More car museum pics…

Not one, not two, but THREE 1914-1915 Ford Speedsters!

He said he never intended to collect three of them, but he got a ‘deal’… One wonders what a dealer considers a ‘deal’???

Anyhoo…

These were Ford’s pride and joy, and according to the historical notes, Henry Ford personally came down and supervised construction of these cars. He did say one of them had been clocked at 97mph not too long ago.

All of 40 horsepower… The 1914 model…

At least the 1915 models had windshields (such as it was), mounted on the steering column.

And this one… 1915 again…

Three speeds, if you count reverse as a speed… And that lever that looks like an emergency brake? That’s the low to high gear lever…

Comments

More car museum pics… — 13 Comments

  1. What beautiful machines! And how happy I am to be riding on modern tires and suspension!
    It looks like there was quite a bit of innovation between the 1914 and the 1915 models, in addition to the driver windscreen. It’s hard to say for certain, but it LOOKS like (maybe not) the 1914 had the rubber bulb-operated horn. The 1915 models look to have electrically operated horns. The 1915 models also appear to have a longer engine compartment, and they have maybe-functional cooling vents on the side of the engine compartment. Bucket seats instead of a bench seat, and it appears to me that the overall seating position is lower with the 1915 models as well. The running board appears to be modified from a long ledge to a step, likely with weight savings in mind. Some of these could be additions by individual speed demons, I suppose; the standard Ford had only half the horsepower.
    I wonder how, if at all, this impacted the design of the Model T?

  2. My wife and I visited the Henry Ford complex in Dearborn during a driving trip and learned quite a bit about the Model T.
    No water pump, conduction and convection cooling.
    And we did take a ride on two different Model T cars.
    The one driver said the museum’s cars didn’t get electric starters until somewhat recently.

  3. I see one for the University of Tennessee, one for the Univ of GA and one for GA Tech. I’ll take the Dawg Car.

  4. My granddad, born in 1906, used to tell stories about making “Bugs” from Model Ts. Strip the body off the chassis, make a body out of a wood frame and “canvas” (think wood and fabric aircraft construction), and drag race down the local main street. Who knew, my granddad was a “Street Outlaw” before it was cool.

  5. With the shape of the front fenders, I’ll bet the steering got real lite at 97 MPH. Take them off and it would hit a 100 MPH.

  6. If you run out of vintage vehicles to drool over, additional interesting vintage vehicles can be found at several museums in that (very) general neck of the woods. The National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK is home to several vintage cars, as well as a teardrop camper trailer, as part of its exhibit on the Mother Road. In Amarillo, TX the Jack Sisemore RV Museum features not only a collection of vintage campers but a collection of vintage motorcycles. The Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, NM is good for whiling away an hour or two ogling old cars. Get your kicks on Route 66!

  7. Ford is good. We have the Stanley. The Stanley hotel in CO is awesome. There is a museum here with a few in it too. I love the history of automobiles. It’s all good old fashioned American stuff. Fun.

    • Been to The Stanley in Estes Park many times. My wife is a big Stephen King fan, so naturally where does one go in Colorado?

  8. Pat- Good points, and notice the difference in the front springs? The ‘helper’ springs are gone on the 1915s. All- thanks for the comments, and yes, I do have those museums on the list!

    Posted from my iPhone.

  9. Hey Old NFO;

    Thank you for the pics, very interesting cars, It is on my list to go to the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit and check them out. Back then the cars were also works of art. It was cool seeing the cars that you drove in your youth looking good.