There has been some discussion on the number of FMC produced Model Ts surviving. The number given for production is 15 million and it appears to be based on the serial number of the motor.
My question how many motors did FMC produce ? When a car is registered for operation it is generally accepted to use the motor production number to register and date the car. But Ford had an engine replacement program. Ford suggested that if an engine was replaced a set of steel stamps were available to number the replacement motor with the number found on the cars original engine.
Were all engines produced or engine blocks produced given a stamped production number?
In my limited time in the world, I have see and heard others discussing
engines with no stamping numbers, or evidence indicatiing the numbers
were not done at the factory. That does not give you an answer regarding
how many replacements were made, but it was not uncommon, so I would
think the number was quite high.
Whole assembled engines were serialized. Ford also sold bare blocks which were sold un - serialized.
I suspect Ford sold maybe 200 extra serialized engines. The records are not complete, so there is not any way you could ever know exactly. But that’s my best guess. In other words, not many. For example we have complete records of extra engines assembled from 1927 - 1941. During that period Ford sold 88 Model T engines. Yes, just 88.