There was a 1926 Roadster that lived 2 houses up from me when I was a kid. I went for rides in it, the guy who owned it was really nice about that, but I never got to drive it. He would gladly take people for rides in it, but I never remember him letting anyone else drive it. Something about T-models were very different than other cars, & were difficult to drive. I can't imagine a car that has only 20 HP, & a top speed of maybe 45 being hard to drive, but there you go. Maybe it was because T-models only had brakes on the rear wheels.

I've ridden in a T-bucket roadster before... does that count? :)

Scott

I have, but not recently. They are completely different than a regular car. They were supposed to be easier to drive. In the days before synchromesh, having a T meant you didn't have to learn to double clutch.

John

There are two versions, BTW. The most common one has 3 pedals and a lever. None of those three pedals are gas. The gas is on the steering wheel. I think one pedal is reverse, one is down for low and up for high, with neutral in the middle, and the lever is some strange combination of emergency brake and clutch. The last pedal must be the brakes. Dont quote me on any of that. It's been years.

I drove one that my step father restored quite a few years ago. It had a two speed transmission operated by a pedal, no clutch as we now know it. I remember that going up a steep hill was quite a challenge for it.

six flags St. louis has a car ride that has old model T's--but they go very slow, so Im not sure if you could count them.:D :D :lmao::lmao::lmao:

There are two versions, BTW. The most common one has 3 pedals and a lever. None of those three pedals are gas. The gas is on the steering wheel. I think one pedal is reverse, one is down for low and up for high, with neutral in the middle, and the lever is some strange combination of emergency brake and clutch. The last pedal must be the brakes. Dont quote me on any of that. It's been years.
This is right on, my dad had one when I was a kid, BTW I still have a Model A Pickup, lots of fun in parades and such!

... I was a passenger in one this past weekend!

It works just as described by blue_lateral and divotdog.

Nope oldest I know I have driven was a 37 chevy pickup. I owned a 40 Dodge coupe and since 1962 my dad first then me have owned a 48 Willys Jeep. And the first vehical I legally drove on the road was a 46 Ford 2 ton Farm truck hauling Pole beans when I was 14. Took my drivers test in a 56 Chevy wagon. I have driven a pre WWII John Deere tractor. But that was mostly in a loafing shed and you might not want to hear about that.

This is the biggest thing I have driven:http://www.deadzoom.com/member/awahlster/EagleHaysemi.jpg

'26 T Roadster Pickup. Belonged to my cousins. We'd take it to high school every now and then in the 60s. That, or the '39 Dodge Weapons Carrier......

We had a '25 or '26 T model truck (wood bed and side boards) at my Dad's car lot that I drove a few times. It ran smooth as butter. But when that sucker hit a pothole or a large bump, it'd bounce up and down for minutes!

T-models had these leather or fabric bands in their transmissions. They didn't last very long,& it was a BITCH to change 'em, but you could get a little more life out of 'em if you went in reverse quite a bit. Also, the gas tank on Ts was under the front seat, & it was gravity fed. A savvy T driver w/a low on fuel tank learned to back up hills, it equalised band wear, & put the drain on the fuel tank above the motor...

I have a very cool old book by Floyd Clymer on the history of the Model T. I believe it's called "Henry's Wonderful Model T", and it dates to the early or mid 1950's.

We have a friend here in town who has a Model T. I've seen it,but not ridden in nor driven it.

My father liked Model T's. Growing up he had two of them, a 1913 brass Touring and a 1923 Touring. Yes, T's are very primitive and therefore difficult to drive. I liken them to driving an old tractor on the interstate. Everything is mechanical with no hydraulics or vacuum to assist with the braking, steering, etc. On top of that, the suspension is primitive with leaf springs for shocks and radius rods for turning. There is no distributor, you must set the gas and spark. The transmission uses mechanical bands and there are three pedals. The forward speed is either hi or low and you must maintain the pressure on the pedal. On top of that the early T's did not have an electric starter and required the use of a hand crank at the crankshaft to turn over the motor and start it. Not only was this tiring as the motor was hard to turn over, but also dangerous. It the motor kicked and you had the hand crank gripped wrong, chances are your arm would be broken! Driving one of these babys is more than controlling the horsepower. Ahhhh, such fond memories! In this instance, good thing they don't make them like they used to.

Driving one of these babys is more than controlling the horsepower.
the 20 hp, if memory serves...

Yeah, Ts were just barely transportation-IIRC, the 1st "closed" one was the center-door sedan of 1915. I saw one of those once-the windows were in wooden frames, & raised up & down on these fabric straps. They rattled, didn't look water or wind proof, & people were wary of being sliced to pieces by broken glass in a crash. They looked very top-heavy, too-in those days, you sat ON a car rather than IN it. No heater, A/C, sound system, power windows, cruise...

Not much in the way of roads then, either! :-)

The one I rode in last weekend had a heater.... the heat from the engine rising up through the floorboards! (...literally wooden boards by the way)

Yep, the bodies were all-wood til 1911..and used a LOT of wood even after that. IIRC, Ford used wooden floorboards up until 1940. But Henry Ford had vast woodland holdings in northern Michigan, & he believed in putting all his assets to good use...

Henry was very shrewd. The wooden floor boards were made from crates sent by the suppliers. Henry spec'd the crates so they could be used for the floorboards. But, this was the first mass produced car that the masses could afford. There is something to be said for that and the genious of Henry Ford.

The T was inexpensive, but it wasn't cheap. Henry used chrome-vanadium steel in its construction, that contributed to to the T's legendary strength & toughness, despite the fact Ts were very light. They had an interesting way of testing back then-Ford employed men whose job it was to literally break things-then they would drop them on the designer's desk. If they could not break something, the designer might get a note saying the part was "Goddam good", if it broke, the note would say "No goddam good". The basic mechanical design of the T didn't fundamentally change for its entire lifespan-1908-27-but they were like the Volkswagen. A 1975 VW & its 1949 ancestor are clearly the same car, but had been detail changed in myriad ways. Ts got cheaper as they went along- in 1908, a touring car was $875, by 1926, a 2-passenger roadster was just $260. But by the late '20s, people wanted a little nicer car, one that offered more speed, refinement & safety. Low prices could simply not make up for the T's many shortcomings. And the deal on the "Any color they want, so long as it's black"-Ts were available in colors up til about 1913, & again for a few years before they were discontinued. But some 15 million Ts were made-prolly the largest number of man-made anything at that time.

They had two-wheel mechanical brakes up til their last couple of years. Even Henry Ford finally learned that folks' tastes had changed , but really too late to keep the T going indefinitely.

Wonder if the company that now (still) bears his name will figure it out too late as well (or not at all). And I say this as a multi-Ford owner...

My brothers (twins) own a '23 T. Also, my father bought one new and drove it up Pikes Peak. Had to go in reverse on the steep parts due to the gravity feed carb.

The T never had 4 wheel brakes-they showed up, finally, in 1928 on the Model A. Even then, Ford brakes were inferior-Henry didn't trust hydraulics, & used a cable & rod system til the late '30s. The 1932 V-8 engine was a tour-de-force, but by the late '30s, Fords were at a distinct disadvantage compared to their principal competitors, lacking hydraulic brakes, independent front suspension, & other features. Even the mighty V-8 had its faults, vapor-locking, high oil consumption among them.

I have to double-check my memory -- I thought they made some change to the brakes ca. 1926 on the T.

I do know they went to pneumatic tires towards the end. Maybe that's what I am thinking of.

My dates could be off, but my dad has a friend with a Model T (a 1908...VERY early model, very basic, and in COLORFUL BLACK...with an AAAOOOOGAH horn). As a kid in the mid-1960s, when we would visit his house, we'd get rides in the ol' Model T and a very early Porsche Speedster from the 1950s...what a treat that was!

"Rocky Mountain Brakes" were an option. These were just the same sort of external band brakes found on contemporary cars at the time. They were also on the back wheels, and supplemented the T's tiny drums.

Perhaps these were made standard at the end? I'm pretty sure there was never anything on the front.

John

Yep. "Balloon" tires, they called 'em-on demountable rims. They DID take a little of the jounce out of the ride. A T model is so completely out of its element in 2006, its not even funny. The guy I knew drove his only on Saturday mornings, every once in a great while, & in parades.

BTW, the earliest T's (and the last ones) were available in colors besides black -- and I am sure Sandy knew THAT! :-)

The early ones were also the most attractive by far with their brass radiators, head lights and cowl lights. The later ones were body color and not nearly as good a lookers.

The "classic" brass era started to end 1913-14, & was gone for good by 1917. That year the T got curved fenders,"streamlined" hood & cowl, & all the brass trim-which had been fairly ornate- was gone, except for a couple of small cowl lights, & the tail light.

The transmission in the T used a planetary gear set just like modern automatic transmissions. The difference is in the T, the foot pedel applied band brakes to change gears. In the automatic transmission it's done hydraulically.

- Pete

*snicker*

There is no distributor, you must set the gas and spark.
Thanks, pen_man. I was thinking the T had a manual spark advance, but couldn't positively recall. THAT made it fun, I'm sure... manually setting the spark timing while you drive!

I think one of the main functions of the spark lever was to set up the timing (retard?) for starting it with the crank so it would be less likely to kick back.
I've got a Model "A" engine which runs an air compressor and the manual spark lever works like the vacuum advance would in a modern engine, it moves the position of the points with relation to the rotor.
How did the Model T ignition system work? It seems like it had a vibrator type device which used dry cell batteries in the primary and constantly provided a spark as opposed to the points/rotor/distributor on a more modern engine?

Yes. The distributor or "timer" as they called it was in the low-voltage side of the ignition on a "T". There were four vibrator coils, one for each cylinder. The timer determined which one was buzzing. The spark lever just turned the timer like an "A" turned the distributor.

John