I can relate. Just love my Merc 220E 1993. Still far more luxurious and smoother than the many other Japanese makes I've kept alongside it.Love my old Chevy, I don't drive it much, just wondering if anyone else has the same affliction.
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Any vintage car guys here?
- Thread starter mick71b
- Start date
Went to visit a very good friend of mine today and when I got there he said he had something for me to see in his garage. He's been restoring a 57 Vette and I thought it had to do with the Vette. Took me by surprise to see a 1970 454 SS El camino sitting there.
Hokey Dokey sportsfans - here are some videos of the Model T operating near our home in Harrow, Ontario.
She came to me in excellent shape except for the "timer and commutator" (think "distributor and rotor") which were simply worn out. Like modern distributors and rotors, these parts are normal maintenance parts and they're not expensive. With some extremely generous help from Brian and Tony who came over from Michigan with expertise and some parts, we also found two dud spark plugs and these were brand new Motorcraft plugs that had just been installed a few weeks before by the former owner.
Last weekend, Mrs. MaxPete and I drove out to Hickory Corners Michigan to the fantastic Gilmore Car Museum for the "Model T Experience" - a three hour extravaganza of history talks, examining nifty displays and driving Model Ts around the grounds of the Museum. The Mrs. did a superb job and handled the very odd Model T controls like a champ. If you know how to drive a standard transmission car - forget everything you know - because the Model T is nothing like that.
The Gilmore Museum was WELL worth the drive, I assure you. Anyhow, have a look at the videos and enjoy!
Pete
She came to me in excellent shape except for the "timer and commutator" (think "distributor and rotor") which were simply worn out. Like modern distributors and rotors, these parts are normal maintenance parts and they're not expensive. With some extremely generous help from Brian and Tony who came over from Michigan with expertise and some parts, we also found two dud spark plugs and these were brand new Motorcraft plugs that had just been installed a few weeks before by the former owner.
Last weekend, Mrs. MaxPete and I drove out to Hickory Corners Michigan to the fantastic Gilmore Car Museum for the "Model T Experience" - a three hour extravaganza of history talks, examining nifty displays and driving Model Ts around the grounds of the Museum. The Mrs. did a superb job and handled the very odd Model T controls like a champ. If you know how to drive a standard transmission car - forget everything you know - because the Model T is nothing like that.
The Gilmore Museum was WELL worth the drive, I assure you. Anyhow, have a look at the videos and enjoy!
Pete
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JAX71224
jax71224
Not old like modelT but I do have a '54 Buick Special 2door sedan. and also in my building, is my brother.s Lincoln Capri, a 2 door ht 1953.
I drove one like this, not as nice, in high school. Unlike the T this had conventional clutch and non-syncro 4 speed.
Yes indeed, T's take some time to master.
Did John Boy ride with you? I had the chance to buy a real nice one a few years back. Lack of garage space and too many projects.
It's utterly absurd that anyone would ever need to travel at more than 40 miles per hour. I mean, that's forty miles in an hour, which is a helluva rate of knots. Why, you could travel twice as far as your great grandpappy ever did from his home town in his entire life, now whattaya think of that?
Ford - Putting the T in Travel for over a century.
Helping to combat inbreeding, too.
My dad bought it but was not real handy. I became the de-facto mechanic at about 14 years old. Did brakes, head gasket and managed to remove inner rears for flat repairs. The bed had 3 foot stakes and rails. When mom and dad were out I would sneak it out of the garage, neighbor hood kids would climb in back and off we would go for a joy ride. I am amazed I never got pulled over when I was 14 and 15. Among the other things I did, a friend (he still sails with me 51 years later) and I sanded the body down to metal and brushed on a pretty decent coat of paint. I drove it to school sometimes too. I built up a really crude bracket to put a ball on and we pulled High School floats for homeconing and parades. My foremen at the gravel pit issued an interest in it 20 years ago as it languished in mom,s barn, I gave it to him, one less thing cluttering the barn. He shot himself dead 6 months later when the Packers lost to Detroit (?) so his son likely got it.
Oh very nice - a Model A truck!
By the time 1927 rolled around, the Model T had been in production for nearly 20 years - largely unchanged. Unfortunately, it had become outmoded since it only had 20 HP, very odd controls and it didn't even have front wheel brakes, let alone any sort of heater, defroster, a speedometer/odometer, brake lights, turn signals or even a windshield wiper. The top speed of a T is only about 40 mph (around 70 kph) and competitor cars were much faster, safer and more capable.
Edsel Ford (Henry's eldest son) had designed the much more sophisticated Model A to replace the T in the mid-1920s - but Henry had resisted dropping the Model T for several years until the car market simply forced Ford to switch to the more modern vehicle.
Anyhow - that is a very snazz red Model A!
Pete
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Henry also resisted ,tooth and nail, Hydraulic brakes. Ford was the last major auto company to ditch mechanical brakes... in 1939!
Right and that was pretty dodgey (get it??
) in my view because with 20 hp on-tap, that Model T really needed better brakes!
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Yeah, the T didn't, but by '28 A's were making 40hp and in '32 they introduced the V-8.
Ford rod and cable brakes lived on in the 1950-ish Anglia and Popular in the UK, which finally ceased production in the late-50s.
I had one, and while the brakes weren't a patch on anything of the 70s, they worked surprisingly well when I had them adjusted right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Popular
Friends with Model A's have said just what you said. Stay on top of the adjustment and they're not horrible. Also, the Popular only weighed 1600 lb.
In my 43 years of experience as a mechanical engineer, almost everything works well....if it is adjusted properly.
KEEPING it adjusted properly is the problem.
KEEPING it adjusted properly is the problem.
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So, some sad news on old Henrietta - my 1920 Model T Ford runabout/pickup. Mrs. and I were out in a large country fall fair parade on Sept. 2 and on the way home, about 500 ft from our house, I heard..."BANG, crunch crunch crunch". 
That was the sound of the 103 year-old crankshaft breaking....clearly not a positive development.
The Model T engine is a 2.9 litre inline flathead four with a very low compression ratio (about 3.82:1) so nothing is highly stressed, but crankshaft failures are not unknown - and I had one. The crank has only three main bearings and they are of the poured babbitt type which means that aside from getting a new crank, you need to melt and pour molten babbitt material (basically a tin-lead alloy like solder) into a mold to form the bearing. The process is simple and low-tech but I do not have all of the magic ingredients - most notably time and so I have found a guy who is a Model T specialist rebuilder and so I am going to pull the engine and transmission and take it to him for a rebuild.
Dammit.
I actually have been given (gratis) a replacement crankshaft - but it is even older than my broken one and I don't want to do this again. Fortunately, a modern 4340 alloy forged crankshaft replacement is available from Summit Racing and so, for the princely sum of only about $1600 USD, that is what I am going to have installed.
I started stripping down the car yesterday - drained the coolant, removed the radiator (its brass and weighs a ton) and moved the steering column out of the way - so just a few more steps to go before the big pull.
Anyhow, here is a photo of Henrietta taken this morning - and note how small the cut-out in the wooden firewall is. It juuuusst fits over top of the engine cylinder head. The big tall control pedals will not fit through that cut-out - no-way-Jose.
That was the sound of the 103 year-old crankshaft breaking....clearly not a positive development.
The Model T engine is a 2.9 litre inline flathead four with a very low compression ratio (about 3.82:1) so nothing is highly stressed, but crankshaft failures are not unknown - and I had one. The crank has only three main bearings and they are of the poured babbitt type which means that aside from getting a new crank, you need to melt and pour molten babbitt material (basically a tin-lead alloy like solder) into a mold to form the bearing. The process is simple and low-tech but I do not have all of the magic ingredients - most notably time and so I have found a guy who is a Model T specialist rebuilder and so I am going to pull the engine and transmission and take it to him for a rebuild.
Dammit.
I actually have been given (gratis) a replacement crankshaft - but it is even older than my broken one and I don't want to do this again. Fortunately, a modern 4340 alloy forged crankshaft replacement is available from Summit Racing and so, for the princely sum of only about $1600 USD, that is what I am going to have installed.
I started stripping down the car yesterday - drained the coolant, removed the radiator (its brass and weighs a ton) and moved the steering column out of the way - so just a few more steps to go before the big pull.
Anyhow, here is a photo of Henrietta taken this morning - and note how small the cut-out in the wooden firewall is. It juuuusst fits over top of the engine cylinder head. The big tall control pedals will not fit through that cut-out - no-way-Jose.
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Paleomechanic
XS650 Addict
I feel your pain! I blew apart , literally , my 2.0 vw bus aircooled engine ( again lol)
And now, complete re-engine to Subaru, and learning lots about blending of tech !
And now, complete re-engine to Subaru, and learning lots about blending of tech !
Well that sucks Pete.
If it were me, I'd be lookin' for a flathead V8 to stick in there.... but that's just me.
If it were me, I'd be lookin' for a flathead V8 to stick in there.... but that's just me.
I've overhauled a few Subaru boxer's that were airplane conversions. I'm impressed with 'em.... to the point my wife now drives a Subaru.
