Just picked up this all original 24’ T. It’s the fastest 35mph I’ve ever gone. This is as basic as it gets and the fact that it’s still on the road nearly 100 years old and unmolested truly saying something.
Im having to resist all temptation to modify / improve this one. It’s come this far without people upgrading parts. I did have to put a water-pump on it to control some overheating issues though
I have memories of spotting one of those driving by around the year '49 or '50 and some kid (probably me) shouting, "Hey! Look at that ol' timey car!" Give those wheels a bit of wax every so often, or else............
Cool, the fact it made it to 1 century old without being chopped up into a hot rod would make me feel that it earned the right to stay as is. It's always nice to see how they were envisioned to be by Ford from the get go.
Keep it as you received it...it made it this far without someone modifying it so it deserves to remain as is...kind of like catch and release....enjoy it and let it go to another caretaker when you are done...nice find. Tell us how it came about....
Recently sold dad's sorta survivor '27. It had wooden wheels, the spokes are called ''fellows''. Glad to say I know how to drive one. A bit to learn and remember at first. Easy once you know how. That hand crank can maim!
Nice car. Model T's are a lot of fun. Should be able to cruse at 45 when she's tuned proper. Your heat problems may just be a little lean, or a little retarded on the spark. A friend once showed me how sensitive they can be using his motometer. Going down the road set proper the motometer showed "normal", and retarding the spark lever would show the temp start to rise in a mile or 2. Same thing screwing in the main jet. Sadly, my 26 touring cracked the block so I have been T less for over two years now
Cool old survivor. Enjoy it for what it is. My father had a 17 touring car, he restored mostly original. Being a 17, he added elec starter. For sure the add-on water pump is a good improvement, that helped running cooler and keeping from puking when you stopped driving. My dad also added the rocky mountain rear brakes, a good idea for driving in today's traffic. Rocky mountain brakes are oversize (approx 10 inches diam if my memory is right) rear brakes, actually external shoe that squeeze around the outside of a drum. An added brake lightin the rear lamp hopefully helped some. My dad just used a battery without recharge from the car. Just charge battery once home. His car 35-40 mph was about max cruising speed. The engine might go faster, but it starts shaking a lot and will take out the babbit bearings since the engine is not counterbalanced. Plus the wood spoke wheels, relativity quick steering, high center of gravity, reduced braking vs modern cars, all add up to just taking 35 mph or little more and enjoy the scenery.
Actually, the round part of the wheel that the spokes go into is called a "felloe". There are steel felloes. such as the ones on the OP's 24, while the earlier cars and wagons used steam bent wood felloes. as shown in the post by "the shift wizard".
My '18 The best thing I ever did was rebuild the coils and timer. It is still thermal siphon cooled. The coils and timer made it loose the one miss that would come and go, make it start easier....like right now and run cooler. They are fun and a tinkers dream come true Enjoy PM if you want me to go over the coil rebuild process... there are some good youtube videos to give you an idea That's the old capacitor and I guarantee that you can not time the coil without new ones installed Larry
neat cars. I bought one a few years ago that needed a lot of mechanical work, so I took it all apart and put it back together. Quite a learning experience. But driving it....living where you have to drive a ways to get into town, at 30 mph on 45 mph roads, is a chore. I ended up selling it. I'm sure glad I got to have one, though. Enjoy yours.
I love everything about this cool T, that you have, but what really made me smile was, the fact that cast right into the cylinder head, are the words "MADE IN U.S.A." Very much appreciated by Dennis.
Model T's are a hoot! This is my 23...and I agree 100% with this "It’s the fastest 35mph I’ve ever gone"
The wood you can't see. Looks like that car was well cared for and stored inside all its life. Congratulations! Bob
Sweet car, My wife talked me into a survivor 24 tudor, a real fun toy. It came with a waterpump and a Delco dist ( Jeep? ) Only change I would like is safety glass. I did have the head milled. I cleaned out the rust in head, had radiator in the shop. Also used threaded stock with a chopped off end to drill band 'lint' out of the oil passage to the front main. ( of course a fresh set of band lining ) I have run 100 mile days several times, no prob. 24mpg Trivia I learned on the way, back then they wern't called like they are now, they were just Fords