And then there is REALLY old school…
1924 Ford Model T fuel tanker. Unrestored (except seat was redone years ago).
Yes, the plate is correct and did belong to the Model T in 1924. The engine cranks over, and he also got the ‘air pump’ hook up that goes with the truck. The Model T could actually run on 2 cylinders and if you pulled the plugs and screwed in the ‘air pump’, you could actually put air in the tires (which they needed on a regular basis).
And it was used by the Continental Oil Co. distributor to take gasoline to the service stations.
This is the back of the tank, with the original Conoco logo vaguely visible…
Yes, those are original wheels. Wooden spoked, three piece, split rim wheels! And the fronts are also wooden spoked split rims.
The new owner is planning to ‘fix it up’, repairing the 2x4s the tank is sitting on, welding up the tank (after the rust repair), and hopefully keeping the old logo visible.
He said the engine turns over, so he plans to get it running again (since it has a battery to start it with, in addition to the crank). And will be part of an old gas station display in addition to his plan to drive it in parades. He said he already has another Model T so is familiar with their operation (and lack of stopping power, mechanical brakes ONLY on the rear wheels activated by a pushrod by the driver’s foot on the brake).
He was on his way to Houston to have the repairs started, and I hope I get to see it after it’s completed (And I hope he gets rid of the ‘new’ 1930 Conoco emblems on the doors)…
Neat old truck , the spokes on the wheels remind me of sections of axe handles . Unrelated but kinda related , a spark in my brain , wasn’t the Kingsford charcoal company started (somehow) with leftover wood from Ford’s early factories .
Yes.
That’s very nice – I was not aware of the air pump feature – pretty clever. I have a cousin in Virginia who has an old Ford pickup of similar vintage that’s been restored and is also very nice.
I had an attachment to thread into my Honda 750F spark plug port that allowed me to do the same. Aftermarket.
Own a 1925 closed cab flat bed.
64 cubic feet of gasoline would run about 3000 pounds. I hope there are baffles in the tank.
My uncle had a deal like that. Take out a plug and use the fuel/air to pump a tire. Even as a kid, I wondered about that. Farmers do whatever it takes.
My first job offer out of college was for the Big Red Weenie. I didn’t take it. My good friend did. I don’t know how long he was a lease operator for them.
Growing up 60 years ago, a friend who lived on a farm had one of those spark plug air pumps that he used on their old Ford 8N tractor foe airing up tires. Yes, farmers do whatever they have to do to get by.
Good to see these old vehicles preserved.
My dad told me about… (Tall tale? Who knows).
In the 1930’s, driving a truck like that from upstate New York all the way to New York City. Yes, an oil truck… but he was hauling moonshine. He said nobody ever thought a truck doing 5 miles an hour up hills might be carrying shine.
That is hilarious.
All- Thanks for the comments! Glad you enjoyed the old truck! ERJ, no baffles… LOL Bet it was ‘fun’ to get stopped…
Yep. Stopping probably took a long time, or the slosh pushed the truck 20 feet farther.
That must have been a beast to stop with a half tank of product sloshing forward! I assume no baffle in the tank.
Ummm, help out an uninformed fella here! “Welding”??!! On a fuel tank? Something tells me that’s a bad idea … how do they go about that?
Either you fill the tank and force the vapors out (water, fuel [don’t try this without training!]), or you purge it with air long enough that there are no vapors. My welding instructor recommended option 2 for us newbies. The goal is to have no, 0, fuel vapors, so there’s nothing to ignite.
Jess/Bob- Nope, NO baffles…
Big Al- As TXRed said, two options. So this one is so old there aren’t any fumes left, and it’s gonna be a cut and replace on quite a few areas.
You took these pictures? If so, I wonder if I could share them with Iowahawk (David Burge) on X.
I actually got trained on driving that Model T planetary gearbox system in a 1925 truck. I drove it around in a pasture and discovered that the ability to control torque and the large wheel diameters make it handle really well off road. The state of roads was pretty questionable when these vehicles were new.