Three Pedals and a Lever: How You Drive a Model T

The old-timers who taught this stuff in the 1910s and 1920s had one advantage over us: they had no habits to unlearn. So start the way they did, with the controls, one at a time.

Three pedals, one lever, two levers you forgot about

On the floor, left to right: the low pedal, the reverse pedal and the brake pedal. That layout came in early in 1909. The first 800 or so cars used a second hand lever for reverse, which tells you Ford was still working it out.

The left pedal does three jobs depending on where your foot puts it. Pushed all the way down, it is low gear. Held halfway, it is neutral. Let all the way up, with the hand lever forward, it is high gear. The center pedal is reverse. The right pedal is the brake, and it works on a band inside the transmission, not on the wheels.

The hand lever on the floor, to your left, is the one people misjudge. Pulled all the way back, it sets the rear-wheel brakes and holds the car in neutral. Pushed all the way forward, it lets the car go into high. Stood upright, halfway, it holds neutral without setting the brake, which is where Ford's own manual told you to leave it when backing up. Get that lever wrong and the car will tell you about it.

Up on the steering column are two levers. The right one is the throttle. That is your gas pedal, operated by hand. The left one is the spark advance, which sets when the cylinders fire. Ford gave it a 28-notch quadrant, so you have more choices than you will ever need.

Waking it up: spark, throttle and the crank

Every Model T came with a hand crank. Electric starting arrived for the 1919 model year, first on the closed cars and as a $75 option on the open ones, and by 1926 a starter was standard across the line. Before that, you started the car the way your great-grandfather did: standing in front of it, hoping it liked you.

The ignition does not need a battery to run. It runs off the magneto, which is built into the flywheel and makes its own current once the engine turns. That is a gift when the battery is dead and a curse when you are cranking a cold engine, because the magneto makes very little at cranking speed.

Before you crank, pull the hand lever all the way back so the car is braked and in neutral. Set the spark lever toward retard, so the engine fires late. A late spark keeps the engine from kicking the crank backward, Ford's 1919 manual warned that a sudden backfire with the spark advanced "may injure the arm of the operator," and plenty of owners have the stories to prove it. Crack the throttle a little. Then crank. When it catches, move the spark down toward advance until the engine smooths out, and set the throttle where it idles happily.

Cars with a starter used a floor push button and a priming rod on the instrument board. Easier on the shoulder. Less romantic. Nobody ever complained.

How to drive a Model T from a standstill

Engine running, spark set, you are ready to move. Here is the sequence the old instructors taught, more or less.

Press the left pedal halfway and hold it there. That is neutral. Now push the hand lever forward. With your foot holding neutral, the car stays put. Open the throttle a little with your right hand. Push the left pedal all the way to the floor. The car moves off in low.

Let it gather some speed, still in low. Then ease the throttle back a touch, and let the left pedal come all the way up. You are in high. That is the only shift you make on a Model T, and most of your driving will be done right there. The car has two forward speeds, and on level ground high does nearly everything.

The surprises come in the details. Your feet do almost no accelerating. Your right hand does that, on the column. Your left foot spends most of the trip resting, unless you are in traffic, where it does a lot of holding halfway. And the car does not stop rolling just because you took your foot off something. It stops because you pressed the right pedal.

"The fellows who taught this in 1915 never called it hard. They called it different. Then they handed you the crank and walked off to get a coffee."

Gary Nowak

Slowing down, backing up and the hill problem

The right pedal tightens a band around a drum in the transmission. That slows the driveshaft and, with it, the rear wheels. It is the only service brake you have. The hand lever works separate brakes on the rear drums, and those are for parking and for emergencies.

To stop: throttle back, press the left pedal to halfway for neutral, and press the brake pedal with your right foot. Hold neutral until the car is stopped, then pull the hand lever back.

Reverse is the center pedal. From a stop, hold neutral with the left pedal, press the center pedal, and the car backs up. Owners have long said reverse is geared lower than low, which is one reason drivers sometimes backed up steep hills. The other reason is fuel: on cars with the tank under the seat, a steep climb could leave the carburetor above the fuel, and backing up put gravity on your side.

Learning to drive one today

The good news is that Model Ts are still out there, still running and still teaching new drivers. The engine is the 177 cubic inch four rated at 20 horsepower, and with the standard axle the car will run at about 40 to 45 mph on good pavement. You will not want to, at first. Somewhere in the 20s feels plenty fast with that braking.

If you want to understand what is happening under the hood while your feet are busy, read up on the Ford Model T engine first. The best teachers, though, are other owners. The Model T Ford Club of America and the local chapters around the country are where people who already know how to drive these cars will put you in the seat, stand beside you and let you stall it a few times without laughing. Much.

And if, after an afternoon with three pedals and a lever, you are ready for your own, start looking for a Model T to learn on. Pick a running, sorted car over a pretty one. A car that starts every time teaches you a lot faster than one that only looks good parked.

Sources and notes

• Ford Manual for Owners and Operators of Ford Cars (1919), Project Gutenberg
• 1919 Ford Model T Manual, Internet Archive scan
• Ford Model T, Wikipedia
• Ford Model T engine, Wikipedia
• Model T ignition and the spark quadrant, Model T Central
• Backing up the hills, History Museum of Hood River County