All my Chevrolet books are telling the same story as follows:

"Like it's Model T-rival, the 1916, 490 Touring had only one right door in front and two at rear, the roadster only one door."
So they both missed the left front door in that production year.

I have looked at pictures of both RHD and LHD Tourings and got confused. My own 1916 RHD has nevertheless an operating left front door, but no opening door on the right side. So I have to enter first and then the front passenger.

May this have something to do with the steering or what?

I would say the 1916 490 3-door touring in LHD or your RHD was just a question of cost. Now my 1912 Model Little 4 is also RHD with a false right door that does not open because the gear shift and hand brake levers are in the way. So yes I have to get in first to drive it.
With the coming of the 1917 model 490 with new streamline bodies, the touring got 4 doors.
kenK

Solan,
The 1916-1917-1918 parts book lists two different part numbers for the front door for a 1916 touring.

Part 41776 Front door Complete, finished, trimmed, with all hardware, Right drive (touring) 1916

part 41775 Front door Complete, finished, trimmed, with all
hardware, Left drive (touring) 1916

Both doors are listed for the 1916 roadster

The 1916 owners instruction manual i have( USA St Louis, dated 4-15-16) shows the left hand drive touring with right hand front door only.It shows a false trim on the left hand side. Later manuals show the actual door with release lever.

The idea at the time would have stopped the driver exiting the vehicle into the traffic.

Your 1916 would definately have been the the other way around with only the left hand opening door.(Correct for right hand drive).

So, it is perfectly true that the 490 from 1916 was only delivered with one front door, depending on the position of the steering. If a car was LHD, the right door was working, and with RHD the left door was working as my car shows.

No technical information I have seen describes or shows more than one working door at the front seat, both for Touring and Roadsters.

So we can conclude with:

The 1916/490 did not have more than one working door at the front.

Nice to know if someone think they have a(n original)4-door 1916.

Yes, there is a 1916 490 tourer here with only one front door on the pass. side. Andy.

Thanks, Andy.

I have got the firm confirmation that also the (T)F**Ds used the same arrangement to save money in 1916; only one door operating in the front.

Did you know that Henry F**D was the first to use ethanol in his cars? Why shouldn't we use it today?

http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_fuel_history.html

The problem with ethanol is that it takes more energy to produce it then you get back. It is the total energy to grow the grain (prepare the fields, produce the fertilizer, etc.), harvest, truck it to processing facilities, convert to ethanol and distribute it to users. Yes it is renewable. It is the total impact that should be used to determine the best solution for automotive fuel(s).

A bushel of corn is worth around $4.50 to $5.00. How many bushels of corn does it take to make a gallon of ethanol and is there any value to the by-product of the manufacturing process?(gluten I think). I believe that it is fed to hogs and feedlot cattle. Good question for the chemist out there.

I believe that alot of ethanol plants went up when corn was closer to $2.00 a bushel. I am not sure that it makes sense to build a multi-million dollar facility to process a product that has such a volatile market fluctuation. Unless of course there is government funding available.

The reason that so many ethanol plants were built was exactly because of a Government subsidy, low cost loans, etc. It was also because the major alternative oxygenating agent, MTBE, being added to gas had serious environmental problems. It became a political preferred product with promoted profit potential. However no one bothered to do a total cost calculation on the production partly because of the subsidy.

Part of the total cost calculation is the value of any byproduct (animal feed, soil improver, etc.) and also disposal cost for anything not marketable.

It was clear to some of my chemist buddies that it was not a long term solution. Being a Chemist myself, I was asked by more than one person on the advisability of investing in an Ethanol plant. I recommended to each to put their money elsewhere. Fortunately all have told me that they took my advise and were glad they did. At least two of the plants were stopped before construction was complete.

Thanks for answering my question. It appears to be as I suspected, another government subsidized miscalculation.

As far as I have read there is good economy for the society making and using such fuel in Brazil. They also use much propane for the commercials to get less pollution.

I do not think our oldies will be likely to run on anything else than gas, but to save the environment we might need to revise our use of carbon fuels in our daily cars, and soon.

I don't believe that this is the correct forum to discuss the political, environmental and economic impact of ethanol. Let's leave it as in the US the total cost of producing ethanol is greater than the value and it takes more fossil fuel than equivalent ethanol produced.

Back to the topic. A 1916 3 door. No drivers door.

Sorry, Chipper. I apologize and certainly agree to leave this to the men at top. I mentioned it because quite a lot of people think the ethanol is a new "invention"; it is already 100 years old.

And back to the original subject which is a very lovely looking car. The beige 1916 shown here should originally been black and had black seats/interieur, I believe.

That is correct. Some 490's were painted colors before they were even delivered. Seems that some people felt that a car with color would give the impression of a more expensive automobile and even in 1916, appearances were important to some. That's not to say that this car has been beige since 1916, but it will stay that way for the time being. To nice to worry about a repaint/color change.

61 vert,

Can I ask what museum the biege 490 is in? Looks very interesting.

Gary

Sent you a PM Gary.

I have heard several stories of people claiming the strange color (not factory paint chips) on their cars were original in the way that the car was painted or repainted before delivery to the first buyer. I have got such information in different places both in South America and Oceania. Even here in Norway we have examples
to prove such practise.

You sure have a point as to people brightening up a car to show the owner is not ordinary, but better off. And the dealer would certainly repaint for free or low cost if that gave him a sale. Chevrolet had stock of more than 100.000 cars unsold in 1920; a very good reason for treating possible customer very nicely.