My car started by itself

My cabriolet has done this twice. The first time it really surprised me. I have had 4A's and this is the only one that's done it. Very interesting phenomenon. Just need to be careful.
 
My 1919 T gives free starts all the time. A few pulls on the crank with the choke closed and when I switch it to the battery it fires about 50% of the time.
It certainly surprises people that are watching and makes it easy for me because it does not have a starter.
 
Like nhusa said, in the hand cranked Model T world, this is what's known as a "free start". I too get one about half the time. Much more common in the T due to the ******** ignition coils, where the coils fire multiple times during a few degrees of rotation for each cylinder. Never had it happen to me in the As. Interestingly, before shutting off the ignition in any of his cars up until he passed in 1980, my father used to blip the gas pedal, and while the engine was still racing, he'd turn off the ignition. This was a carryover habit from the old hand cranked days, where you tried to get a charge of unburned gas in the cylinders when shutting down in order to make re-starting it that much easier.
 
When my dad was 13, he was a grocery delivery boy and drove the grocers Model T. I envied him being able to do this as I was about that age when he told me. Anyway he said he would pull up to the delivery address, rev the throttle, kill the juice sucking extra gas into the cylinders and run the box of groceries up to the house, knock on the door and run back to the "T". Jump in, turn on the juice while moving the spark lever and POP, away he'd go! At thirteen years old! Wow, wouldn't that be neat but thinking back on the time frame and the fact he was the oldest male in the family of 8 siblings, he probably didn't do it for fun but necessity. Sure do miss him and his stories. Thanks for posting this thread.
 
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