Lot details Registration No: T.B.A. Chassis No: 3617398 Mot Expiry: None
Arguably, the Model 'T' Ford has been the best known type of popular car of all time. Study any old photograph or postcard published between 1914 and 1935, showing a street scene in an American town or city, and the vehicles seen will include several Model 'T' Fords. The 'T' enjoyed a significant presence in Britain, on the Continent and indeed world-wide. The social impact on the Model 'T' Ford, especially in the USA, is inestimable. Countless films, and especially Laurel and Hardy comedies, have made the Model 'T' tourer, of which this lot is a fine and absolutely typical example, an artefact of almost unparalleled familiarity and affection.
The recipe for the Model 'T's success throughout its 19-year production run was the combination of the use of top quality materials, highly sophisticated mass production methods for the time, thus minimising costs and permitting a highly competitive selling price, and its clever design. This featured a relatively large (2892ccs) but lightly stressed engine, and epicyclic gears; pedals giving two forward speeds and reverse, quickly became familiar to the newcomers to motoring who formed the bulk of Ford's customers. A flywheel dynamo generated current for the simple trembler coil ignition. The engine was flexible and powerful enough to pull a 3.64:1 rear axle ratio and give useful top gear performance. As intended, the high ground clearance and transverse leaf spring front and rear suspension successfully coped with the farm tracks of the more remote areas.
Closely conforming to the original specification, this left-hand drive tourer has a claimed date of manufacture of 1920, and has is said to have been "recently imported from California, where it had been in the same ownership for around the last 50 years". It is finished in black, the standard colour at this period of manufacture, and another example of Ford's economic determination. Lighting, too, is correct for this period - electric headlights and oil sidelights.
This Model 'T' is described by the vendor as being "good" in all respects, and has having been the subject of "an extensive restoration some years ago", and "little used since". It is hoped but not guaranteed that UK registration will be in place by the time of the sale.
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