That is cool if it has the same dimensions... I did a search and found a tiny radiator with that name on an auction site... so I searched for Perfex Radiator... and this came up in Ancestry.com: The History of Perfex Radiator Company The Perfex Radiator Company, of Racine, established business in Chicago in 1910 and was removed to this city on the 12th of October, 1912, a location being secured on Fifteenth Street, at the Northwestern railway tracks, where they occupy a three-story brick building one hundred and twenty by one hundred and ten feet. The business was established in Chicago under the name of the Aero Sheet Metal Works and afterward was incorporated there under the name of the Automobile Radiator & Parts Manufacturing Company in 1911. With the removal to Racine the name was changed to the Perfex Radiator Company under which style operations have since been continued. The company is now erecting a new building along the St. Paul railway tracks, on the block bounded by Holmes Avenue, Eighteenth Street, Hett Avenue and the railroad. This building is two hundred and fifty-five by sixty-live feet, a one-story saw-tooth structure of modern construction. It is a building erected about a steel frame and was planned for the purpose used, so that it meets the needs of the company in every particular. The company manufactures a patented radiator used on any internal combustion engine, farm tractors, commercial trucks and automobiles. The radiator was invented by F. M. Opitz and the patent was transferred to and has been perfected by the company. With the completion of the new building the plant will have a capacity of four hundred radiators per day and employ two hundred or more men, mostly skilled labor, the remainder being semi-skilled. The product is marketed by selling direct to manufacturers and is used by every representative manufacturer of farm tractors in the United States. It is best known perhaps through its use by truck manufacturers, including the Jeffery Quad and others. When the business was removed to Racine it was in its infancy and the plant has doubled every year since the removal was made, the trade growing with most satisfying rapidity. The company was incorporated upon coming to Wisconsin and the present officers are as follows: Fred M. Opitz, president: Edgar P. Wolf, vice president and treasurer: and P. Wolf. secretary.
Aftermarket replacement for a Model T, probably came with a whole radiator. I used to have one that said Peerless on it and it had an extra dip in it across the top instead of being straight. Neat period item.
Lots of aftermarket "T" shells out there. Ford from day one was VERY particular about marketing his companies name, so when company made a replacement part for a Ford car it most of the time stamped their own name in the place where we would expect the Ford script. The steel shell on my T-Bucket has an oval stamping in the center panel almost like what a Model "A" would take.
That is so cool. I have been playing with antique cars/hot rods since 1962 and never came across one. Nice find!
I guess you could call them an OEM, but if this is a replacement part that is specifically for Model Ts then they were aftermarket also. squablow, Peerless was a car manufacturer, are you sure yours was a Ford replacement?
Peerless was a large V8 or straight six car in the Cadillac cl***. The rad would be twice as big as a Model T. If the rad fits a T it must be an aftermarket replacement part.
The Peerless replacement shells for Model "T"s aren't exactly rare, but aren't super easy to find these days. The y actually made two that I am aware of, one that had the rounded dip in the center as described above, and one that was flat across the bottom like a standard "T" shell. All that I have seen were for short cowl cars, which would place them between '17 and '22. I can think of about 20 different logos and names stamped in "T" replacement shells. I guess this isn't common knowledge anymore? Back in the seventies when the "T" guys were still around and kicking, these were something that was fairly widely collected...
Interesting thanks for all your replies. You would think Ford would be all over someone putting a name in such a prominent place. Its a garage hanger for me.
The Jalopy Journal
