MTFCA Forum

The Northwest Vintage Speedsters gang runs a great 200 mile Endurance Run in the PNW every Labour Day weekend — 2020 excepted of course. Friend Jerry and I look forward to motoring down from Edmonton in the '24 Speedster for this first-rate event, but this year we two vagabonds set off to the south-southeast in search of homegrown adventure.

We've been on the road three days now and it seems the fun just won't quit. Here are a few highlights...

The Foothills Model T Ford Club had a Model T Fun Day at Harry and Rosalie Lillo's place just east of Calgary on Saturday. We arrived at Lillos late Saturday AM after spending the night in Cochrane.

A dozen or more Ts and 30+ people turned out for the Fun Day: A number of folks enjoyed their first T driving experience: The lunch was plentiful and delicious: Robb Wolff checked my four coils and the spare for adjustment. I purchased these four and eight more from Ron Patterson about 15 years ago. They've not been touched since, and Robb was hard pressed to find any further adjustment needed: More driving lessons: There were car games as well, but I was busy in the garage with Robb checking my coils, dang it. Many thanks to the Lillos and the FMTFC for a real fun day. I hope some of the other people there on Saturday will chime in on this thread with more photos and stories.

We left Lillo's about 4:00 and made tracks for the Crowfoot Ferry, one of four river ferries still operating in the Province of Alberta.

Wide load! Waiting on the ferry to take us across the Bow River: Jeff the Happy Ferry Man gets some seat time in the T. He figures this is one of the best jobs in the world and looks forward to retiring from it many years from now. Owners of the Wheatland Motel in Vulcan, AB (logically) thought the Speedster was pretty cool. We tarp up the cockpit and storage compartments every night. Been doing it this way for years and AFAIK nobody has ever messed with the car. I am now knocking on all wood within reach.

We're overnighting in Coutts on the Alberta/Montana border (and as close as we get to the US this trip). Trip odometer says 545 miles since we left Edmonton.

Friday and Saturday were sunny, dry and windy. This morning it was still windy, but sunny and dry were but a memory... The Canadian Pacific railway bridge northeast of Lethbridge AB. Built during 1907-1909, it's the largest railway structure in Canada at 5,237' in length and 214' height above the Oldman River bed. Murphy's law strikes again... all my coils checked out OK yesterday, but for some reason, #3 faltered, recovered, and faltered again before giving up not long after leaving Lethbridge. Spare is in and fingers crossed they all behave from here on. We passed two vehicles Saturday on the Calgary Ring Road. This here's our third catch of the trip: Livin' the dream!

Great pictures, looks like loads of fun!
Thx for sharing!

It was great to see Chris and Jerry out for our Foothills Model T event on Saturday. We had close to 50 people and 15 cars.
Barry Proctor cooked 50 pounds of Mexican Discada along with a few dozen smokies. No one went hungry.
These guys have turned into hard core T touring folks. Hopefully they were under cover before last night's rain and snow.
Harry Lillo