New club member introduction
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:49 pm
My name is Mike, and sometime in my misspent youth, probably in the '70's, I was walking around Hershey and noticed an unrestored Model T for sale. Now, maybe it was because I have a picture of my grandmother at age 12 driving a Model T around her parents' farm in Indiana, before drivers licenses existed. Maybe it was because that same grandmother, when I was a child, rented her garage to a neighbor who stored two Model T's in it, and I enjoyed playing in them, pushing the pedals and moving the levers. Maybe it was because it was a historically significant car, that put America on wheels, that virtually no one today would have any idea how to drive. Whatever the reason, I put a low-ball bid on it, not expecting any result. After the show I received a phone call, and the '23 Model T Touring was mine.
I drove it a few times, but since I lived on top of a mountain (or what passes for a mountain in northern New Jersey), the brakes were not quite adequate for me to feel comfortable descending the hill, so I stayed mostly on the level within a mile of my house. Once when I was descending a small hill a bronze thrust washer in the rear end broke, which allowed the wheel and axle to disengage from the differential, which means I had no control of the car to either stop or go. Luckily I was in my driveway at the time, so no real harm was done. After I repaired that, life seemed to get in the way of driving the "T", so it languished in a barn for the next few decades.
I recently semi-retired and built myself a new house in south Jersey, which is a coastal plain and so the brakes may be adequate. The new house has a two post lift and space for 9 cars, so I thought it would be a good time to attend to a lot of projects that had been put off until I had some spare time. A restored village near my new house holds a car show every year, so I decided that the "T" should be the first one on my new lift. The car has a few interesting features, and I will have a lot of questions as time goes by. For now, I will start with a simple one that none of my books seem to address: How much oil does it hold, and what type and weight should I use? The oil that is in it is probably the same oil that was in it when I bought it, so it's probably time for a change.
I drove it a few times, but since I lived on top of a mountain (or what passes for a mountain in northern New Jersey), the brakes were not quite adequate for me to feel comfortable descending the hill, so I stayed mostly on the level within a mile of my house. Once when I was descending a small hill a bronze thrust washer in the rear end broke, which allowed the wheel and axle to disengage from the differential, which means I had no control of the car to either stop or go. Luckily I was in my driveway at the time, so no real harm was done. After I repaired that, life seemed to get in the way of driving the "T", so it languished in a barn for the next few decades.
I recently semi-retired and built myself a new house in south Jersey, which is a coastal plain and so the brakes may be adequate. The new house has a two post lift and space for 9 cars, so I thought it would be a good time to attend to a lot of projects that had been put off until I had some spare time. A restored village near my new house holds a car show every year, so I decided that the "T" should be the first one on my new lift. The car has a few interesting features, and I will have a lot of questions as time goes by. For now, I will start with a simple one that none of my books seem to address: How much oil does it hold, and what type and weight should I use? The oil that is in it is probably the same oil that was in it when I bought it, so it's probably time for a change.