Is this a Model T?

Cragaun · 05-10-2019 12:18pm #1

I received this photo with a message that it was a Model T Ford in the US in the 1920s. I have no knowledge of vintage cars so am asking - is this a Model T?

alias no.9 · 05-10-2019 12:20pm

Cragaun wrote: »

I received this photo with a message that it was a Model T Ford in the US in the 1920s. I have no knowledge of vintage cars so am asking - is this a Model T?

Looks too big

Brian Scan · 05-10-2019 1:15pm

Cragaun wrote: »

I received this photo with a message that it was a Model T Ford in the US in the 1920s. I have no knowledge of vintage cars so am asking - is this a Model T?

Model T much smaller.

Google Model T

Cragaun · 05-10-2019 3:03pm

Brian Scan wrote: »

Model T much smaller.

Google Model T

What is it then?

swarlb · 05-10-2019 3:26pm

Cragaun wrote: »

What is it then?

It could be 'anything' ... cars from that era tended to look the same.
Look for clues...
The front suspension would suggest it's NOT a Model T, as it had a transverse leaf spring.
It's RHD, few American cars were RHD, although plenty of 'European' cars were RHD.
The wheels look at they are made from wood, so I would guess it's a very early turn of the century model, possibly up to 1915 or so.
Google makes of cars up to 1915 and see what images turn up.
The internet is a vast database of knowledge, do a little detective work, rather than depending on an answer from Boards.

For example, it's NOT a Lancia DiLambda... although it looks like one.

Roadtoad · 05-10-2019 3:31pm

swarlb wrote: »

............The internet is a vast database of knowledge, do a little detective work, rather than depending on an answer from Boards.............
.

Not at all. If we all did that the whole spirit of Boards, the internet even, would die!

swarlb · 05-10-2019 3:39pm

Roadtoad wrote: »

Not at all. If we all did that the whole spirit of Boards, the internet even, would die!

I know a man who had difficulty breathing, he could exhale no problem, but finds inhaling impossible.
What do you (boards) think he was doing wrong ?
He tried Googling the answer, but keeps passing out...
He doesn't trust doctors..
I suggested it was because he wasn't slapped at birth, so he never learned the basics...
But what do I know...

Roadtoad · 05-10-2019 4:45pm

swarlb wrote: »

I know a man who had difficulty breathing, he could exhale no problem, but finds inhaling impossible.
What do you (boards) think he was doing wrong ?
He tried Googling the answer, but keeps passing out...
He doesn't trust doctors..
I suggested it was because he wasn't slapped at birth, so he never learned the basics...
But what do I know...

We await your update with bated breath. We assure you, and him (if its not already too late) that we have his back, and will offer all possible support and comfort. If he moves to Reddit we could upvote him, give him gold even. That usually works

.

(if he got sick on a warm dry Saturday nobody would notice, or give a toss, but we see, we care.)

Alternatively the first answer to the OPs question could be a simple, immediate and accurate 'No', closing the thread, but actually denying the OP and the rest of us a chance for some education.

Max Headroom · 05-10-2019 5:37pm

Humber torpedo...looks a bit like it...

Tho the headlights look Model T...

68deville · 06-10-2019 12:21am

Looks like a 1910 Pierce Arrow 66 touring

punisher5112 · 06-10-2019 12:24am

Looks German...
Merc maybe....

Seen something very similar on American pickers... Well the headlights that is and they look extremely similar.

68deville · 06-10-2019 12:34am

Nearly sure it's a Pierce Arrow 66 ,also available in RHD and a car for the upper classes!

kyote00 · 06-10-2019 1:17am

it could be a model t touring (size wise) but the lights dont look right and it look like three rows of seats

https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2019/the-ford-model-t-was-an-iconic-automobile

Plumbthedepths · 06-10-2019 1:20am

Not a 'T' maybe a pierce. Headlights are wrong for the 'T'.

K.Flyer · 06-10-2019 2:58am

Definitely more like a Pierce Great Arrow c.1905- 07 going by the rounded rear mud-gaurds.

punisher5112 · 06-10-2019 10:55am

K.Flyer wrote: »

Definitely more like a Pierce Great Arrow c.1905- 07 going by the rounded rear mud-gaurds.

Winner...

hi5 · 06-10-2019 11:53am

I would say early American so maybe one of these, happy hunting:)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States

Cerco · 06-10-2019 12:28pm

Steering wheel on the right side. Was that normal for American cars of that era?

tedpan · 06-10-2019 12:38pm

68deville wrote:

Nearly sure it's a Pierce Arrow 66 ,also available in RHD and a car for the upper classes!

Cerco wrote:

Steering wheel on the right side. Was that normal for American cars of that era?

It seems it was an option

K.Flyer · 06-10-2019 2:03pm

Cerco wrote: »

Steering wheel on the right side. Was that normal for American cars of that era?

tedpan wrote: »

It seems it was an option

And here is the answer...

On The Right Side of the Road

[...]"All available evidence seems to indicate that the RIGHT-HAND travel predominated in Colonial America from the time of the earliest settlements."
[...]
With the growth of traffic, the roadside ditches also led to a growing tendency in the United States in the late nineteenth century for drivers of light horse-drawn vehicles to both drive on the right and sit on the right to avoid the greater evil of the ditch. It was also common practice with bench-seated drivers of single-line horse drawn carriages, where the need to accommodate the whip in the right hand predominated.
When inventors began building "automobiles" in the 1890's, they thought of them as motorized wagons. As a result, many early cars had the steering mechanism-a rudder (or tiller), not a wheel-in the center position where the side of the road didn't make any difference. Lay points out that technical innovation created the configuration we are familiar with in the United States:

However, with the introduction of the steering wheel in 1898, a central location was no longer technically possible. Car makers usually copied existing practice and placed the driver on the curbside. Thus, most American cars produced before 1910 were made with right-side driver seating, although intended for right-side driving. Such vehicles remained in common use until 1915, and the 1908 Model T was the first of Ford's cars to feature a left-side driving position.
By 1915, the Model T had become so popular that the rest of the automakers followed Ford's lead.

whisky_galore · 15-10-2019 8:48am

Too early for 1920s, brass cars well out of fashion then. Ladies have Edwardian style clothing.

Not a Model T, clearly a big luxury car, would be inclined to agree with Pierce Arrow suggestion. Appears longer than that pictured, extra row of seats, but you could get those options back then.

Background building looks more typically American than European.

Dravokivich · 15-10-2019 9:26am

Cerco wrote: »

Steering wheel on the right side. Was that normal for American cars of that era?

It seems initially cars were all made RHD (in America at least). It only came about changing, when doing lanes after there was a higher amount of traffic.

So there are US model T's that are RHD and LHD, the later ones being LHD.

...I was watching a video about LeMays car museum recently and that came up.

Cragaun · 16-10-2019 3:11pm

The photo was taken in Connecticut, most likely in the 1915-1920 timeframe. It comes a family collection recently scanned and shared across the Atlantic. No names or dates were on the back of the photo.

We know the driver was a family connection, an emigrant who was then running a hotel, restaurant & bar in upstate Connecticut.

punisher5112 · 16-10-2019 3:43pm

The post service use right hand drive as it's easier to deliver mail...

Wibbs · 19-10-2019 12:37pm

Many chauffeur driven limos also were right hand drive back then as it kept the driver on the kerb side, so he could get out and open the doors for those in the back without going around the front of the car(or even reach back and open the suicide doors without getting out of his seat).

In Europe race/sports cars were often RHD as this favoured many of the racetracks. There was also the idea that most people being right handed it was better to always keep your dominant hand on the steering wheel, while using your less dominant to change gear.

You can see this in early Ferrari road cars. The "luxury" examples were LHD(unless ordered for RHD markets), but the road/race ones were RHD. Even in the late 1960's when Ford wanted to blast Ferrari at the European races and brought out the GT40, the driver sat on the right hand side(even though the gear shift was also on the right hand side like a LHD car, presumably to make it simpler for the usually American drivers).

Is this a Model T?

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