FORD MODEL T

Year of manufacture 1916 Recorded mileage 515 Asking price £13,995 Vendor The T Service, Oxfordshire; tel: 01869 351006; www.tservice.co.uk

WHEN IT WAS NEW Price $345 Max power 20hp Max torque 83lb ft 0-60mph n/a Top speed c40mph Mpg 20

This Roadster, from the final year of the brass era, appears fairly original, and all the components look to date from the same period – late 1916 according to the engine number, though the headlight rims should correctly be black. It’s fitted with a pick-up body, though the original ‘turtleback’ trunk is included.

It’s an older restoration that came from California in 2013, and The T Service went through it for the previous owner in 2015, fitting new transmission bands, ‘Turbo’ clutch, head gasket, cam front bearing and seal, tie rod bolts, fanbelt and a carb rebuild – most of the bits that wear out on a T. There’s plenty of grease around the spring pins, with more to be added to lubricate the front leaves.

The steelwork is all fairly straight, and the paint quite good, with a couple of cracks and blisters in places. The front tyres are Betcos fitted in 2015 and still with flashing marks, showing how little they’ve done since; the rears are Ward Riversides with good tread. The hood is functional, with a few small holes – inconsequential except for a split right at the top – and the seat covering is repro vinyl, and smart, like the floor mat. The coils are repro and look in good order, and next to them there’s a Stewart speedo. There’s a tiny crack in the steering wheel rim and a little play in the hub reduction gear, but that’s normal, and there’s a splendid Klaxon mounted on top of the driver’s door.

The engine sports new-looking plugs and various new clips and split pins, and will be serviced before sale. The 2896cc sidevalve ‘four’ starts easily on the handle – Ts didn’t get an electric start until 1919, though electric lighting came the year before this one was built. It runs on both battery and magneto, and does everything it should, with no transmission creep, very little wander in the steering and fairly good brakes for the model. As ever, it will pull high gear from just over walking pace, with smooth shifts that only judder when the driver gets it wrong. The speedometer didn’t work, but may do before sale.

SUMMARY

EXTERIOR

Good body and fair paint

INTERIOR

Good seat vinyl and mat, hood less so

MECHANICALS

Wear items replaced, to be further fettled

VALUE ★★★★★★★★✩✩

For The archetypical brass-era T

Against Cut it some slack; it’s 102 years old!

SHOULD I BUY IT?

No issues; though not concours, it’s presentable enough and drives nicely. The right money given that the consumables have been done