Re: Briggs Victoria.....Myth or Merit?

Posted by John Icenhower on September 04, 1998 at 23:31:57

In Reply to: Briggs Victoria.....Myth or Merit?
posted by Black Fred on September 04, 1998 at 20:35:43

:
: I have a friend who has an all canvas top Victoria, sometimes called the "leatherback".I have always heard that the "leatherbacks" were made by Briggs and the Victoria with the steel and rubberized fabric top was made by Murray.He told me he always thought the same but recently was told by a very knowledgeable "A" person that all Victorias were made by Murray.Looking through a "A" book "the illustrated History of Ford" by George H. Dammann, it pictures the two Victorias, leatherback and steeltop, built by Briggs and Murray. Is there anyone out there with some information on this?
Fred,
You have stated the common belief.The International Model A Ford Victoria Association has cataloged some 260+ Victorias that have been or are members of the Association.
Here are some facts gathered from this very small sample of the total of 40,000+ Victorias produced.
Of the 262 (141 leatherback and 121 steelback) on the list, only 153 have a body manufacturer's tag.While a few of these have a Briggs tag, the "proof of the pudding" is whether they have cage nuts or "D" nuts on the body firewall.The cage nuts are a known Murray body characteristic.The "D" nut is a known Briggs body characteristic, from Cabriolets etc.
None of the cataloged cars have the "D" nuts.We're still hopeful that one will turn up one of these days.
The leatherbacks dominate the early production with extant tags 1226 to 28202 (92 cars) (lots of skips here of course) being nearly all leatherbacks with only four of that group being steelback.These are also all flat firewall cars with indented firewalls starting at somewhere near tag 32400.
We also have info on quarter window shades vs no quarter window shades, sun visors on drivers side only vs. both driver and passenger, drivers seat adjustment mechanism and spare wheel mounting location, but I've already told you more than you asked.So I'll leave it at that for now.
If your friend has a Victoria with "D" nuts on the firewall, please let me know and we'll add that to our list.
John