Posted on 04/11/2020 5:26:07 PM PDT by NRx
A quick video guide on the basics of starting and driving a 1925 Ford Model T. This is exactly one step up from the horse in low tech transportation.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
ALSO 100% TRUE. = In point of FACT, MUCH of each Model T was DIPPED into Black Japan Enamel, as dipping was MUCH faster than spraying.
Yours, TMN78247
I noticed the bit in the video about fuel being fed by gravity. No fuel pump. That sounded like it might sometimes be a problem.
No corolla is actually come close to top ten. They are a dozen different models over decades with such name.
I believe the first place is shared between WV Bug and Fiat 124. Ford T is distant third. Actually a single Fiat 124 variant - Lada Riva was moved in much higher quantity than Ford T.
Thanks for posting. What a nice little car.
Wow. My dad bought a ‘31 4 door Model A. I learned a lot about cars by working on it. 200 cubic inch 4 cylinder engine. The pistons were huge. Ran of the most crappy gasoline. It had a lever on the right side of the steering wheel that worked like cruise control.
Learned to drive on that thing.
Clutch, reverse, bfake.
1964 took my first drivers license test in a 1930 Model A tudor sedan. Still own and occasionally drive a model A.
True. This was so common it became known as the “Ford fracture”.
Quite a car though. I was in Brazil during the mid sixties and they were all over.
Operating a Model T is simple compared with a steam car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQaq2WvNK6I
The ultra-modern Tesla still has a variation on that. You can have any color other than white as long as you are willing to pay more for it.
I think it is the same with most other brands.
“Heck of a thing for a kid to go through. Back then you had to be tough.”
He claimed a bone end had broken skin and was fairly tough...a golden gloves boxer. I’d guess this was in late 20’s/early 30’s and people were a lot rougher in that era.
“Ford Fracture.”
Very apropos!
Some brands/models offer special colors at a premium, but all give you a choice of a number of standard colors at the same price.
As far as I know, Tesla is the only one that offers a single “standard” color, charging as much as $2,500 for other colors.
A buddy of mine rebuilt a Model T some years ago. He marveled at the simplicity of the thing. Said there was no oil pump, just some scoops riveted to the flywheel which sloshed the lube where it was needed.
Also heard that Ford would send engineers around to the junk yards to check out what broke and what parts showed hardly any wear. Toughened up the parts that broke and cheapened those that outlasted the car. Another tale was that he told the shippers of parts to crate them in a certain size box, which he then used as a truck bed on some models.
Probably lots of tales like that floating around.
Skoda, Lada in Europe are white by default. Toyota is black or white. For any other color you have to pay huge premiums.
Fyi, it was “quickly learned” by Model T owners that it was sometimes necessary to BACK UP steep hills.
Yours, TMN78247
I bet aftermarket fuel pumps became available quickly. I checked, and you can still buy them for the Model T. Good weekend project for a T owner.
As best as I can remember, fuel pumps were never “factory” for Model T or TT vehicles, though by the end of the “brass era”, circa WWI, “aftermarket vendors” did sell a great many “accessory” fuel pumps for all post 1915 cars & trucks. Ford dealers also installed fuel pumps as an “additional profit center”.
(A “reasonably handy person”, who is NOT a mechanic, can install a fuel pump in one to two hours.)
The “brass era” cars/trucks were generally NOT so modified.
BTW, there were numerous “outside vendors” who published catalogs that were devoted to “improving” the Model T with all sorts of “add-ons” & “appearance parts”, including kits to convert a T to a “sporting vehicle” by replacing the standard body & fenders with a completely different body.
(OFFHAND, I can think of NO other car/truck that had as many possible “bolt on”.aftermarket parts for all sorts of uses.)
Note: When I was a child in the 1950s, there was a highway department sign on the OK side of a bridge across the Red River, which said: Speed Limit 55, Minimum 40. Model T drivers, do your best.
(Every time I saw that sign, I was amused.)
Yours, TMN78247
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