doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Next bridge was about 2 miles from my home - Bradner Road bridge over the Portage River outside Pemberville, Ohio. My son and I frequently used to bicycle across it. It was removed and replaced by a modern concrete span just months after this photo.</p> <p>And to David L... After so many years, the titles on many of these old Model T's often don't reflect what the vehicle started life as.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>My dad has an auto repair shop, and the majority of his work is Model T's and cars of that era. Here's a 360-degree panoramic photo I shot of it for Father's Day 2009, after-hours one night. The photo is wide enough that it won't display in-line, and I didn't want to make it a tiny thumbnail and lose detail...</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_the_waste Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Nice shots Doug. You didn't mention which cameras took them... Inquiring minds want to know.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Thanks, Rob.</p> <p>The first two were taken with a Rolleicord V; the square image then cropped.</p> <p>The pano was taken with a modern dSLR (Nikon D90), on a Manfrotto pano-head, and then the images were stitched using PTgui software. Black & white (pano) mostly because the lighting in there is a real witch's brew of flourescent, tungsten, and sodium lighting. The fact that b/w goes well with the subject is just a bonus.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>FWIW, a while back there was a thread about what constitutes a "keeper." The roll above, with my dad and my son, came to mind. On first blush, a very high percentage of keepers. After a few weeks, I realized I didn't need *that* many Model T Ford photos, and came up with 2-3 favs. But that was 5.5 years ago, time passes by. My son is now 16.5, my dad hasn't gotten younger, and that was a special day. So that roll is appreciating in personal value now.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <blockquote> <p>bed on the factory T model was made of steel or sheet metal</p> </blockquote> <p>Some of them were. There's more than enough correspondence in pictures of the wooden bed ones to suggest that this was also a factory/new purchase option, at least at some times.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham_line Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Mail order catalogs of the time (think Sears farm catalog) sold alternative beds that could be added to a Ford or other chassis as well. Given the bucket body, it could be an original pickup or a two-door whatever they called their cars with folding canvas tops.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>The Model T Pick-up (more accurately the "Ford Model T Runabout with pick-up body") was not introduced until 1925 and it came from the factory with a steel bed. Prior to that there were many companies that built and sold conversions beds to turn the Model T into a pick-up and these beds were being sold in both wood and steel versions. There were also many people who built their own beds for their Model T. The actual factory models were only produced from 1925 to 1927 and to my knowledge, Ford never offered a version with a wooden bed. If you can show me some evidence to the contrary, I would be happy to learn something new.<br> <a href="http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/history/ford_segment1.html">http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/history/ford_segment1.html</a><br> <a href="http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/90586.html?1241302391">http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/90586.html?1241302391</a></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Related to the above - there was also a ton of hop-up goodies for Model T Ford engines. Double-overhead-cam heads with 4-valves per cylinder, for example, by a company called Frontenac (out of Frontenac WI). But if you saw the crankshaft of a Model T, they're spindly little things... I can imagine too easily what happens when you start producing more power than stock.</p> <p>Oh, and at the nearby Henry Ford Museum, they have on display a Model T that was prepared to run in the Indianapolis 500. It's gorgeous, lots of polished aluminum and shininess. The plaque on the display states that the car didn't meet minimum weight requirements, and Henry Ford pulled out in disgust, saying "I build racecars, not trucks."</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug grosjean Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 <p>Ah, I found the Indy racer based on the Model T. Pic attached.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>I bow to superior Model T zealotry. I don't have a pony in this race, really.<br /> However, I still don't think it is some "home-built" rig; there seem to be too many pictures out there that look exactly the same. I tried to look in my old Sears catalogs but couldn't find this wooden set up in mine (which are abridged reprints, for the most part).</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>Let me stand corrected. It may not be a home built rig as I stated earlier but, I thoroughly believe that it is an after-market bed and not a Ford factory built set-up. I don't personally "have a pony in this race" either but, when I made my original statement, you seemed bound and determined (as usual) that I had to be wrong and I really don't understand why you seem to have such animosity where I am concerned. Did I piss in your Wheaties or something?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <blockquote> <p>why you seem to have such animosity where I am concerned</p> </blockquote> <p>Tom -- I was totally unaware that you were you. I had no animosity where you were concerned at all.<br> I am, by the testimony of many here simply a crotchity or perhaps cranky old guy -- don't take it so personally, it really wasn't about you at all.</p> <p>I had simply found, as I said, a rather large number of pictures in a Google image search that showed the same wooden bed on a Model T. Such a large number seemed inconsistent with the "home-built" explanation.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>Sorry for my misunderstanding JDM. I guess it is just the fact that I hold your opinion in such high regard that I let it bother me. :-)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>Well, Tom, let's not go overboard the other direction, or is that an "irony" emoticon? :)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>Maybe a little irony mixed in with just dash of sarcasm. Hey! Wouldn't that make it an ironicon? Seriously, I do appreciate your viewpoint on many things. I just don't always agree with them.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 <p>Likewise, I'm sure.<br /> :)</p> <p>[general hugs all around]</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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