I’ve been seeing this Model T, which I peg as either a 1915 or 1916 model year, repeatedly around Port Orford. It obviously gets used regularly, and the bucolic traffic (not a single stop light) and mild climate makes it an ideal around-town conveyance. I finally ran into it parked on one of our walks, and took a couple of shots.
It has of course been restored, but it’s not exactly being pampered, which I approve of. I have long wanted to drive a T; maybe one of these days.
I have spent some time in the back seat of one, a four door touring model like this, but an even earlier one without the compound curved cowl. In the summer of 1972 in Iowa City, there was a colorful hippie-ish character who used to drive into downtown on warm summer evenings and just cruise around and offer rides. His preferred target demo was attractive young women, but one night I scored because I was with a couple of them. Naturally I got the back seat. His T was a very successful chick magnet of the times, with the right kind of chicks.
It was wonderful chugging around town and a little jaunt out into the countryside in the balmy evening. Given the speed of 25 mph or so, my long hair didn’t even get tangled.
I do like elementary motoring, and I could easily see myself behind the wheel of this, running down to the hardware store and such in Port Orford.
Cool to see something like this get daily driven!
I rode in one once out on an open Iowa highway and it made me quite nervous. One sits up high and the handling is like a covered wagon. Every bump on the highway was felt and I swore we were going to roll and crash.
The two-tone red and black paint job emphasizes how the fenders blend into the rest of the bodywork, especially the loooong stretch from the front fender to the front frame rails.
A favorite Model T memory is the time I saw a group of about 6 T’s taking an October Sunday drive. The air was crisp and the leaves were in their fall colors and falling. All of the cars were restored except for one. It was quite rusty, the top was down and probably had been for 50 years and there were blankets on the seats. It looked like it was dragged out of a barn and gotten running and now it was being used. The best part was that all 4 people in it were wearing raccoon coats. (They were popular in the 20’s.)
The ’16 was the last year for the brass radiator and the step at the front of the cowl fairing,
very little different to a ’15 so hard to tell from pics.
I dearly love early “T”s, and almost bought a ’13 Touring Car a couple years ago but the owner died and it disappeared, probably to his son. Those had the brass rad and a flat cowling, no fairing, my favorite style (pic). My uncle had a ’23 sedan and ’24 roadster, they’re a hoot to drive – very different for sure! imo it’s the most influential car ever built.
It was a very hot afternoon in Springfield a few years ago. I was out running tasks and suddenly spotted a black 1915 Brass Model T rolling down on North Dirksen. Ran my errand and as I drove past the Lowes, by a few trees on the edge of the four acre parking lot – sat that car. In the shade.
I drove up. Parked. Then introduced myself to a man dressed like a Mennonite – his appearance fit the Model T to a – um, yeah – a T. Straw farm hat, black bibs, white cotton collared dress shirt and a gray long beard. He was eating a lunch in the shade, parked next to his ride.
I pulled out my folding chair from my car trunk, (it’s always with me for kid events), and relaxed. He said he was from Kansas, which was one of my home states, and lived near the Flint Hills. I know it well. He told me the story about his Model T. He had owned it 50 years. It is kept in one of his out buildings and he has had it disassembled and then reassembled many times. The car’s mechanicals were original, but he had replaced all the wood used in the platform with fresh high quality oak.
This gentleman from yesteryear explained to me that every single part of his Model T is made of a very high quality steel, brass or copper and was made to be serviced. Every bolt comes off with a little tug, the threads stay solid, and bolts don’t fray. I admired the wooden wheels, which in his parts of Kansas still resides men who were like my great grandfather – coopers and wood workers, able to mend and build them.
I spent about an hour with him, sitting in the shade, and enjoying his stories. He drove the Model T from his Kansas farm to Dearborn, taking all the two lanes between home and his Michigan destination. He spends the entire day rolling slowly down the two lane roads and pulls in for the evening when dusk arrives. It takes him six days each way.
As you can imagine, I had a whole lot of fun discussing Kansas, his Model T and his trips over the years. It is admirable that there are many folks still out there with one of the millions of Model T Fords, caring for them and ensuring that they are passed down to the next generation. Admirable.
As others have said, I think it’s just great to see something like this getting regular use around town.
I’ve never driven or ridden in a Model T, but I have big appreciation for them as once commonplace, now antique, technology. I mean, it all started with these, right? And now 99% of them are gone. Seems like the few remaining ought to get some visibility doing what they were designed to do (or at least the very very geriatric version of what they were designed to do).
How adorable!
I have gotten but a single ride in a T, and that was at Greenfield Village in Dearborn back in the 1970s. Maybe 10-15 years ago I would occasionally see one out for a cruise in the vicinity around my neighborhood. Suburban traffic and many 40 mph roads would have been a challenging environment for that car, given its modest power and its two-wheel brakes. My God, the 4 wheel mechanical brakes on my Model A were awful, so I cannot begin to imagine life without the two on the front wheels!
A small town and country roads were what this car was built for, and still its best environment. I love this one! I suspect that those wire wheels are from a later car, but this is just a guess.
In the late 80s I decided to get a hobby car that I could use as a daily driver in the summer. My first thought was a Model A. Simple to maintain, great parts availability, but when I looked into it, they did not seem up to the traffic of a city like Toronto. As you point out, it is the brakes that are the biggest limitation. I ended up getting a late Citroen 2CV which works well in traffic and has front disc brakes. I now live in a small town and there are 2 Model As that are regularly driven in summer, so they still work in the right environment, but I imagine that a T would be significantly more limited in modern traffic.
I find Model T Fords really interesting and charismatic, a real milestone car in it’s engineering and cultural impact.
Very nice, but surely a daily driver needs front brakes ? Since these cars aren’t scarce, it surely wouldn’t hurt the value to up-grade it ?
It’s certainly been done before. Thing is, the front end on a Model T wasn’t designed with the inclusion of front wheel brakes in mind, so you’re introducing stresses to steering and suspension components that are far outside the original operational envelope. This is not insurmountable, but needs to be taken into consideration. It’ll certainly be more comfortable to drive faster now, but the headlamps aren’t really up to the task above 25mph or so, and this ox-cart suspension with no shock absorbers can get pretty sketchy above 35.
I haven’t had the privilege of motoring in a T Ford, but have driven a brass era car just enough to get a “feel” for braking on the rear axle only. My experience told me that, even though four wheel brakes *would* be better, you probably wouldn’t be pushing it hard enough to really benefit from the addition said brakes. To do so would sort of be missing the point of willfully driving a veteran motorcar.
Nice to see it still out being enjoyed .
‘T’ Model Fords only had -one- brake and it’s inside the transmission .
‘Rocky Mountain Brakes’ were but one of the many aftermarket wheel brakes one could add .
-Nate
I got to drive one back in 2016 for a few hours. It was a lot of fun, but it cured me of ever wanting to own one – there is no legroom for a six-footer. On the other hand, the chances of driving one for more than an hour at a time are not that likely, and they can be had inexpensively, so……..
Although I’ve driven across the country something like 14 times, I never approached the adventurousness of my father and his two friends. They drove from Minneapolis to Seattle, then down the west coast to San Diego in this T, circa 1926. According to the diary he kept, a single flat tire on the way to the northwest, but fourteen heading south! Think of the roads they must’ve traveled! Here’s Dad straddling the cowl in the Black Hills.
Your dad’s car appears to have accessory Hassler anti-shimmy springs .
-Nate