Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: A great Find on a Model T Ford

This is topic A great Find on a Model T Ford in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-24-2004, 06:07 PM:

Yesterday I saw a man I worked for about 15 years ago for the first time since I left. He told me about a car he found. He stored two semi antique cars in a garage behind a house in an older part of town. One day several years ago he was there getting one of the cars out for a drive when a woman in her '90s approached and invited him to buy the car in her garage. It was a 1911 Model T Ford that had belonged to her father. It had been in the garage since he died in 1921. It had 12,000 miles. Warren replaced upholstery and minor trim and it is like new. She asked $4,000, he gave her $5,000, worth much more.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 08-24-2004, 06:32 PM:

Wow, that must be the find of the century! [Cool]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 08-24-2004, 08:37 PM:

The find of last century, you mean.

Model Ts and As trade for all over the place...they were mainly collected by the WW2 generation since they were likely the cars they grew up with (we had a 30 Model-A for a couple of decades).

I don't know if they deal in T parts but Bratton's Antique Auto Parts in Gaithersburg, MD was the best source I ever had for Model-A parts...great service and generally the best quality parts too.

Steve

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-25-2004, 01:29 AM:

Hemmings Motor News is probably still the bible for Model T parts, services, sales & buying.

I remember the old Model T guys' social order compettion used to be who could get their car to idle & run slowest in parades. They'd be sitting there or *barely* moving & you could hear them going just 'tick...tick...tick...'

Model A's are a different animal, much more car-like than the T, but really handsome in body design. Personlly, if I had to choose among the 3, I'd take the famous V-8, like this discriminating auto owner. Those flatheads were & still are a marvel.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 08-26-2004, 11:59 AM:

When I was stationed at Camp Irwin, 30 miles from Barstow in the Mohave Desert in 1950, the men in our tank outfit used to buy Model A's and a few T's to upgrade for fun in the desert. They're built high off the ground, just the thing to clear rocks and brush, and the plenetary gearing enabled them to climb steep grades, especially in reverse. Such old cars were available because the dry climate discouraged rust.

Standard procedure was to lift the engine blocks using crossed 2 x 4's and a chain, if a motor pool hoist wasn't available, and then to replace worn plugs and rings with parts from Sears Roebuck & Co.

Those desert jalopies were used for explorations of the old miner's shacks and "ranch houses" in the Mohave, and much fun was had after working hours.