in different sizes, so get the ones where the screw fits the holes in the robe rail and the head of the screw won't go thru the robe rail holes. The flange on the outside of the metal cert is bigger than the insertion hole, mark and drill the insertion holes, then insert the metal certs. When you use the tool that comes with it to screw it down, the inside of the cert telescopes back against the inside of the sheet metal, trapping the sheet metal between the two ends of the cert and leaving a threadded hole for the screw.
If you want brass screws to match the robe rail, you have to buy them separately as the certs and included screws come in stainless steel.
If you don't understand the gibberish I wrote above, email me and I'll try to get a picture of an extra one I have.
Good luck. Bob

Along the same line as a "molly bolt" for drywall, but metal certs are for sheet metal (Sorry Steven, couldn't think of that word!).

This style of robe rail can be attached directly to the back of the wood tack rail (on top of the upholstery trim) or, if there is enough overhang, to the underside (ledge) of the tack rail. This allows you to avoid drilling blind holes in the sheet metal.

During my years as an engineer designing army tanks, I learned early on that anything that looked like a hand grab or foot step would be used that way. Every one of those inadvertant grab handles had to either be beefed up to support 300 lbs, relocated, or removed. With my experience, I would not mount a robe rail to plain sheetmetal, if it can not be attached to solid wood or angle iron behind it, I would leave it off. You and I would treat it gently, but not all passengers will. There will be the nice old couple that uses it to help pull themselves out of thier seats, and the toddler that will use it as a jungle gym.

Thank you Humble, Erik, and Bob.