wayne sheldon

Good to hear! I hope this is a sign of a few other things becoming available again?

One must appreciate progress on projects like this! There is a certain satisfaction in undoing nearly a hundred years of neglect and abuse. Thank you for the update.

As I understand it, the company making the replacement front wheel bearings for model Ts for years quit making them. Good NORS ones are tough to come by, and have been selling for some crazy prices. Model A and some early V8 wheel bearings can be made to work, however to fit properly the model T outer bearings need to be threaded internally to lock into place and not rapidly wear out the spindle.

That type tail lamp was made and offered to automakers with their marque name in the widow. They were also offered through catalog sales and local parts dealers with any of many marque names. Some such lamps used actual glass for that marque window, others used a type of celluloid plastic with the names printed on it. In the photos, that one looks like a typical celluloid, and I would also guess "PONTIAC". A pretty upscale accessory for a low priced car, but people did back then also.

I think you nailed this one! Written on his face!

Henry and a young Edsel in a model F Ford (1905 or 1906), one of the last two cylinder model Fords before the model T.

My 1927 Paige 6-45 sedan has its original tail lamp (not like this one!), which is a simple however unusual style that I have never found a complete one quite like it at a swap meet. I have seen a few same model Paige cars that have the same tail lamp, and a couple pictures or era advertisements showing it as being the correct lamp. The original Paige tail lamp has a simple two bolt mount on it that exactly fits the spare tire carrier where the tail lamp was originally mounted. What I did find and buy at a swap meet about forty years ago, was an exact match for the lamp itself, but with a universal mounting bracket very similar to what your tail lamp has. I have seen a few other tail lamps with similar universal mounts. Lamp manufacturers of course wanted to increase sales anywhere they could, and it would make sense that they should offer universal replacements of lamps made for other cars. That is a neat looking lamp! it could make a great after-market touch for many a roaring '20's car!

Fingers crossed it all comes through just right!

We had a 1984 Jaguar XJ6 for several years, similar to the one above. Ours was more of a brown, the build sheet inside the car called the color "tobacco". I loved driving the car, hated to work on it (talk about a nightmare changing the water pump!). We eventually sold it when a significant repair was needed and between work problems and family issues I simply didn't have any time to get in and do the repair. Try to restore the one above? Thank you, NO!

Thank you Ariejan! Nice to know that a relic in and old photo still exists.

Might have been? Car would have been over ten years old in 1917. And looks like the engine may be gone already? Also, it looks like it may be a rear entrance tonneau? I didn't think Ford used a rear entrance that late. But the hood front/radiator looks too large for the 1904 model.

I have seen a better copy of this photo before. In it one could see a few cables or rods running over the car's seat and stretched back to where the fellow can pull then or turn them to operate the car. The digital matrix in this picture loses that stuff in the busy background.

Don't ask me? Nice era photo though. Thank you for posting it.

It appears to be one of the many dozens of spare tire locks made and sold by "Oakes" in the 1920s. They made many different ones to fit specific cars as well as common types that might fit many cars. Dozens of automakers offered them as factory options as well as dealer options. The keyed lock unit itself was usually one of about three common sizes.

Thank you for that research! The history of telephone communications is interesting, and very complicated. For all the talk of the ubiquitous "Ma Bell" for half a century? The reality was that telephone systems for more than a hundred years were mostly regional, and many of the companies were very small. I worked for over thirty years in communications systems contracting. We did it all, from digging the trenches to bury cables to servicing connections in people's homes and business. While most of our "bread and butter" work was television systems related, much of it was early programming by satellite, we also did a lot of information technologies (long before they called it "IT"), and some telephone systems. We serviced one of the last small local telephone companies in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. My dad was one of the last technicians that had real experience with and understood the old automatic dialer mechanisms. Some of the equipment we serviced dated from the 1920s! And replacement parts hadn't been made since the 1960s. Just a few years before my dad died, that system was taken over by one of the larger "small companies" and the switching went to modern digital equipment. Most local phone companies had to meet specific requirements for compatibility, however, as late as the 1980s, there were still many small local companies that had to connect long distance through a human operator. I have often wondered when some major area went to the modern exchange name and five numerical digits phone numbers. Thank you for that! It was something I did not know was quite that early. (It is amazing how far back some of these things do go?)

Such a fantastic photo! So much to see in it. The tow trucks, the building, the signs. What surprised me a bit though, was the phone number on the hoods? They had a seven digit phone number! Most of the country (and the world?) didn't expand to that point until after WW2. When I was about eight, we moved to a new suburb outside San Jose California, and the "exchange" we were on was "ANdrews". For first two numbers, one dialed the appropriate numerical digit for each of the first two letters in the exchange name. Exchanges were usually named after some person, business, or historic area name, that identified the area of the exchange. Before direct dialing, one would ring the operator, and request the phone number by the exchange name and then the however many digits phone number that followed it. Even in the 1950s, many smaller exchanges had only three or four numerals following the exchange name.

A model T Ford! 1912 torpedo roadster to be exact, with one of the common "make-a-tractor" kits available in those days. What is interesting, is that the torpedo roadster was one of the very few model T cars that from the factory had a large round gasoline tank mounted outside behind the seat, instead of under the seat or hidden somewhere inside the body. Every time I see this photo, I wonder where the farmer put the gasoline tank and what he might have used?

Remember AJ, model Ts were designed to be driven by people that had never driven any car in their lifetime up to that point! In past years, when I did have occasions to teach newcomers how to drive a model T, the first thing I would tell them was to forget everything they learned about driving after about the age of six. At six, you knew mommy and daddy sat behind the wheel, turned a key of some sort, pressed a pedal or two and started the car. Then pressing pedals and moving a couple levers they began driving the car while turning the steering wheel to and fro. From that point, a model T Ford is one of the easiest cars to learn to drive.

Me personally? I have used tire black and whitewall paints years ago. I thought they did not hold up well at all when driven on. I have had better luck just using common spray can enamel paint on tires. A few times years ago, I got second hand whitewall tires that I wanted to use on cars I did not want whitewalls on it. I used spray can black enamel paint then turned the painted side in, and after a few thousand miles of driving was surprised at how well they still looked. I have spent quite a bit of time researching tires of the early days into the 1930s eras. I can tell you it is not an easy subject. A lot of what people think they know may be based in fact? But is not actually accurate. Most early tires before about 1910 were some sort of gummy off white color that varied greatly in how far "off" white they were, and then the color changed due to the harsh road conditions on the day. That off white gummy stuff was basically the result of the natural base rubber used to make the tires, and crude hand work in the manufacturing process used in the early days. During the 1910s, several things happened. Rubber shortages due to the greater demands first by the automotive industry, and then the outbreak of the "Great War" lead to finding ways to get more miles and more tires out of the limited supplies of natural rubber. In this country (the USA) marketing also tried a bunch of novel approaches to selling tires. Multi-colored tires was a popular theme during the 1910s into the early 1920s. Whole the black and white photography of the era does not show it, and color publication was expensive and rare in periodical magazines, tires were in fact sold in a wide variety of color combinations where the tread and sidewalls might be different or all one color. A private collector I know has several early era tires displayed on his shop's walls, and because I have been interested in the history, I have seen numerous other examples of surviving early tires. Various colors including but not limited to red, gray, white, green, blue, yellow, and black were used, I have personally seen sever white tread, green sidewall tires, one white tread blue sidewall, gray tread red sidewall, gray tread white sidewall, among a few others. All of those in early automobile size tires (several in 28 X 3 clincher, some in 30 X 3 1/2 clincher). I have long wanted some of those, but have never found any available at a price I could afford. Brightly colored tires were fading away in the early 1920s, however, I have seen advertising for them as late as 1923. Automobile manufacturers didn't help either with good records of tires used. As Walt Gosden here has said many times, manufacturer's advertising was geared toward selling cars, and being attractive to potential buyers. As colored printing periodicals became more common, manufacturers often showed advertisements of cars in colors they may or may not have actually been available? They also often showed whitewall tires on cars that rarely if ever were actually sold with whitewall tires. In the 1910s and early 1920s, "whitewall" tires were not a "stylish" option. They were a step up from all whites which wore out quickly, but not as good as the all blacks which where stronger and lasted longer. Again, the B&W photographs of the era often do not clearly show this, however, if one zooms in closely and looks carefully, it can be seen that black tread white sidewall (both sides!) tires were common in the later 1910s and early 1920s. They were common on model T, Fords and can be found also on high end cars of that era. Part of th issue with photographic record is that he roads were harsh in those days. Dust collected on tires quickly, and regardless of the colors, became one big dusty gray-brown very quickly. Most "factory" photos of the day were staged! The professional photographer was coming, and the cars detailed and prepared in advance! Something I have found very interesting in studying model Ts is how many era photos if looked at closely enough (if the photo is good enough?) do clearly show nearly new model Ts with black tread white sidewall tires. However, "factory" photos usually show all black tires! I have seen a few "factory photos" where the unfinished car nearest the camera has all black tires, but a couple cars behind it there are those white sidewalls again! Have to make it look good in the photos. All white tires were out of style by the 1920s, although I have seen indications they may have still been available. Most common tires by the mid 1920s would have been somewhere between a medium gray and black. "Whitewall" tires as a style began in the mid 1920s, with advertising showing them by 1925. Several longtime friends years ago had Buick automobiles of the 1920s, and through them I saw many copies of Buick factory photographs showing late 1920s Buicks with double sided whitewall tires on them! Many era photographs seem to indicate that most Buicks in those years did not have whitewall tires on them, single or double sided. What Kissel did usually or occasionally in those years I do not know. But if they were like most manufacturers those days? What they did probably varied a bit. They sure do look good in gray on the Goldbugs!

I don't know if the OP got what he was looking for or not? But obviously a lot of us here have enjoyed this thread!

A similar check point? Again, engine hot, idling slow. Use a piece of thin cardboard, not corrugated, but a lot thicker than art paper or or a cereal box, need a piece about four by six inches or slightly larger. With the engine idling, hold the piece of cardboard by the edge and across the end of the tail pipe. A clean straight round cut on the end of the pipe helps a lot, but I have had success on odd or angled cut pipes also. If the engine is healthy, and valves all working like they should, the cardboard should hold fairly steady, with the exhaust flowing smoothly and pushing the cardboard like it was floating on air. If the cardboard sort of stutters, flutters or "farts" as Grimy put it, there is a problem developing, likely valves becoming weak on the seal. If the cardboard repeatedly slaps the end of the exhaust pipe? It already has one or more failing valves. That is an old mechanic's test that used to be well known, but I haven't heard of it much in recent years. Back to the general question. Basically what others have already said. The cars I have usually loved the most were ones I paid a little too much for, or did a LOT of work on. I would put a bit more weight on the fact that it sounds like the car is already fairly well sorted for touring, and checked out well in the test drives.

TT truck chassis, probably about 1920 or '21, could be as late as 1923. There is probably a door on the other side. Unusual oil sidelamps above and behind the headlamps. Thank you Dave M!

What a wonderful photo! Only one of those five racing cars is clearly a model T Ford. Although either 09 or 19 could maybe be a model T under all the changes. Also interesting to notice that two of the five are racing on clearly wooden spoke wheels! I say it often enough, but a lot of people today still do not believe they actually did that back in those days! (Wooden spoke wheels are a lot stronger than most people think they are!) The two cars with what appear to be disc wheels are likely also running on wood, hidden between two sheet steel discs. If you look closely, numbers 09 and 19 on the inside of the left front wheel, you can see a hole to reach through to the valve stem in order to add air pressure. A common detail on double sided disc covers for wooden spoke wheels. Great photo, thank you.

I think this car (pre restoration?) was shared here a few years ago. I recall a very similar Stutz Bulldog with very similar wrong fenders on it in otherwise very original condition. The color at that time was also red, however the paint was not fresh looking. I wonder how long the current owner has had it?

Thank you motoringicons, I saw the thread title, "possibly the ultimate model T speedster" and immediately thought "oh great, I wonder what kind of pile of junk someone put together this time?" Seen too many of them. But I clicked in and scrolled down to the photos and---- what a pleasant surprise! I knew in an instant what it was.