Graham Clark’s beautifully restored Model T is often on the road and almost everybody will have seen it at some time or other. We asked Graham to tell us of it’s background and he has obliged:
‘In 1903 Henry Ford marketed his first car, a Model A – there is one in New Zealand. He progressed through the alphabet with his designs, although not all the cars were built.
In 1906 a six cylinder Model K was produced but was such a marketing flop that not another six cylinder car was built until the Mk1 Zephyr in the 1950s.
In 1908 Ford and his designers set about designing a top class car for its day, built of very good materials (vanadium steel for the chassis etc.), easily driven and maintained. It was the Model T priced at $690 American dollars.
It came in a variety of colours until 1913 when Ford started the first assembly line. From then on until 1925 all Ts were black because black enamel was found to be the quickest drying. In 1926 and 1927 other colours were available again.
It is often asked how the Model T became known as the ‘Tin Lizzie’. Tin Lizzie was slang of the time for a good and dependable servant – as the Model T had proved to be.
Over the period of 19 years Ford produced fifteen million model Ts – the only car Ford built in that time. By 1927 the Model T was outdated and Ford was forced to produce a more modern machine. It was so different that it was again called the Model A.
Our Model T started as a bent chassis and engine (not the right one) found on a farm at Tuhitarata south of Martinborough in 1973. A lot of fun was had collecting parts which in those days could be found on farms etc. Replica parts can be bought from America or through dealers in New Zealand.
Although the Model T was basically the same through the years there were a lot of subtle differences and we had to decided which year ours was to be. We decided on 1925 mainly because of later type wheels and tyres starting to be used that year. The tyres in the 70s were Firestone made in New Zealand and costing $26.70 each (that was before we all went mad).
We have had a lot of fun with the T covering about 20, 000 miles and only being let down once in a rally. We limped home on three cylinders – and found out later that that the trouble could have been repaired on the side of the road.
Graham Clark
