Got to work on a T today

[Jacob Mangold]

For those who don’t know, I am currently employed at a hot rod shop at the age of 17. I do a lot of different varieties of cars from muscle cars to luxury European to full on custom street rods. Well today I got to work on what I believe is a 1914 speedster. At my shop, no one knows much about T’s so I got to run the show on this one. The car belonged to one of our warehouse neighbor’s husband who unfortunately passed away. Recently she has decided to start getting the cars ready to be sold so I told her the Model T’s I know a lot about. Today she called me over and I got to work getting it to run again. The transmission adjustments were all out of wack and the clutch was all bound up. I adjusted the bands and got it to fire up no problem. I drove it over to the shop where I have my tools and when I got there the carburetor started puking gas everywhere so I pulled it off and took it apart. It was a Kingston L4. Gaskets were shot but I have a bunch of antique carb parts at home so I ran to get those. Came back and put the carb back together after cleaning and reinstalled it. Did some tweaking on the band adjustment then took it out for a few runs. I got the clutch to unstick after some driving then I drove the boss around in it to show him how to drive it. After that I drove the owner’s widow around in it and needless to say, she had a blast. She had the biggest smile on her face. After that, others who have warehouses in the complex came to look at it and I took most of them for a drive. For most it was their first time in a horseless carriage and on top of that in a raw experience in a speedster. It was super awesome to be so young and have the most knowledge of these cars. And also to be able to give people the experience of riding in a T. The car is for sale and I would totally buy it if I was not such a tall guy. I could barely drive it without my knee hitting the column. Needless to say, I had some fun at work today and will post a few photos.

[Phoenix88R]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing your great day!

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

What a great story! Thanks for sharing!

[Mike Silbert]

Well done!
It's rare when young folks get to show the older crowd how it's done.

If you really really want the car, it is a speedster and the seat can be moved.
I am sure you have the skills to move the seat but.....
Looking at the pictures of how it was built it looks like moving the seat would require quite a bit of effort and paint work.
I did not see a quick and easy seat move method.
It is a nice looking speedster.
You can't own them all.
Mike

[Jacob Mangold]

Yeah it would be a cool driver. It has a 1926 drivetrain in it and someone along the line did a half **s job converting it to 12 volts and it also has a distributor conversion on it. It does have a ruckstell though and everything seems to be in decent condition. Definitely a 9/10 for a driver but about a 3/10 for originality. If I was rich I’d buy just to add to the collection. I do however have another ‘28 A coupe that a friend’s grandmother wants to get rid of that I’m interested in purchasing. Seems like everyone is getting to their spring cleaning early and I’m not complaining. I need some more antique auto in my life.

[Erik Johnson]

The wire wheels are the best part.

If you can get it for a reasonable price, I would buy it just for the wheels and flip it with a different set of wheels or part it out.

[KWTownsend]

Atta boy!
A little knowledge is a good thing.
A lot of knowledge is even better!

: ^ )

[DHort]

Looks like it was built on a platform. All you have to do is move the trunk and the gas tank back and you will fit fine. Speedsters are always a lot more fun than a coupe or touring.

[Jacob Mangold]

You guys are almost convincing me to make a bad financial decision . How much would you guys pay for an example like this with all the stuff I stated prior. I’d also like to add that the drums in the transmission were looking a little questionable and also has Scandinavia linings which is something I’d need to switch out cause I’d rather not deal with shredding another set of those. It definitely needs a little bit of attention to make it solid for extended driving.

Thank you, Jacob Mangold

[DHort]

Looks like a Rootlieb kit to me. Speedsters are worth 7-12K for the most part. Use that as a start to determine value.

On this one, wheels add to value, as does the Ruckstel. Looks like a real nice paint job. Cannot see much else.