canadian built vin

[old ugly]

as far as i can tell there is no way to get a build date on a Canadian built model A. The US numbers do not line up at all.
there is some tell tales to give general time frames that is all i could find.
is there a way to get a production date?
i think this car was built in the spring of 1928 just by the features it has ???
the vin is original and is CA8529
it has
-left park brake and no separate e-brake stuff.
-solid front engine mount
-early rear end
-multi disc clutch
-early style throttle monkey motion
all that sort of stuff.
any ideas on the build date?

thanks
OU

[Randy in ca]

Vince Falter's site as well as one other I checked show your engine was stamped in early May of 1928.

-

[rotorwrench]

Ford of Canada engines were all Canadian. They did a lot of things differently than across the river in Dearborn. Ford USA did things in similar fashion so the dates are for the engines and not the bodies. The actual car completion date is not part of the equation. There were too many assembly plants all over the country and the world so all the components had to travel many miles from Detroit for a lot of the cars built. A person can see that from the day the engine was stamped to the completion of the car could vary from several days to several weeks depending on where it was assembled. Characteristics of a particular car will tell a lot but that's only if the car is an unmolested original. It's getting harder to find cars that fit that description.

Canadian cars were assembled in the same place for the most part so the time frame is likely shorter but it depends on how well the cars were moving/selling during the depression. Some Canadian product was sent to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. The engine pieces were cast at a different location than the car assembly work so there was some lag time due to that as well. Sarnia was where the engine foundry plant was.

[katy]

Ford of Canada had 5 assembly plants, the main plant in Windsor Ontario, plus Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The assembly building in Winnipeg is still standing and in use (not by Ford), dunno about the others.
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/fletcherbuilding.shtml

[old ugly]

This car used a lot of Robertson screws. Built before ford and Robertson came to dislike each other.
I read some where that ford saved over $1.00 per car by using Robertson screws, so it must have been quite a dislike to give up on $5,000,000 over the whole model A production.

[lrf]

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Also for dating, the Dec. 1927 thru February 1928 radiator shell had the webbing woven thru it. It's very obvious when you see it.

[Model51]

Are the Ford of Canada archives still available for researchers unlike the Ford archives at the Benson Ford Research Center in Dearborn?

[rotorwrench]

Originally Posted by katy

Ford of Canada had 5 assembly plants, the main plant in Windsor Ontario, plus Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The assembly building in Winnipeg is still standing and in use (not by Ford), dunno about the others.
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/fletcherbuilding.shtml

Plant #1 was then referred to as the Walkerville, Ontario plant. It was somewhat like the Rouge plant in that it was where all the major parts except the engine castings were built. The Sarnia plant or Holmes Foundry was the engine plant so they would have to move the products by ship down to Walkerville and the other branch plants after engine completion. Parts would also be sent to the other branch plants by the best possible method. Walkerville eventually grew into the Windsor plant over time. Oakville, Ontario came along in the 50s. The Holmes-Blunt Foundry also made brake parts so asbestos was used a lot there. It became so contaminated that its still toxic to this day.

Ford of Canada likely purchased some parts and bodies from the same subcontractors as Ford US, ie Briggs, Budd, and Murray. As far as Robertson fasteners, they were only used in Canadian production.

[rackops]

Originally Posted by old ugly

the vin is original and is CA8529
it has
-left park brake and no separate e-brake stuff.
-solid front engine mount
-early rear end
-multi disc clutch
-early style throttle monkey motion
all that sort of stuff.
any ideas on the build date?

Sounds like a nice, early car! If you measure the number pad on the engine, what size is it? Quite a few two-inch length pads were used in early 1928 in Canada. The highest number I've seen with a two-inch pad is in the 13 thousand range. I've seen many in the 7000 range, which are common in Australia and New Zealand.

[Tinbasher]

Sorry to say but the Canadian Archives had a fire in the early 70's and all of the information was lost. JP

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by old ugly

This car used a lot of Robertson screws. Built before ford and Robertson came to dislike each other.
I read some where that ford saved over $1.00 per car by using Robertson screws, so it must have been quite a dislike to give up on $5,000,000 over the whole model A production.

Maybe Henry wanted to save $1.50 a car. Or Robertson couldn't or wouldn't supply the quantity needed. All too often big companies eventually get 70-80% of a suppliers output and then it becomes deal or die.

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by ModelA29

Maybe Henry wanted to save $1.50 a car. Or Robertson couldn't or wouldn't supply the quantity needed. All too often big companies eventually get 70-80% of a suppliers output and then it becomes deal or die.

The way I've always heard it stated is that Henry Ford, after finding that the Robertson screw saved a significant amount of work time for each car, attempted to get an exclusive license for the use and manufacture of the Robertson screw in the U.S. He was turned down by Robertson who felt it was not in his own best interest

[rotorwrench]

Another factor was Henry's sensitivity to the possibility of labor strikes with any specific supply source or paying patent rights. With standard slotted screws, he could source them from a number of different companies. With a patented product, he would have to pay for patent rights to be allowed to manufacture them on his own and he wouldn't do that after his own patent fight on the George Selden patent for automobile manufacture. Other manufacturers just payed Selden's price but Henry fought it in court and finally won but it took quite a while. If he couldn't make it then he passed on those business deals.

Ford of Canada was different. Henry only had a 13% interest in that organization. He had a say on the board of directors but he didn't run the company. He basically just let them run it how ever they wanted since he sold them a lot of parts anyway so he made his money both ways. As long as they did good then he let it be. It was a win win situation for him.