Im looking at a 27 Ford roadster PU. upon closer inspection, i noticed there is no shifter ? is this some type of automatic, and does it have reverse. is this a decent setup ? it is a bid item, what is this worth it has a builder title and been garaged since the 70's Thanks
I believe it has 3 pedals and one of those is for shifting.. The throttle is on the column... I could be wrong, however...
Model T. Two speed, planetary trans. You shift with your feet. There are Youtube videos explaining how it works. I drove many miles in my 25. Lots of fun but you have to forget everything that you know about driving a car
That's actually a 26 or 27. Might be an early 26 (registered as a 25) more detailed pics will tell the tale. Hi/low (clutch) pedal is on the left, reverse in the middle, and brake on the right;
alright since you asked nice. It's not missing anything, it is not an automatic, it's worth whatever your willing to pay for it, and you should save some of your budget for a model t book. I'm familiar enough with older fords to know for the most part what does what and even I would be leery of purchasing one with out having a model t "guy" come look at it and then Walk me threw the finer points with some driver tutoring thrown in for fun. These are early cars and not much about them is even similar to cars from even the mid 30's. To answer the shifting question with more fact than snark all those pedals are your shifters and the levers on the Column by the wheel are timing controls.
.....and the so called brake handle, you need to shove it forward. The last of 2 T's I had...that car hated me. It was handcrank to start and no matter where you set the hand lever, and adjusted the pedal linkage, it would start and try to run me over.. I got even...I fixed it good...I took it apart and sold the chassis to one hamber and the body went to Pete
Interesting thing about both T's I had; Sometimes the engine would be "on compression" from when it was shut off. By just turning on the coil box, it sometimes started without ever cranking the engine.
Geez, I forgot that old term of "free start". You got to wonder how they handcranked these in dead of winter...I know they suggested jacking up one rear wheel...but what a technology. And now, people bitch when the seat heater stops working on their modern car
To be honest, I didn't know either. I guess all of the ones I've really looked at had been converted so I didn't know any different. I guess I learned something new today.
Basically a powerglide with no converter and manual shift, plus the reverse band gets to function as one of the car's 2 brake systems. And no living human being who is not an old car nut could ever steal one! Nowadays, we have manual shift converterless glides with a neutral lever appended to the servo piston serving in circle track racers. We have plenty of creative people on here who are probably not very closely aware of reality and crap like that... Why not build a T bucket around that concept, hooked up to original T pedal cluster and lever, hand throttle, so that it is driven like a stock T?? I don't see any major obstacles except the sanity thing, and you'd have an entirely personal car, utterly undriveable by other humans. Nurse!! I want my cookie and my pills!! Now!!!
umm guys be on the look out for Bruce he escaped us once again ... my granddfather showed me how to drive one I kept on killing the poor thign trying to drive it like a regular car , he told me when they made doodle bugs ( the tractor type ) out of them the pedal arrangement made it easy to drive it like a lift truck
Did anyone see the episode of Top Gear ( the REAL one, not the American piece of crap) where they parked a T in front of some foo foo hotel in southern France or Monte Carlo? The normal procedure for the pretty people is to park their "more money than brains" car up front until the next idiot in a Lambo comes along. At that point the first car is parked somewhere else by the valet. TG guys pulled up in a T touring and parked it. It was still there in the morning. No one had a clue as to how to start or move it. The best HAMB friendly moment on that show.
I have 2 T's and one is an original 27 coupe, afew years back at a local car show someone brought a beautiful T speedster and left the keys in it. As i was looking at it a younger man and his wife started looking at it and he made the comment that the owner obviously did not care about his car as anyone could just start it and drive off, i had to walk away before i started laughing!
My father told told me about how he would jack one rear wheel and put rags on the manifold(s) and soak with boiling water to pre-heat and crank it I think in high gear..Good thing he was a Farmer so it wasn't an every day thing for him..I can only imagine how cold it was in the car.!
i love driving Ts . the handle on the left gets pulled all the way back, that will engage the brake and put it in "neutral". once started, spark lever on the left, THROTTLE on the right. to get moving, lever on the left gets moved forward half way, that will release the brake but leave it in "neutral". give it a little throttle and slowly step down on the left pedal [clutch?] the further down you press it the faster you will go, adjust the throttle as needed also. once up to speed, with your foot all the way down on the left pedal, move the lever all the way forward, at which point, RELEASING the left pedal will put it in high. need to slow down? push in the left pedal. need to speed up? release the left pedal. need to stop? push in left pedal, pull lever back half way, reduce hand throttle, release left pedal, push brake. brakes not adjusted right or worn out hit the reverse pedal. good luck don't drive into the back garage wall.
My Dad went to the Hollywood DMV when he was 14 to take his driving test in a T Model. The DMV guy told him if he took the test in the T that would be the only car he could legally drive. So Dad and Grandpa went back to the house a drove to the DMV in a Studebaker touring car for the test. Our family always laughed at the DMV regulation because the T was much more complicated to drive.
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