15/09/2025
Monday Mates meet in the carpark
Our Monday Meeting the 15th September 2025 turned out to be a meeting with a difference, we met for the 1st hour in the carpark.
It all started when our member David Agnew stated his son (Ian) had just purchased a Model T Ford and David promised that is son would bring the car along for an inspecton by our Monday Mates. As it turned out Ian could not bring his car due to some registration issues however he contacted the QLD Ford Motel T Club and those guys pitched up with a couple of cars.
As you can imagine much interest was shown in these old cars.
David did have a presentation ready to follow up on the inspections and below is what David had prepared.......
Early automobiles, which were produced from the 1880s, were mostly scarce, expensive, and often unreliable. Being the first reliable, easily maintained, easy to drive mass-market motorized transportation turned the Model T into a great success. The purpose of this talk is partly personal as my Father purchased a Model T in 1947 when I was 7 years old and it was the family car for a few years.
Our son Ian is here today with his Model T Ford, as you may have already seen in the carpark. If any of you wish, he is happy to give you a closer look.
The Model T Ford was first made available in 1908 and the following story explains why it was such a success with the public.
So, what was it about the “T” that made it so popular? Firstly it should be understood that many buyers of this new technology called the motor car were used to driving horse drawn coaches and purchasing a “horseless carriage” was a big step.
The most important aspect of the Ford Model T was its gear change system which used a planetary gear system which was different from other cars in those days which used what we would now call “crash” gearboxes. Synchromesh gear systems we now see in modern manual transmission cars were not employed until 1930. Much skill is required to use the “double de-clutch” method to change gears in a non-synchromesh gearbox.
The Ford Model T did not have a gear lever and had three pedals on the floor:
• the left pedal selected low gear when the pedal was pushed down and high gear when allowed to return.
• The centre pedal when pushed down selected reverse
• the right pedal was the footbrake
Note that there were only two forward gears. Given the speed of the cars in those days, two forward gears was sufficient. This planetary gear transmission controlled by two pedals was a groundbreaking innovation at the time.
This robust, simple design used bands and drums to actuate the planetary gears.
The process to start the Model T was as follows:
• Pull on the handbrake on the right hand side of the driver. Of course it should already be on, given the car is stationary. When the handbrake is on, the engine is not connected to the gearbox. More on this later.
• Throttle control is a lever on the right hand side of the steering wheel. Make sure it is a suitable position for engine revs once the engine starts.
• Turn on the ignition
• Go to the front of the car, the crank handle is fixture, unlike other cars at the time where the crank handle was separate and had to be taken from wherever it was kept in the car, in my recollection, usually on the floor at the driver’s feet.
• Turn the crank handle and engine starts.
• Driver goes back to the driver’s seat.
It is now time to drive the car. Engage low gear, put left foot on the left peddle and push it to the floor, and with the right hand push the right lever on the steering wheel to increase engine revs, release the handbrake to connect the engine to the gearbox and the car moves forward.
On reaching a reasonable speed, take left foot off the low gear pedal. Then adjust the right lever to settle on a reasonable speed, say 25 miles per hour. Maybe then adjust the left lever to adjust the spark timing for even running of the engine.
Given the throttle stayed in place when set, you had cruise control when driving. The spark timing control was adjusted as required when driving to ensure best performance by advancing the spark as engine revs increased as road speed increased.
The Model T didn’t have a fuel pump as the petrol tank was located behind the dashboard and it gravity fed the carburettor. All engines need a flywheel and the Model T flywheel consisted of a series of V shaped metal pieces on a flywheel behind the engine that picked up the oil from the sump and dropped it into a tray which allowed the oil gravity to feed into the engine. These same V shaped pieces were magnets which passed a coil and generated spark for the engine spark plugs. Interestingly the Model had an alternative sparking system which consisted of four coils, one for each spark plug. These coils used current from the battery. There was a switch which allowed the driver to select either the coil system or the flywheel system.
The alternative system of spark generation as mentioned above led to an interesting situation which my Father often used for starting the Model T.
Step 1. turn ###sthe crank handle on the front of the car with the ignition switched off. The purpose of this was to ensure there was petrol in the cylinders.
Step 2. Get in the car and switch on the battery operated spark system.
The result of these two steps meant the battery caused a spark in one of the cylinders and with luck the engine would start. As with such ideosynchroses, it didn’t always work.
Before the War, my father was a Primary School Teacher however he was very skilful in manual arts as he had attended Industrial High School in the 1930s which in those days was on the corner of Alice and Edward Streets, next to the Gardens. I mention this as his technical skills meant on call up to the War he was posted to the AirForce as a RADAR operator. Of course these skills came to the fore in terms of being able to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the Model T as well as explain them to me.
The Model T was so popular Henry Ford once said: “There's no use trying to pass a Ford, because there's always another one just ahead.” By the early 1920s more than half of the registered automobiles in the world were Fords. More than 15,000,000 Model T's were built and sold.
It is important to note there was competition from other manufacturers of cars. In particular the most serious competition for the Model T was the Chevrolet from 1923 to 1926, with a different series every year.
In December of 1924 the Model T reached a low price of $290 in an effort to be affordable for the average factory worker or school teacher who earned about $400 a year. By 1925, one half of all the cars in the world were Model T's. Another popular car at that time was the Chevrolet Superior Roadster, which cost $510 in 1926.
