Okay. Long story short. I am trying to put together a fairly correct windshield for my '15 runabout. And I think I am pretty well set for it. But in sorting through all my miscellaneous hinges and parts, I found I have an oddity.
I have what I believe is a good pair of 1914 hinges, short arms and steel, and the frames and glass would line up straight. The adjusting detents are placed slightly different than the hinges that I believe to be 1915. I have three hinges that I believe are original '15/'16/early’17 (I forget which side I have two of). They are equal length short two bolt hole hinges with an offset between the lower and upper frames and glass. This results in a clearly left and right side hinge (unlike the (I think) '14s which will work for either side). I think I am okay there. I also have some extra parts of hinges, a couple short arm, however most are the longer later style.
I also have, one nice pair of hinges that someone long before me began to restore. These, I realize, I believe are not correct. They are the oddity, I suspect from someone’s attempt at mismatching something they did not know. This pair that came to me with a pickup load of parts some years ago each have one short arm, and one long arm.
So the question is, was a set of open car windshield hinges ever used on the '17 through '22 model T that had one long and one short arm? I have looked at a lot of old photos, but not found anything that would indicate they were. If, by chance, these are correct for something? I would like to stick with my original intention to keep them as they are and maybe later find someone that needs such a pair. If such a hinge was not used by Ford, and these are in fact a mismatch of early and late pieces? Then I have an opportunity to use some of my other later pieces to keep a correct pair of late hinges, and match the short arm parts with some other early extra pieces I have and maybe complete another '14 or '15/'16 pair.
Just trying to do what is best all around.
Another detail question for the experts. I believe that I have read that some early '15 style cars may have had the earlier hinges that held the frames and glass lined up. This resulted in rain running down the top glass and blowing through the division between the top and bottom glass. This was then the reason the upper glass was moved forward about a half inch so that rain could hopefully drip down the front.
Was what I have read correct or not? And when would the change to the offset have occurred? Could my spring '15 runabout maybe use the earlier “no offset” hinges that I believe may be '14s? The one nice set of those I have are in much better condition than the one '15 pair.
Thank you.
