One century old this month

[jiminbartow]

One hundred years ago in March of 1926, My Model T coupe rolled off the assembly line. When it was 44 years old in 1970, 56 years ago I bought it for $600.00 and began restoring it when I was 16 completing it 2 years later when I was 18. I am now 72. Jim Patrick

[John kuehn]

Good job Jim! Do you know how many owners had it before you? Model T history is always interesting.

[jiminbartow]

One. I answered an ad in the Tampa Tribune in the Fall of 1970. My Dad drove us 20 miles to Tampa, Florida when he got home from work and I bought it from an old man who was the original owner. I’d provide you with his name if I wasn’t too lazy to go upstairs and get the original title out of the file. My Dad was interested because he was born in February 1926. The old man didn’t take very good care of it. That time of year, it got dark early so I had to explore it by flashlight in his garage. Even though it was a rusted heap, it was complete and, for me, love at first sight. I still remember that delicious old car smell that permeated the garage. I bought it with my life savings of $600.00 cash which is all I had. The old man wanted $650.00 and Dad talked him down to $600.00. We went back the next morning, which was a Saturday, with a trailer and the old man’s yard was crowded with people interested in buying the old Coupe, which is good because with 4 hard flat tires, it took several strong men to push it out of the garage and up onto the trailer and without the old man who, with his 46 years of experience with the old coupe, who sat in the cab manipulating the clutch pedal and brake lever, nobody would have known how to get it into neutral. Had we not gone the day before, I would not have come away with it. For the next 2 years, my coupe dominated my life as nothing else could. Every spare moment I had from 1970 to 1972 and every dollar I made bagging groceries after school went into my coupe. I completed it in October, 1972 just one month before going into the Marines in November, 1972 for the next 4 years.

[Art M]

That is an interesting story. I wish I had the background of my 1923 touring. The day my car turned 100 years old, I drove it 107 miles. I enjoyed every mile of it. About 20 miles of it were with members of my local club.

I recommend that you do the same if you can.

Art Mirtes

[Allan]

Well done Jim. That is a great story. Having production figures for US T models makes dating them relatively easy, unlike my experience with Henrietta, my barn find tourer buckboard.
From registration records she is also 100 years old in late Feb early March 1926. I too, am the second registered owner after the Webb family, who held her until 2017. However, when fitting new tyres I discovered that four of the loose lug rims were dated Feb 1925. It must have taken almost a year for the chassis to be shipped from Canada to Australia, then to have Duncan and Fraser build the body under contract to Ford, have that body shipped interstate to Victoria for assembly on the chassis and then have the completed car shipped back to South Australia for eventual sale in early 1926! So perhaps she is 101.

Allan from down under.

[jiminbartow]

Thank you for your responses. There should be a lot of 1926 and 1927 T’s celebrating reaching the century mark this year and next year. I’m sure Henry would be surprised at how far his Model T’s have come. They were not designed to last this long and with all wars and scrap drives, Boyd Coddington, and teenage hot rod craze of the 50’s and 60’s that have occurred since the last T’s rolled off the assembly line, I’m grateful so many survived.