Introduced in late 1904, the Model B was a dramatic shift in design and engineering for Ford. The automaker’s first four-cylinder car and the first to have the engine mounted up front, it was larger, more powerful, and far more luxurious than Ford’s other models, costing over twice as much with a price of $2,000. Its elegant four-passenger body on a robust, pressed-steel frame featured stylish wood and brass trim and a 92-inch wheelbase, long enough to permit side entrance into the tonneau. The underpinnings included shaft drive and rear drum brakes not found on other Fords. Its 318-cubic-inch four-cylinder engine produced 24 horsepower—versus 10 horsepower in the Model A and C—which could push the vehicle up to 40 mph.

An ad in The Philadelphia Enquirer on 28 November 1904 proclaimed that the 1,710-pound Model B boasted “more power for its weight than any other car in the world,” enough to beat 60-horsepower competitors at the Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York. Compared to the best automobiles of the day costing far more, the ad touted, the Model B was superior in terms of hill climbing, speed, and smoothness. “Deliveries can be made as fast as the railroads can bring the cars from the Ford factory. Three cars are now ready,” it concluded. Alas, the Model B was a slow seller, with around 500 sold before the Model K replaced it in 1906.

The example offered here is believed to be one of approximately seven or eight Model Bs known to survive. Finished in dark green with straw-colored undercarriage and wheels—the only color scheme Ford offered for the model from the factory—it has been with the same family since the 1960s, having been acquired by the consignor’s grandfather, without an engine, for his collection of Ford letter cars. Upon the grandfather’s passing in 1995, a correct-type replacement engine was cast for it and is present in the car today.

This Model B, wearing an older restoration, is rare and historically significant, making it of great interest to Ford enthusiasts and collectors of significant pre-war automobiles.