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1916 Model T Ford tourer
MadeSummary
Object No.
B727Object Statement
Automobile, full size, Ford Model T car, 5-passenger, 4-door tourer, No. C55005, metal / rubber / glass, designed by Henry Ford with Joseph Galamb and C H Wills, 1906-1908, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America, made by Ford Motor Co, Walkerville, Ontario, Canada, 1916Physical Description
The car has a 5-passenger, 4-door touring car body with a collapsible hood. The car is right hand drive, with two bench seats with black leather upholstery. The steering wheel has an outside diameter of 15 inches (38 cm) and is painted black. The steering column quadrant is of pressed steel and the spark and throttler levers have flattened ends.The car is fitted with a 4-cylinder engine with L-head side valve layout with a single gear-driven camshaft, non-adjustable tappets, and detachable cylinder head. The louvered bonnet has a brass radiator which features the name "Ford" in script. The headlights are powered by a magneto, introduced in 1915. Wheels are of the timber artillery type with brass hubcaps. Round side lights are mounted on brackets on either side of the windscreen supports. The windscreen is a two-piece type with a hinged area near the top and a range of positions. Starting is via a crank handle below the radiator. Tyres are 30 x 3 on the front and 30 x 3½ on rear. The car is finished in black.
Specifications
Car No: C55005
Engine: 4-cylinder, monobloc casting, with water jackets
Bore & stroke: 3¾ inches x 4 inches (9.5 cm x 10.2 cm)
Capacity: 2896 cc or 2953 cc
Brake Horsepower: 22.4 bhp
Gears: 2 forward, 1 reverse, epicyclic
Transmission: propeller shaft enclosed in torque tube
Final drive: straight-tooth bevel gears
Carburettor: float feed automatic with dash adjustment
Clutch: multiple steel disc
Foot brake: contracting band on periphery of direct-drive clutch
Hand brake: expanding shoes in rear wheel drums
Electrical system: head lamps and horn (8 volt) drawing current from flywheel magneto
Cooling: vertical multi-tube radiator, thermo-syphon and fan
Petrol tank capacity: 10 gallons (37.9 litres)
Lubrication: gravity and splash
Magneto: Ford design
Springs: semi-elliptical transverse front and rear
Transmission: Ford spur planetary
Wheelbase: 100 inches (2.54 m)
Turing Circle: 28 feet (8.5 m)
Wheels: Wooden artillery
Cruising speed on level ground: 28-35 mph (45-56 kph)
Short URL
https://ma.as/214701Dimensions
Height
2080 mmWidth
1750 mmProduction
Made
Notes
Henry Ford (1863-1947) began the Ford Motor Co. in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., in 1903 when he began producing Ford Model A cars. Ford used the first 19 letters of the alphabet to designate his automobiles, some of which were experimental, but the most successful of the early production cars was the Model N. A number of models appeared before 1908, when the famous Model T was produced. It was released on 1 October 1908 and replaced all previous models. Five body styles were eventually offered: a 2-seater runabout, 5-seater tourer, 2-seater coupe, 7-seater landaulet and a 7-seater town car. As well as Henry Ford, several others played vital roles in the Model T's development including Childe Harold Wills, an engineer and metallurgist, Joseph Galamb, a draughtsman, and Charles Sorensen, a pattern maker.An essential component of the Model T was Ford's use of vanadium steel, a light yet strong material resistant to shock and fatigue, which had previously only been used in expensive French cars. By 1910 a huge new factory was built at Highland Park, outside Detroit, which enabled Ford to establish assembly line techniques (but Ford was not the first to use these) with moving production lines from 1913 which were continually refined and made more efficient.
The early Model T came in green, red, blue and grey but from 1914 the only colour available was black. This was because japan black enamel was the only colour which could be applied with primitive spray painting techniques and could dry quickly enough on the production line; this changed in 1926 when quick-drying Duco lacquer was introduced.
As production grew, the price of the cars was drastically reduced. By the time this 1916 Model T Ford was made, the firm was producing five times as many cars as its nearest rival. The Model T virtually sold itself, and all advertising was suspended from 1917 to 1923, with the exception of advertising by local dealers.
For almost 20 years the car remained almost identical, with no money spent on research and development despite the rapid changes in automotive technology. By the early 1920s the tide had turned, the Model T was terribly out of date, and Henry Ford stubbornly refused to make any improvements such as introducing six cylinders, conventional transmission and front-wheel brakes. Model T production ended on 26 May 1927. A total of over 15 million were built in the United States and Canada as well as numerous others in assembly plants in England, Ireland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Japan. It was even said that some enthusiasts purchased six or seven Model Ts to last them the rest of their lives.
The Model T was introduced to Australia in 1908, and in 1909 some 348 were sold. Australia became Ford's best overseas outlet for Canadian-built Model Ts. Apparently the drought here in 1914 turned Australian buyers from high-priced English cars to lower-priced Fords. After the Ford Motor Company of Australia was formed in 1925, an assembly operation for the Model T was established in a disused wool store in Geelong, Victoria, where vehicles that arrived in chassis form had a locally built body added. Others arrived from Ford's Canadian factory ready built. No fewer than 250,000 Model Ts were sold in Australia. Ford assembly plants were subsequently built and opened in Brisbane, Fremantle, and Adelaide.
History
Notes
This Model T was built at Ford's Walkerville factory (now part of the city of Windsor), Ontario, Canada, in February 1916. Ford production began in Canada in the former Walkerville Wagon Co. works in 1904. The Ford Motor Co. of Canada was set up to manufacture Fords for Canada and the rest of the British Empire, although not for Britain itself. Cars were initially shipped to Canada in pieces from Detroit. A full-scale assembly line was eventually set up for the production of Model Ts. Before 1 May, 1913, engines sent from the Detroit factory were used, with the serial numbers being a subset of the United States ones and the "Made in the U.S.A." lettering ground off the engine blocks. Production of Canadian-made engines commenced in 1913 with serial numbers commencing with the letter "C".In 1938 this Model T was donated to the Museum by Hunt Bros. (Sydney) Motors Pty Ltd, Ford Metropolitan dealers, whose office and showroom was at 29 Church Street, Parramatta. It had been used by them from time to time for sales promotions and advertising purposes and was in running order at least up to 1936.
The car was put into storage by the Museum and in the early 1980s was chosen as one of the chief objects in a recreation of a 1930s garage, an exhibition planned to be included in Stage 2 of the Powerhouse Museum when it opened in 1988. The car was cleaned and partly restored in 1982 by Ossie's Antique Restorations Pty Ltd of Smithfield to reflect a well cared-for car of the 1930s. New tyres were fitted and wheels replaced, paintwork and bodywork undertaken, the upholstery was cleaned and preserved, the hood was treated, the back panel with celluloid window was replaced with matching material and the radiator was cleaned and polished. The 1930s garage exhibition did not eventuate, but the car did go on display at the Ford Discovery Centre at Geelong, Victoria, from 1999 until 2002. In 2008 it was exhibited in the Display Store of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre to commemorate the centenary of the first Model T.
Source
Credit Line
Gift of Hunt Brothers Motors Ltd, 1938Acquisition Date
3 March 1938Cite this Object
Harvard
1916 Model T Ford tourer 2023, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 5 June 2023, <https://ma.as/214701>Wikipedia
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