(first posted 7/11/2011) I have two regrets about taking on this CC. One, I couldn’t shoot myself standing in front of it. And two, I won’t be able to do the Model T full justice in the short time available (it would take a book or two). But today is a celebration of sorts: cars for tall folks as well as the diversity of cars (and writers) that make up Curbside Classics. So let’s celebrate by honoring the most important car of all time. And one of the tallest ones ever.
Let’s consider the first aspect of this tall-boy “telephone booth” coupe first, since it’s what stuck me most viscerally upon approaching it. Being 6’4″, I really notice the fairly rare encounters with someone taller then myself. Well, that just about never happens with passenger cars. But this coupe tops me, by about two inches. That is seriously tall. These two begin give a bit of human scale to it.
The awkward height of the coupe was an unavoidable outer manifestation of the T’s decline into obsolescence. Back when the T was first designed by Henry and his little coterie, enclosed car bodies were very rare indeed, and only the purview of the very richest of buyers. The T was designed as an open car, and very much in the vein of the “horseless carriage” as this very early model makes clear. The twenty years of the Model T’s life span was an eternity in the early decades of the motor car; like still running a 386 processor IBM PC today.
In the twenties, enclosed bodies became the hot new thing, for many obvious reasons. It was a s much of a revolution as the T itself had been. But the T’s slender and sky-high frame had been designed for the primitive rutted dirt “roads” of the time. An open-bodied Model T weighed all of 1200 lbs. Meanwhile Chevrolet was nipping at the T’s tail with much more stylish and modern cars that carried their closed bodies more gracefully.
Yes, Henry hung on the the T too long, in the misconceived notion that folks would keep buying it forever. The 1929 Model A (CC here)was originally intended to supplement the T, not replace it, but when T sales crashed in 1927, Henry saw the writing on the wall and just shuttered the plant until the A was ready. And the Model A makes a nice counterpoint to the T for more than just its ability to look handsome with enclosed bodies.
The A was also an opportunity for Henry to “perfect” the T, and having just taken a close look at the Model A’s mechanical excellence in that recent CC, it was interesting to see just how crude the T comes off in comparison.
I’m not going to do a shot-by-shot comparison on each of them, and obviously this T is hardly in the pristine shape as this restored A. But except for the change to a sliding-gear transmission, the A still had all of the T’s similar configuration and mechanical design, but just taken to its highest level execution.
Everything on the T just looks so much cruder although familiar, which given the early days of the automobile when it was hatched, is of course obvious. And it was a testament to Henry’s brilliant design in its simplicity and yet high quality that it lasted as long as it did. And although the T’s components may look crude, they were made of nothing but the finest materials Ford’s forges could hammer out.
While we’re underneath the T, and believe me, it’s the easiest car to shoot from below; one can practically walk under it, let’s take another look at the rear end from the front. The torque tube design, which creates a single pivot point behind the transmission, was a Ford hallmark, and carried right through 1948. Oan it looks remarkably similar to the Peugeot 404 rear axle design, because it is, except for the springing, of course. It’s a very durable design that allows massive articulation, just the thing for America’s roads in 1908 or Africa’s roads today.
One of T’s biggest limitations were the two gears its planetary transmission afforded. A big market developed for auxiliary transmissions, and perhaps the most successful was the Ruckstell two speed rear axle, shown here. It replaced one half of the T’s rear axle, and doubled the number of gear ratios. Since it also had a higher (lower numerical) axle ratio, the Ruckstell gave a wider overall spread of gears, everything from a stump-pulling granny low, to what amounted to an overdrive high. Over a million of these were sold, and it was the only one approved by Ford to be sold and installed by its dealers.
It’s pretty well known, but just in case you missed it by actually paying attention to your fourth grade teacher instead of reading about the Model T, its transmission needed no “clutch” in the usual sense. One just pushed the “low gear” pedal, the left one, and held it in, while the T lurched off to a less-than-elegant start. Releasing it once a gait something faster than a brisk walk was attained created a second lurch into direct, or high gear. The middle pedal engages reverse. And the right one is for the brake, rear only, and not very powerful, to say the least. Gas pedal?
That’s on the steering column, along with the spark advance. Yes, one doesn’t just hop in and drive a T without a bit of orientation. It’s quite a bit like a tractor though, in regard to many of those controls, not to mention its engine qualities.
I’m not going to even try to spell out the starting routine for the T, but let’s just say that the arm-weary motorists of the world embraced the self starter more affectionately than their children. Is it the origin of the word “cranky”?
But the T motor was state of the art in 1908, developing 20 hp from its 177 cubic inch (2.9 L) side-valve four. Its redline was 1600 rpm, and it developed 83 ft. lbs of torque at 900 rpm. A chugger indeed. And the heavy loads of enclosed bodies and the higher average speeds of the mid-late twenties conspired increasingly against it. Theoretically, a T could hit 45 mph; maybe a roadster with its windshield folded down and the driver in a tucked position. Most Ts chugged along up to about 35 or so; any more for any length of time was asking too much of it, and trouble.
That’s not to say the T couldn’t be coaxed to give more. It’s basic block, crank, connecting rods and pistons were so well made for the times of the best forgings, that the sky was the limit, as long as its breathing limitations were addressed. And how they were: the T started the whole hot rod/performance industry, in the twenties already. There were numerous high performance heads, and this Rajo is one of the more ambitious, with dual overhead cams and hemispherical combustion chambers. But they all used the stock Ford block and internal components.
Back then, it wasn’t drag racing, but oval racing. Modified Ts were ubiquitous, since the real racing engines like Millers were exorbitantly expensive. Modified Ts raced at at the Indianapolis 500, and dominated (in number) the dirt tracks that every little town had back then.
One of my recurring (of hundreds) auto-lusts is for a T Speedster, which can be anything from a very crude and simple cut down Roadster like this,
to more exotic and lowered versions. Their elemental and visceral appeal keeps at me like a recurring dream. And have we ever strayed from the tall-boy coupe today. That’s why this is so much fun…nobody is telling me to stick to Geometry, or next months’ sales forecasts.
But I do have other things that need attention, so we’ll wrap up our brief visit with the T. I’m looking forward to finding one of the early brass-radiator tourers, as it was the only one I had some personal experience in. In the summer of 1971 in Iowa City, a sort of glamor-hippie started cruising downtown with one on hot summer evenings. Needless to say, it was a total chick-magnet, and I’d sit there on the square in utter jealousy as he puttered off with beautiful young things squeezed in tight with him, and overflowing out of the rear seat.
One night things must have been mighty slow, and there was room in the back for one more, so he deigned to invite me for a ride out to the Dairy Queen and a detour in the country on the way back (his imperious attitude made it obvious as to who was buying). But it was well worth it. There’s nothing like chugging down a quiet road on a hot evening in a dead Midwestern town, skin to skin. It still gives me aches today…to remember watching him drive off with them after he unceremoniously dropped me off.
No wonder I’m fixated on Ts, although now I’ll stick to two-passenger versions. But not this coupe please. If I’m going to have a vehicle that likes to cruise at 35, make it an open one. This one reminds me too much of my Xb anyway. Wonder if anybody’s converted an Xb into a T-Coupe replica?
“the brake, rear only, and not very powerful”.
One could achieve a very effective panic stop in a T by simply standing hard on all three pedals at once. I don’t know how much of this the car could stand, but it certainly stops the car!
There’s a “Rocky Mountain” brake add-on that was very popular for very obvious reasons.
I’ve seen little “helper” springs in the front suspension of later T’s , not to support the car but to reduce lateral movement of the axle ( I presume).
Ref the torque tube rear end , this lasted until ’59 on the cheapest UK Ford.
AH yes the wonderful Popular sit up and beg variety but that was a 30s design and like the model T in its dotage Ford nearly gave them away new
Before we dis on the torque tube too much, remember that Buick used one too – and into the 50s. This was why Buick passed on the Hydra Matic – the stiff (jerky?) shifts transmitted themselves all through the driveline. Buick did, however, use a more modern spring setup.
Some forget that the T only became a cheap car once mass production really took off around 1918 or 1919. Henry got the price for a 2 passenger roadster down to $265 FOB Detroit in 1925 or 26. People also forget that the T originally came in colors. The “any color you want so long as it is black” only came about because there was only one kind of paint that would dry fast enough for the Ford production lines – a particular kind of enamel that was only available in black.
When the T came out in 1908, it would have been an excellent car at double the price. The car was extremely quick when brand new. Higher speeds were not of much use because the roads were so bad. Even with only 20 horsepower (by no means an embarassing number in 1908) the low weight of the car made it a little rocket up to 25 or so. Henry Ford was one of the few proponents of light weight in cars in those early days. And as pointed out, the car was made of really high quality materials.
A touring car would be for me – if you own a car like this, you have to give people rides. When I was a kid, we went to Greenfield Village in Detroit. They would give Model T rides as one of the features of the park. The car really was a hoot to ride in on a warm summer afternoon.
The torque tube hanged around quite a bit longer – Rambler used them at least through 1962, if I’m not mistaken.
Also the T-Car, the Chevette and derivatives, used a modified torque tube that transmitted the shove to a frame crossmember halfway up the driveline. It was primarily done to keep the rear end from wrapping up, the way the Vega did; so much so that the Vega clones got a brace running from the rear end along the shaft to the tail of the transmission. The modified half-torque-tube was more elegant; even if the car wasn’t as pleasant a road-goer.
Rambler used torque-tube drive on its larger car lines (Classic and Ambassador) through the 1966 model year. The system used coil springs and was basically a holdover from the 1949 Nash Airflyte.
Who’s dissing torque tubes? It’s a brilliant design; it’s inherent advantages were obvious, and that’s why it stuck around so long.
The rear Salisbury-type (open) solid rear axles with leaf springs never fully overcame its limitations until multi-link coil setups properly controlled both its forward and sideways motions. That just took some more money, which hardly anyone wanted to spend.
From what I understand, the big problem with the torque tube was, not operation but maintenance – clutch replacement. I remember reading a long write-up of why a certain car, I don’t remember if it was Plymouth or Pontiac or what…why it was unpopular as a taxicab in the early 1950s.
Seems that to replace the clutch, which must have been an ongoing issue for a cab company…to replace it, the engine had to come out, FORWARD, out the nose. Transmission couldn’t be pulled back without pulling out the rear axle and torque tube. So the whole thing had to be broken down in an awkward, expensive manner.
With an open shaft and sliding yoke on the transmission tailshaft, there’s not that problem. Just two U-bolts, then pull back the transmission to break the housing open.
Very true; and good point.
I changed at least one 46-48 Ford tranny. As easy as it was to pull a flathead engine, it was easier to jack up the car, drop and pull back the rear end, and then pull the transmission. I still thought it was a pain though.
Utes with enclodsed drive shafts were good on farms no spinning shaft to pickup twine grass and other crap it was a feature not a problem
That’s true – I never thought of that. Running across a field, or on a grass-covered “road,” the torque-tube setup would be a real plus. In fact, it was probably something Old Henry intended.
Henrys farmer style engineering wasnt all bad Ive seen old adverts where Torque tubes were called an advantage
Chevy used torque tube drive but used longitudinal leaves not transverse in fact in the 1937 data book torque tube drive has a little chapter extolling its vitues one univesal joint lubricated automatically from the transmission being one.
Chevrolet still uses torque tubes and transverse leaf springs, 97 through current model corvettes!
Umm, no. That’s not a torque tube. The whole reason it’s called a torque tube is because torque forces that would change the location/geometry of the rear axle are taken up against the rigidly-installed transmission. That makes it possibly to use transverse springs, as the Ford did. If one tried to use those springs on a non-torque tube rear end, it would be all over the place, as those springs do not provide enough rigidity to locate the axle.
The Corvette uses a rigid tube to connect to the rear end, but that tube plays no role in locating the wheels/suspension.
Back in my fathers time farmers seemed to think torque tube equiped cars were much better on farms in mud feeding out they did not get stuck just mudgrip tyres on the back and off you go no such thing as 4×4
The arguement was axle location as Paul points out a torque tube provides positive axle location cheaply its already there Henrys radius arms were the rest of the eqation but that only came in a Ford it worked so well he couldnt part with it, Shame about no juice brakes in 1959 though in your new Ford Pop
Arent 21inch rims a big deal these days? model A got em stock
Enclosed carbodies did not outsell open cars until 1921. For one thing, they were more expensive. Second, most car makers, with the exception of Dodge, still used a considerable amount of wood in their bodies. It didn’t take long (maybe a week) driving on bad roads or cobblestones to loosen the body up to the point that the glazing set up a terrible racket, making the interior an unpleasant place to be. The Dodge Brothers bought their bodies from the Budd Company which used no wood, only welded steel stampings. Once buyers figured out the benefits of a carbody fabricated from all steel, they began buying closed cars. The welded steel body had another cataclysmic impact-it changed car building from a seasonal affair to a year-round business. People could actually drive their cars in the winter months with a modicum of comfort. Edward Budd was a genius and as important to the development of the automobile as Kettering with his electric starter, and Leland with interchangeable parts.
I don’t think this has been addressed yet, but the pedal on the right while indeed being the brake pedal did not connect to the rear wheels but pressed it’s own set of bands to the tranny. The mechanical brakes at the rear were actuated by the hand brake lever to the left of the driver – all the way back put the tranny in neutral and braked the rear wheels – half way down moved the clutch pedal to neutral with no brakes – all the way down allowed the clutch pedal to drop (or pop up) into high gear. I have a ’23 Touring Car in my garage.
I don’t know if it was unique to the T, but the gear reduction for the steering is a planetary set at the very top of the column. The gears are housed in a brass disk just below the steering wheel which can be removed by unscrewing the top of the disk. When I was 15, I had the pleasure of finding a tractor made from a cut down T in the barn of a friend’s grandfather. The great old guy let me get it running and drive it around. Quite a nice learning experience. He had large collection of T parts in which I found an electric starter which I installed along with a battery. The battery in combination with the reed vibrating coils would “excite” when the ignition was switched on. Once, just after the engine had been shut down for a very short time, it spontaneously started when I turned on the ignition.
Hello, Mr. Belanger. Just wanted to let you know that the Model T’s “instant starting” ability was well known to it’s owners, and even counted on, back in the day.
In my youth, I knew an old gentleman who kept a ’26 “T” delivery van painted in the livery of his moving business. It was a frequent site in our local 4th of July Parades.
I remember him explaining the manual starting procedure, but then adding, “Of course, on a hot day, after shutting-off the motor, you might get 15 minutes or so, where you could start it by just switching on the ignition.”
“Really?”, I inquired.
Apparently, the condenser coils would hold enough of a charge that simply turning-on the ignition would send a spark to the plugs, and one would fire a hot, vaporous cylinder, and kick-over the motor. (Accompanied, I was told, by a satisfyingly loud backfire.) Didn’t work all the time, he said, but often enough.
It seems people counted on this phenomenon, as he well recalled folks cutting short their cracker barrel socializing, saying, “Well, I best be going, if I don’t want to crank it.”
I Love this the picture this 26 Model T very intertest but the T is Tin Lizzy its for everbody to buy it. Its wasn’t made for the tall people so I like to know if you got pictures for this Beautiful car my e-mail address is joekays@att.net please email anything about this Coupe
When I was 10 I got a ride in a 1924 Model T coupe. I thought it was one of the coolest things that had happened in my life up to that point in time…and for a ten year old kid looking down from that vantage point I might as well have been in a big rig. My dad was following in our (then new) ’73 Impala, and while it was a much more advanced car in so many ways, I loved the feeling that I was riding in a functional piece of history. The Impala rusted out and went to the junkyard…that Model T is likely still on the road.
I prefer closed cars and would think this T Model Coupe to be a good one , once you repaired the DANGEROUSLY worn out spring shackles .
For those who don’t know , many aspects of T Model Fords were deadly if you didn’t know about them ~ one being those ‘ widow maker ‘ buggy springs .
I’d thought that by 1926 they had wire wheels , apparently not .
-Nate
You are right Nate. 26 was the first yr wire wheels were offered at additional cost. My grandfathers 26 had them. 1927 (last year) T production were all wire wheels
I see this in traffic occasionally it gets along ok for what it is
The Model T and its successor Model A – more than one historian have said that these car really won World War II. Because they were so ubiquitous and because they opened up the car market to many other brands nearly every American male in 1941 had experience working on, driving, maintaining, repairing, etc. cars. This provided a huge pool of mechanical knowledge and inventiveness that kept trucks and tanks going in tough conditions. The same knowledge sure helped with airplane engines and ship components too.
And, the mass production techniques perfected building cars allowed us to rapidly crank out all sorts of massive quantities of war material.
So, hats off to the T (and A) as saviours of the world!
I have always liked the Model T and my favorite version of it is the Model TT truck. In September I went to a car show that had a 1925 Model TT dump truck that the owner had restored but allowed people to sit in it and touch it. It was pretty cool
front
Sales crashed in 1927 because Ford shuttered the plant. Not before.
Sorry, but you’re wrong. Sales dropped way off, which forced Henry’s hand to build a new car.
I stand corrected and better educated.
The new beauty T of 23/25 there abouts was a last ditch attempt to revive sales but that boat had sailed Chevrolet and Dodge ate the Ts lunch, it was simply too far out of date
This post reminds me how much longer (some) cars last nowadays, or at least how much more drivable a 50 year old car is today. When I was a kid, there were one or two daily driver Model A’s in town, maybe 35 years old. But a Model T was something one saw only at a car show or museum; maybe in a parade. Today, I see a few 40 and 50 year old air-cooled VW’s and a handful of 40-50-60 year old American cars or pickups every day, and many 35 year old Toyota and American pickups. In fact, we have a couple of flathead 1930’s Ford rods I see regularly in town, though I suspect that’s kind of unusual. I can’t remember the last time I saw a T on the road, and A’s are a rarity as well.
Old post, but I still think it’s weird that a ratty T would have electronic ignition, why bother adding that? Cheaper than fixing a magneto?
I would have gone for a battery and self starter, or maybe a tailpipe…
There are a couple of T’s in my area that I see very rarely, I have read that they aren’t at all suitable for modern traffic. Model A can do it with caution.
Thought that myself – of what possible use could an electronic ignition be on a Model T? If I were closer to Detroit, I could probably feel the vibration from Henry Ford spinning in his grave.
IIRC by 1926 T models had a Delco distributor and generator , negating the crappy old flywheel magneto , four buzzing coil boxes (made of wood no less) and so on……
Any typ of breakerless ignition (T’s used a roller contact not breaker points but I digress) allows for a *much* hotter spark , better ignition and so more power , smoother running blah blah blah .
Me , I’da fixed the unsafe suspension and added a new exhaust first but then , electronic ignition has to be experienced on an old 6 volt vehicle to be believed .
-Nate
Model Ts never got a Delco distributor; they used a trembler coil and magneto to the end. But the coil could be fired by battery power or by the magneto,
The True Fire electronic ignition comes in a wooden box that looks just like the original, but replaces the coils and magneto. In the T world, there are those in favor and against it, not surprisingly. The original coils and magneto do wear out; those on tours always carry spares.
But nobody claims that the electronic unit will improve performance or such; the original seems to work just fine in meeting the sparking demands of the T’s engine, as long as the system is adjusted and working properly.
Pretty amazing that the featured car was the more graceful of the closed bodies–the true “phone booth” was the first generation of closed T. I’m not sure if it’s actually taller or its just the comparison to the low cowl and tail, but it certainly looks taller!
My 1924 Model T Mercury body speedster that my late father restored many years ago.
It has three transmissions, the planetary two speed, Warford two speed and Ruckstell three speed transmissons. It also has a ricardo head.
It easily keeps up with modern freeway traffic. My father was caught driving the freeway doing 70 MPH by a friend of my mothers. Dad had some explaining to do when he got home!
A splendid Speedster. I’ve had a powerful attraction to these for almost forever. Enjoy!
Wow! Three transmissions. How does that work? Beautiful car. Glad to hear it’s still in the family after all these years. Is one a 2 speed rear end, and the 3 speed the middle transmission?
On the topic of modern stuff on Model Ts, how about this disc brake seen on the rear of a Model T? The car appeared to be pretty standard otherwise so I imagine it is the owner’s insurance against cars merging into his braking zone.
Wonder how it would fare In a wind tunnel.