Ebay Town Car

[Bob Johnson]

Jim,

Are you referring to the car you saw in 2008? Not the car in the Ebay ad. Please make this clear otherwise some may think you are saying the Ebay car is "a true museum quality piece, authentically restored with painstaking attention to detail.''

I do not think the Ebay car is an original Towncar. Just my opinion.

Bob

[Steve Plucker]

I would like to think it is Henry Ford's "prototype" Town Car before the real deal...but not!

Now wouldn't that be something if it was?!

Hmmmmmm.

Pluck

[ronn]

interesting observation Pluck

I would like to see the complete interior-there would be some telling evidence there as well..........

[Synchro909]

It's currently at a little over $US33K which is about $43K Australian. Would you believe there is a guy here trying to sell a '31 S/W for $A95K. Maybe he confused his phone number with the price.
Oh, and it's still "Wrong hand drive".
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1931-FORD...oAAOSwIgNXntsd

[Bob Johnson]

Here is a comparison of an original Town car rear panel and the one on Ebay.

[Bob C]

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Originally Posted by Synchro909

It's currently at a little over $US33K which is about $43K Australian. Would you believe there is a guy here trying to sell a '31 S/W for $A95K. Maybe he confused his phone number with the price.
Oh, and it's still "Wrong hand drive".
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1931-FORD...oAAOSwIgNXntsd

The high price is probably because of the rare color coordinated steering wheel.

Bob

[DougVieyra]

Timothy Kelly's post: "A few words about Town Cars"is well worth the read. I recommend all who read this post, also read Tim post.

[mercman from oz]

here is an enlarged picture of this Town Car that was previously posted.

[Glenn C.]

Helpful answers that I receive here, might save me from taking a another holiday.....tsk, tsk.

1. Did not Model T Ford make a Town Car ? In looking at the hinge thumbnail pic as posted by Bob C. above, I would have thought the Model A Town Car would have used the same hinge design as used on all the production Model A cars of that time.

2. As per the pictures of the ebay Model A Town Car, are not the two post mirrors true mirrors genuine to the town car only, and if they are correct style mirrors, and the vehicle is not genuine, where is the car that these mirrors came from ?

3. The rear window appears to be of smaller dimensions than what was used for the Briggs Body Fordors, which would be correct.

[Bob Johnson]

Glen.

1) The top front hinge on a Model A Town Car is unique. Half of the hinge is part of the door post. The other half is part of the door jam. Both the front door post and the door jam are aluminum.

2) The mirrors used on the Model A Town Car were not unique to Ford. Other car manufacturers used the same mirror. Also note that the Ford Town Car came with only one outside mirror. The car on Ebay has 2. I have made reproduction Town Car mirrors myself.

3) The back structure of the Fordor can easily be modified for a smaller window. If you look at my post yesterday with the picture of the backs of the Ebay car and an original you can see differences. Note the corner trim pieces on either side of the back. The original is an aluminum "angle iron" like piece which is flat and square.

Bob

[Glenn C.]

Thanks Bob! The wife is now happy again.....even though I informed her that we were not making a trip

[glenn in camino]

I just read all the posts re. the town car on ebay, but it doesn't how to tell a recreation from a real one. Is there a body number or something else to identify the real thing. Remember, if it's really valuable, some smarty will figure out how to make an exact copy. There must be some details that are really hard to reproduce.

[DougVieyra]

glenn in camino:

Aah, I was talking with Joan Crawford (that is her pictured in Bob Johnson's Post # 29 photo) the other day (she got an early one, before they hit the dealer's Showroom Floor) and she said there are a number of unique items that easily distinguish 'an exact copy' from an original Ford Factory Town Car. But she could only remember a few of the items. And those items that she did remember and told to me, I have forgotten already.

BUT, I bet those 14 or so owners of original Ford-made Town Cars can chip in a few select items for us to chew over. Unfortunately, unless you are the one who restored the car - to be able to get into the intimate 'nooks and crannies' - I suspect that many of today's Town Car owners may be limited to what they can contribute. While easy to distinguish the Town Car from 'all those other ordinary Fords' it may not be so easy, even for a Town Car owner to tell an original from a meticulous 'exact copy'.

So it is with some anticipation that I too await for some solid differentiating details to emerge from the question you pose. I know that Marco was intimately involved with one some years back, and he might chime in if he sees Glen's query.

[Bob Johnson]

It really depends on the copy. Each copy is different. Each one will have different areas that are not exact. This depends on the person making the copy, how well they have researched, what items are important to them and how much time/money they are willing to spend. All copies I have seen started off as Briggs Fodors/Town sedans. Towncars share some parts with Briggs Fordors. The rear doors are basically the same. The front door and cowl are similar but have many differences. The front post on the front doors is aluminum. There is a single "step" at the reveal on a Towncar and a double step on a Fordor. The front door post on the cowl is also aluminum and the inside part of the top hinge is part of the aluminum cowl post. The outside part of the top door hinge is also aluminum and is part of the door post. The windshield does not have slide arms on the sides. It has a knob in the center of the dash rail that operates a "scissor" mechanism which opens the windshield. The front door straps are real leather and are held with metal brackets. The seat springs are individual pocketed. The partition has many unique features. There are tw0 flat windows in the center that slide. There are also two curved windows on either side of the partition. The strip that separates the flat form the curved glass is aluminum. There is a knob in the center top of the back of the front seat to lock the sliding glass. There is a clock mounted on the back of the header above the partition. The arm rests in the back seat store a cigar lighter, ash tray and on the other side a vanity case. The rear window and the partition glass do not have metal frames. The rear corners of the body have aluminum trim pieces which cover the joint where the side and back panels meet. These are some of the more obvious details that are unique to the Towncar. As Tim said there are some copies that have fooled the "experts". There are also some that are easy to spot.

I am not trying to put down any Towncar copies. Some are very nice cars and would be nice to own. But Towncars which were always Towncars will fetch a higher price than copies. In some cases twice as much. I would not like to see someone buy a car thinking it is factory produced Towncar then find out latter that it is a copy. If one were to pay $25,000 for a Model A Roadster thinking it was a factory build car. Then find out it is a Shay reproduction, they may not be happy. With a Towncar the price could be 5 times that or more. That is serious money to most Model A owners.

[Mike V. Florida]

I think we can agree that it is beautifully done and would make a great car to own, recreation or restoration.

[Randy in ca]

Curious about the different sizes of the rear window - all pictures (even those of other cars on Bob's web page) seem to show that window a lot smaller than the one on Bob's own car (?).

-

[Bob Johnson]

My car had the rear window replaced with a larger one by the previous owner.

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by Bob Johnson

My car had the rear window replaced with a larger one by the previous owner.

OK, looks like they did a good job and I can totally understand why - the stock windows look like they might as well not even be there!!

[DougVieyra]

Mike - post # 34: "I think we can agree that it is beautifully done and would make a great car to own, recreation or restoration."
_________________________________

A loud agreement and applause from me on that sentiment Mike ! I assumed from the beginning that the car was a masterful and quality recreation - AND that the builder had done an OUTSTANDING job in every respect. The car is simply BEAUTIFUL !

It may BE an original, or it may not be - to me it really does not matter. I just think that the car is a real jewel. I can afford to be so cavalier because I am not clunking down $50 or $60 or . . . . grand. If I were, THEN I would be REALLY concerned about its authenticity and pedigree. But now, as I am not, I am only looking at the quality of the restoration and if a recreation, an additional admiration on the person who did such an outstanding job on the body work and finishing details.

[eystein]

Could have been a rough car to start with that had to have a lot of work done to it.
-Front door top hinges could have been cracked/worn aluminium pieces replaced by standard hinges during restoration.
-What I see as different on the rear panel is that there are no joints between the aluminium angle bracket and the beads in the panel, and also that the bead on the quarter panel is not sharply pointed at the rear corner. This could be inaccurate work with body solder during restoration.

What seems to indicate authenticity is :
-The car has the angled corners at the rear.
-Single reveal on the front door
- I cannot see any windshield slides on this car

It could very well be a replica, but is so, it seems to be better than most others