I recently visited a museum which exhibits a 1915 model T Ford.
On the inside of the front right wheel I found a pair of spur gears, and it’s not clear to me what they’re for.
Any thoughts?
I believe that would be for the speedometer
Easy as that! I was guessing an odometer, but didn’t see any instrumentation like that in the dash.
Thanks!
When I read the title all I could hear was Mona Lisa Vitos saying “That is a bullshit question. The Model-T Ford didn’t have a spur gear until 1916”. I just made the last part up.
You would think that they’d keep it clean in a museum.
Could it be that the speedometer was an option? Put the gears on all that were built but the cable and meter itself could be added later?
“Speedometers were installed as an option on the 1909 cars and became standard equipment from 1910-1913. Stewart & Clark (Stewart-Warner) supplied the speedometers to Ford at this time. In early November, 1913, Ford ceased installation of speedometers because Stewart-Warner could not keep up with Ford’s assembly line. From November 1913 to at least August 1914, speedometers were not factory installed by Ford. Around September or October 1914, Ford began to install the “Ford-Special” speedometer into his cars.** Finally, around August 1915 speedometers were no longer installed at the factory**. I hope this helps, Russ Furstnow”
From this discussion board: Model T Ford Forum: Speedometer standard?
Bolding mine