Body bolt

[Jl1919]

i have a question that i need answered i bought a what the seller said was a 1915 t but 2 people have said that because it has this bolt on the side of the body just behind the front door it’s a 1916 is this true or did both 15 & 16 have this?

[DanTreace]

The side body bolt appeared more or less in around the spring of 1915. Depending on the body supplier, as that bolt is for the metal seat frame. It is a typical feature of later 1915- 1921 or thereabouts touring bodies, the earlier touring bodies had wood seat frames.

Data from Club Encyclopedia

Fiscal year, August 1, 1914 to July 31, 1915.

ENGINE SERIAL NUMBERS: 656,064 to 1,028,313 calendar year. 670,000 to 856,513 approx. model year.

MODEL YEAR DATES: September 1914 (Sedan), October (Coupelet) and January 1915 (open cars) to August 1915.

[Altair]

Many of the cars had different features through the change over years, early 15s had carbide head lamps, different style side lamps, some had no headlights or horn, there was at least three styles of wood firewall assemblies. There is no such thing as a standard pure 15 or 16, many parts were carried over and there was several body parts makers. For many years if you wanted a specific body part you had to know the maker too.

[Wayne Sheldon]

That silly bolt has been driving model T hobbyists crazy for more than seventy years. Some touring cars have it? Some touring cars don't.
There were at least five different companies supplying Ford with touring car bodies for 1915 and 1916. In the later 1910s, a couple of those suppliers dropped out, and Ford began building some bodies inhouse. Exact details of bodies varied from one supplier to another, as well as having minor changes requested by Ford, or dictated by necessity. The "Great War" resulted in shortages of some materials (including steel), which may have resulted in returning to wooden seat frames for awhile. (That I have read a few times, but I have my doubts about that as so much steel went into each car that the small amount of steel used for the front seat support would not amount to much of a savings on material.)
The exact location of that bolt also varied a bit. On many touring cars that bolt is right next to the opening for the rear door. On other tourings that bolt will be about two inches farther forward.
The front seat structure overall varied a LOT! On some cars, the entire seat cushion support is nearly all steel. On others, the entire seat support was nearly all wood, except for the heal kick panel itself which actually itself did not really support the seat. The kick panel was there mostly to separate the areas under the seat (gasoline tank, tools?) from the passenger area forward from the kick panel.
Still other touring cars will have seat supports that are a real mix of wood and steel pieces. Runabouts have that same issue with the seat frames and supports. Runabouts do not have that bolt as part of their structure.

Whether or not a touring car does or doesn't have that bolt is likely more a matter of what body supplier manufactured the body in the first place? And exactly when, which order batch for which it was produced?
There is still a lot of question about when it was mostly common and when it was not? Like Dan T, I am fairly sure some early 1915s did not have that bolt! However, I "think" most 1915/'16s did have it (varying locations?). In the later 1910s, I "think" most touring cars did not have that bolt. But I also know that a few later cars did have it. How late, I am not sure.

You should look around carefully, all around the front floor area and under the seat cushion, for a body supplier's serial number. Of course, if the car was re-wooded when restored, it is likely that coding was lost. Not all suppliers provided a serial number, but a few did. There is no standard location. Common locations include top side of the wood structure under the seat cushion, next to the floor boards either on the front floorboard riser or the main sill. The number may be stamped, pressed or burned into the wood itself, or it may be stamped on a metal plate in large numbers and maybe a letter or two. Many of those ID/serial numbers also contain a date code, sometimes same size as the serial numbers, sometimes the date code may be slightly smaller. The steel plates were usually about one inch by four to five inches in size, and rather crudely made (not what people today expect to see).
The date code is usually three or four numbers, usually with a space. First one or two numbers represent the month, the next two numbers represent the year, that the body was ordered or manufactured. My runabout's date code is "2 15 &&&&&&", indicating a production date of February 1915 followed by the serial number.

[Drkbp]

Looked at a few photos for the seat bolt and found this one.
Has a bulb horn but can't make out license plate year.

[RajoRacer]

1915 w/brass rim headlamps & sidelamps.

[John kuehn]

When I finally started putting together what eventually was a 1921 Touring body I started having questions about the details and the so called body bolt. The body was found in a back tree line and was pretty much complete less the chassis. It had sat out for years and the wood was completely gone.
The 17-21 Touring bodies are almost identical in a lot of ways. Not knowing any better at the time the body bolt as mentioned in the post looked to me like a bullet hole. So eventually I filled in the hole after some head scratching. After I restored the car with the correct frame and chassis I found a 1921 T engine that I rebuilt and installed it and called the car a 1921 Touring. Yes it’s a “parts pile built up T” but it’s titled and legal so I called it good with the filled in body bolt hole.
Ford had several body builders in the 17-21 T era with no seemingly time line when changes were made or altered and the bolt hole time line falls definitely as a real head scratcher.

Adding to my so called mystery there were the remains of the rounded top bows and sockets on the car which were the earlier top bows in that era. BUT the car had a steel firewall which came out as a replacement part but it may have come originally with the car. Oh well.