1914 Canadian Ford Model T Touring
This car is a 1914 Canadian Ford Model T Touring currently under restoration. It is serial number C16923 and the casting date on the engine is December 29th, 1913 making this one of the last engines cast in Canada during 1913 for the 1914 model year. The exact date this engine was put into a car cannot be known at this point, it would have likely been built sometime before mid-1914. Interestingly, other cars serial numbers in this range have manufacturing dates as late as July, but casting dates much later as well (i.e. after February of 1914). For example, engine C16411 has a casting date of 2-27-14, much later than our car that has an earlier cast date and a higher serial number. Engine C18300 has a cast date of 1-2-14, earlier than car C16411 and built months after! Clearly, Ford Canada did not use engines in the order they were cast.
Significant Changes/Events in 1914
All car bodies are now painted black, with black fenders and running gear. For the first time Ford sells the chassis without a body and the coupe was not offered for 1914. Ford announces the five dollar per day wage in January of 1914, making him a working man's hero. The 1914 Touring was named the 'Car of the Century' at a gala event in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999. Six cars, much like this one, were reproduced by Ford in 2003 as part of the Model T-100 project (celebrating 100 years of the Ford Motor Company) for use at an April 2003 exhibit at The Henry Ford Museum.
The Restoration
The pictures below show our 1914 Canadian Model T Ford Touring coming together in various stages.
|
To the left is shown a two-piece drive shaft housing, which was last used in late 1913. There are other documented very early 1914 models that also used the 2 piece drive shaft, so we believe this is original and correct for our car. |
|
