For Sale: 1916 Model T Ford Center Door Sedan - $9,500 - Lombard, ILL - Not Mine

[58L-Y8]

For Sale: 1916 Model T Ford Center Door Sedan - $9,500 - Lombard, ILL 

1916 Model T Ford Center Door Sedan - cars & trucks - by owner -... (craigslist.org)
Seller's Description:

1916 Model T Ford Center Door Sedan, Car has 1922 engine with starter. This Center Door has only one door.
Runs and drives. $9500.00 might take part trade.

Contact: no phone listed.
Copy and paste in your email: 0425230985553999a66a99227ce1a099@sale.craigslist.org

I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1916 Model T Ford Center Door Sedan.

[alsancle]

Cool!

[Leif in Calif]

I do love the center door body, and I bet that radiator surround would clean right up with a few hours of rubbing. 

[wayne sheldon]

I really wonder what the story is behind the nonfunctioning door? I have never seen a model T center-door sedan done like that.

Beyond that, it is an interesting car that with a little work might be a lot of fun! However, as a proper center-door sedan? There is a lot wrong with it. There are too many later parts on it. Not just the engine, but the wheels, spare tire carrier, and many other pieces are later model T pieces. 

The wooden body structure is critical on these cars! And not knowing what was done to alter the door casts doubts on how much work it would require to make it right if one wanted to do so. Clearly the interior (such as it is?) was done after the door was rendered inoperable.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

7 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

I really wonder what the story is behind the nonfunctioning door? I have never seen a model T center-door sedan done like that.

Beyond that, it is an interesting car that with a little work might be a lot of fun! However, as a proper center-door sedan? There is a lot wrong with it. There are too many later parts on it. Not just the engine, but the wheels, spare tire carrier, and many other pieces are later model T pieces. 

The wooden body structure is critical on these cars! And not knowing what was done to alter the door casts doubts on how much work it would require to make it right if one wanted to do so. Clearly the interior (such as it is?) was done after the door was rendered inoperable.

  W2….. You are correct about those wood “bones” on this car. One must perform an

extremely intense examination of the structure on the early Ford Sedans. This would be a fun car to putz with over time….BUT…..if one has only one Model T, that is enough to keep one busy. Ask me, I know😀😀
 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)

[JFranklin]

One door on a model T isn't uncommon at all. Ford didn't want drivers entering on the street side. Some laws also prohibited it.

[Buick35]

2 hours ago, JFranklin said:

One door on a model T isn't uncommon at all. Ford didn't want drivers entering on the street side. Some laws also prohibited it.

That's why my 35 Buick has the locking door key on the passenger side.

[wayne sheldon]

16 hours ago, JFranklin said:

One door on a model T isn't uncommon at all. Ford didn't want drivers entering on the street side. Some laws also prohibited it.

Runabouts/roadsters from 1913 through model year 1925 on USA built Ford cars were in fact one door, door on the right hand side only. Canadian cars had a driver's door because the bodies were built to fit both right side and left side driven depending upon province or colony they would eventually be sent to.

I am fairly sure that no Ford center-door sedan ever left the factory with only a single door! I owned one years ago. I have seen a couple dozen others in person. And looked at hundreds of era photographs. This is the first Ford center-door sedan I have ever seen set up this way.

I did a few years ago see good pictures of a higher end marque that did have only a single door on the one side. I don't offhand recall what it was? May have been a mid 1910s Chalmers or something similar. 

Center-door sedans were a coachworks natural progression in the earlier years of the automobile. They were most common from about 1913 through 1918 on non-Fords. I have seen or seen photos of Studebaker, Chalmers, Dodge, Maxwell, Hudson, and probably a dozen others over the years.

Ford carried the center-door sedan later than almost anybody else, with production through 1922 and sold as new into 1923.