Check this out:

 

don't forget to retard the ignition before trying to crank a t or a .it will break a arm

 

Cap, weren't you the one that convinced Henry not to confuse his customers with to many color choices.

 

not me, back then you could have any color you wanted as long as it was black,

 

wow, if they think driving a "T" is hard, i would love to hear what they have to say about setting the coil boxes up!!

 

My dad tells the story of a neighbor beating the poop out of the hood of a T with a tea kettle when it wouldn't start. Before antifreeze you dumped the water in wintertime when you parked it and then filled it with hot water to help get them to start.

 

magneto's they had 4 for them in wooden boxes under the dash on the firewall. one had to be careful working around or on them the ouch could kill.

 

some old timers would keep them full of alcohol or moonshine in the winter ,"early antifreeze"

 

yup. and they each had to set just rite or it would run like crap. when set properly they would "sing"
my old fire dept has one with a 2 speed rear axle i helped restore back in 75 before our 75th anniversary parade..
on the way to the parade a brush fire call came in 6 miles away from us.
dept chief was riding shotgun, and 2 guys were on the back step. D.C. called us in service on his walky talky, then started winding the old hand crank siren. i put the power to it and woke up a cop running radar when we passed him doing 65.
we were first on scene and had the fire out before anyone else called in service using the buckets and watter in the 100 gallon on board tank.

for years after that the locals talked about the four crazy firemen that showed up to a fire on a 1917 truck, wearing full dress blues including suspenders, and the biggest handlebar mustaches they ever seen.

 

Why did Henry say that?

Because back then, cars were not painted, they were varnished!

One entire floor of the Highland Park plant was devoted to varnishing (which could take two days just for one car) and since Henry was selling T's as fast as he could make them, he discovered that black varnish dried the quickest.

1924: DuPont invented automotive paint, first car painted with it: 1924 Oldsmobile.

DuPont was a major shareholder of GM and for many years, Olds was known as GM's 'experimental' car.

If the product worked on Olds, it was soon shared with the other cars. Olds was also the first car to use chrome plating (1925).

1940: Olds was also the first car to have a fully Automatic Transmission (Hydra-Matic), Cadillac got it in 1941, Pontiac in 1948.

 

Great video Dutch.

 

That was a very good video..

 

I have spent one day at the Henry Ford museum, had I known I could drive a model T I would have gone back the next day,

 

i've never driven a t but have in many model A's. more power then a t, a 3 speed transmission ver. bands and planetary sets, those mechanical brakes are fun to stop with esp. if not adjusted right.
correct on the varnish it also was black due to being coal oil based,

 

yea, them mechanical brakes leave a lot to be desired.
another interesting fact: if you have the two speed rear and put the rear in neutral, you have no brakes.
found that out the hard way back when restoring it, one of the guys bumped the wheel chock and off the "T" went, out of the firehouse, across the apron, then across the 2 lane highway, across the parking lot of the electricians building across the street, and into his bay door, stopping only when it hit the 2000 lb bundle of rags that were just delivered to the back of the shop.