found a GREAT video

[bell 11]

Check out this video...

[Nick 13]

Nice video find. Its always fun to catch that rare T or more often model A out on the road. If Im lucky enough to be behind them I roll the windows down and just listen to the sound of the old engines putter along.

Had to find a driving video with a T.

[linen beige 15]

Neat video Bell. The narator has some of his info wrong, but generally pretty close. The first year was 1908 with a roadster painted gray and a touring car (open top with front and rear seats.) painted red. The last model was '27 (Only year with a standard chrome radiator shroud). The change to all black (except special orders) came later. A few 1923 models were painted green with a revolutionary new product called "spayable paint"! There was a coupe in a collection in Greensburg, Ky. that toured local shows well into the '80s under it's own power. The paint held up fairly well. The 1908 Model T was the first production model auto with left hand drive. Henry said it didn't take him long to realize it was more important to see how close he was to an approaching car than to know how close he was to the edge of the road. The assembly line at Highland park didn't come fully on line until 1913 (At that time they were also being produced at the Ford plant in Manchester, England, maybe other places.).

Nick, One of my uncles has a one ton truck chassis from I think '26. It was called a model TT. A Lt. on our PD has a '20 TT fire truck that he is 2nd owner of. My dad has a '30 model A coupe that has a NOS "crate" engine in it that has fewer than 20 miles on it.

Taking a ride in one is loads of fun. Driving one is even more fun. Driving a model T is unlike anything else. it's a full contact sport! They had a hand clutch. The ignition timing had to be manually advanced/retarded with a lever on the steering column. The throttle was another lever, also on the steering column. To get moving you had to open the throttle with one hand, advance the timing with another hand, and ease the hand clutch lever forward with another hand, while remembering to use a foot to hold down the shifter pedal, while holding the brake pedal with another foot to keep it from rolling backwards until the clutch engaged. The shifter was one of three foot pedals, down for first/ up for second (It upshifted only if the engine was up to speed, semi-automatic.) Reverse was another pedal, brakes were the third pedal. The brakes were barely adequate to say the least, and a lot of drivers would make emergency stops by slamming down the reverse pedal to make the rear wheels dig in. That shattered a lot of wooden wheels. If anyone wonders why the model T came before the model A you have been misinformed. Henry called his first car, built in 1896, the Model A Quadricycle. His second model was the B and so on until '27. he then shut down the whole company and started over with an all new design. He figured if he was starting over he may as well start the letters over, hence the second run of Model As. The four cylinder versions from '32 were Bs, '33 Cs, '34 Ds, 35 Es. I have not seen a reference to a '36 F model so I believe the letters were dropped after '35. These four cylinder cars are VERY rare.

A lot of you guys have probably been there, but my favorite museum is the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mi. It is a fascinating place for anyone who likes machinery. It's very much worth a weekend trip. if you can take it all in over just a weekend. Did I mention I'm a (old) Ford fan?

[Coadster32 793]

Check out this video...

Really cool. If you don't enjoy it, you probably shouldn's be here. :thumbs:

[linen beige 15]

Nick,

I didn't see your video until after I posted! The smile on her face says it all!

I don't recall the two levers in the middle. I was only 17 when I got to drive a '17 center door. That was a while back. Was one for a Columbia two speed rear end? I noticed it sped up when he pushed one of them forward. What's the other one for?

[linen beige 15]

Let's see. Henry Ford used a simple, rugged chassis to which could be affixed any number of bodies or attachments. He fitted a simple, rugged engine and coupled it to a revolutionary transmission. That gave us a machine in a class by itself. Where else have we seen this concept?

[Nick 13]

Jim,

Looks like one lever was an over drive but the other lever is still a mystery.

[linen beige 15]

Here's one for Ja Tee.

[CasualObserver 3,411]

:thumbs:

Saw one of those at the Little Log House show up here two summers ago.

[linen beige 15]

Uh... That's an "A" Jason. 1930 or '31. I think it's a '30 but can't be sure. Do you have a pic of the front? The '31 had a depressed area in the front top of the radiator shroud that would be painted the same color as the body and the lower portion was all chrome. The '30 had the lower, flat portion of the shroud, where it layed flat against the front of the frame, painted the body color. The chrome headlights weren't on the originals. Truck headlight buckets were black with chrome retaining rings optional. The '28 and '29 used a more rakish cowl. Still neat though! :thumbs:

[HorseFixer 2,013]

Great Video Jon No matter what the discrepancies there are! :whistle:

[linen beige 15]

Jim,

Looks like one lever was an over drive but the other lever is still a mystery.

The lever he used was for the "Ruckstell" brand two speed rear end, which gives it four forward speeds. The other is for the "Jumbo" auxiliary 3peed transmission with reverse. That gives it a total of twelve forward and four reverse speeds!