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Flathead Fever · 02-02-2023, 03:37 PM

I've never owned a Model T, I worked on the neighbor's for him. The first time I rode in a '26 roadster that belonged to a friend of my dad's we were coming down a steep hill at Model T top speed. There was a traffic light at the bottom of the hill. About a 1/4-mile away that light turned yellow, and the driver looked over at me and says, "were already past the point of no return, then it turned red as we were about 1/8 mile away as watched the cars start crossing the intersection. We sailed right on through that red light. I got the impression from the owner that was just part of excitement of driving a Model T. Years later I got to drive a neighbors' 1913 roadster in a parade, they are really fun to start and drive. You really get a feel of driving an antique car. On the way home I had to drive (crawl) up another steep hill. Another neighbor came flying by honking his horn in his Model A. As if flew by all I could think of was how in its day the Model A instantly made the Model T obsolete. They are equally neat for different reasons. A Model A roadster with a rumble seat is pretty neat, just getting to take people for rides in a rumble seat so they can see what it was like. But so is taking them for a ride in a Model T because of how different the controls are. They are small cars, the roadsters were made for people that didn't way much over 150 lbs. Ask somebody if she can sit in their Model T and Model A's and see what feels right for her. I'm sure they will be happy to take her for a ride. She really needs to go for in each before she decides.

There is not much maintenance for either of them, fluid levels and grease zerks. If you have a cylinder misfire in a Model T you can literally lift out a coil box one at a time while its running and see which cylinders are affected. The one that does not affect it is the bad cylinder. Then you can swap it with another coil to see if it's the coil that's bad. There are no wires to them they sit on contacts. Neatest thing ever for diagnosing which cylinders are not firing. If you get a Model T for her, you probably want one with a starter.

02-02-2023, 03:37 PM	#22
Flathead Fever Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Yucaipa, CA Posts: 1,493	Re: Owning a model T vs model A I've never owned a Model T, I worked on the neighbor's for him. The first time I rode in a '26 roadster that belonged to a friend of my dad's we were coming down a steep hill at Model T top speed. There was a traffic light at the bottom of the hill. About a 1/4-mile away that light turned yellow, and the driver looked over at me and says, "were already past the point of no return, then it turned red as we were about 1/8 mile away as watched the cars start crossing the intersection. We sailed right on through that red light. I got the impression from the owner that was just part of excitement of driving a Model T. Years later I got to drive a neighbors' 1913 roadster in a parade, they are really fun to start and drive. You really get a feel of driving an antique car. On the way home I had to drive (crawl) up another steep hill. Another neighbor came flying by honking his horn in his Model A. As if flew by all I could think of was how in its day the Model A instantly made the Model T obsolete. They are equally neat for different reasons. A Model A roadster with a rumble seat is pretty neat, just getting to take people for rides in a rumble seat so they can see what it was like. But so is taking them for a ride in a Model T because of how different the controls are. They are small cars, the roadsters were made for people that didn't way much over 150 lbs. Ask somebody if she can sit in their Model T and Model A's and see what feels right for her. I'm sure they will be happy to take her for a ride. She really needs to go for in each before she decides. There is not much maintenance for either of them, fluid levels and grease zerks. If you have a cylinder misfire in a Model T you can literally lift out a coil box one at a time while its running and see which cylinders are affected. The one that does not affect it is the bad cylinder. Then you can swap it with another coil to see if it's the coil that's bad. There are no wires to them they sit on contacts. Neatest thing ever for diagnosing which cylinders are not firing. If you get a Model T for her, you probably want one with a starter.