What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

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Rich Eagle
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What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Rich Eagle » Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:42 pm

Some work requires total concertation while other tasks are tedious and boring. The latter allow your mind to wander and ever require other thoughts to keep at it. I often think of good times spent with old friends or family. Sometimes I wonder what the guy at the factory who assembled this or that was like or how he did his task. Today while trying to remove a cotter pin and castellated nut from a greasy, grimy, slimy corner I wonder if some of the techniques and tools were similar to a surgeon inside a brain or somewhere. They certainly can't enjoy doing it in the sunshine on a nice day. I'm not sure where that came from.
Forum topics, a pretty face or a Kalamity Dick predicament can certainly make the mindless wet sanding, crud scraping or solvent scrubbing go by faster.
What do you think?
Rich
When did I do that?

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perry kete
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by perry kete » Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:07 pm

I often think about and talk to my Father while working and even riding in my Model T's. He never had a chance to enjoy them because he had passed away long before I got them. He had Model A's and other cars in his youth that he talked about and often wanted to get one in his later life but never had the opportunity. So I guess I include him and ask his advice when I work on them.
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Mustang1964s
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Mustang1964s » Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:35 pm

I often see my fathers hands working on the T.

Several years ago, mom told me that dad use to be an airline mechanic. She was worried because she found nut, bolts and screws in his pockets.
I only knew him as an insurance adjuster, but he did tinker around the house.

It only makes sense that I see him while I am playing mechanic.

Then my mind drifts off to him, but I eventually come back to the task at hand.


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Dallas Landers » Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:54 pm

I think if I do this right, I wont end up walking. 😁Also about the many lives the T's have seen. About how that dent may have gotten there. About my uncles that had A's and T's and the fact I could have asked more questions while they were alive. About my dad that drug me to old junkyards in search of parts and told me the years of the cars and ones he had and wish he had back. Many of my tools came from family or friends that have passed. I think of them while useing the tools. So many things to occupy the mind while working in the shop. Sometimes I just sit and stare at them and think " if only they could tell their story".


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Norman Kling » Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:39 pm

This is what I try to think about, but not necessarily what I actually think about! I usually am thinking about what I will do next and therefore, I lay down a tool and later can't find it! I need to think about what I am doing right now especially when I finish a task or complete a step in the process. Especially when done, to think about where I lay the tool, or perhaps where I put a part I have removed, so I can find it later.
Norm

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TWrenn
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by TWrenn » Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:41 pm

My ADHD doesn't allow me to think too long. So then I quit and go for a drive! :lol: ;)


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Jonah D'Avella » Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:00 pm

As I listen to the news or audio books while tinkering, i think of the most random and obscure things such as calculating the number of bumps on the tire.
F: first F: find
O: on O: oil
R: race R: revive
D: day D: drive
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by NU2theT » Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:05 pm

I think...this is a pain in the A$$, glad they made it easier and better on the Model A. Then I think well....they did a 180 degrees from that and it's even better on a Flathead V8.

Then I open up the hood on my modern Ford with a 5.0 with all the crap in the way and think...O'good I 'm damn glad I got a Model T, @ least I can get to that easier :lol:


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by jiminbartow » Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:05 pm

As one with a one track mind, I think: If I don’t stay focused on what I am doing I’m gonna screw this up or hurt myself. :D Jim Patrick


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Allan » Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:14 pm

I don't ever think of work on my T's as slaving. They are a welcome distraction.

Allan from down under.

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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Henry K. Lee » Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:47 pm

Therapy with Tranquility.


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Alan Long » Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:16 pm

To me it’s not slaving but great fun (most of the time!) but I can’t help wondering who is going to do this when I’m gone ??
I’m the 3rd Generation with none to pick up the hobby after me....


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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by kmatt2 » Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:54 pm

I could have owned a Packard, if I had more money.
I could have spent more money, if I had owned a Packard.

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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Steve Jelf » Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:10 pm

I think about being three and meeting a turtle in the back yard, a wing of the Spruce Goose parking beside our house on June 11, 1945, the high pitched tone right on the edge of hearing that came from a tube TV, dreaming about three guys in trench coats and WWI gas masks stabbing a body in the open trunk of a car parked in the dark beside the Coca Cola plant on Anaheim in Long Beach, Osgood Conklin, George and Charles the flying Finn Twins, Baby Ruth and Three Musketeers for a nickel, eating lunch with Sheena Queen of the Jungle and Fred Flinstone and meeting Jack Haley, driving my Beetle over the Kelso Dunes, Hoppy's laugh, "Oh Cisco! Oh Pancho!", Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Bromo Seltzer, Charlie Chase, "I dood it", the big red owl squashing pennies on the tracks, cicadas singing in the trees on a summer evening, Rosemary De Camp, Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, around Dodge City and in the territory on west there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, the Dennis Day Show, Hi Mom, Hi Dad, Hi Rick, Hi Dave, trout for lunch at the Brown Derby, Jane Stacey's friend Irma, Méxicanos al grito de guerra el acero aprestad yh el bridon, those damn clip-on suspenders, decorating Christmas cookies, Stoveoil the cat, Uncle Wiggly the Bunnyrabbit Gentleman, watching Berra, Howard, and Mantle pop balls over the Wrigley Field wall into 41st Street, the Say Hey Kid playing in the Coliseum, Cheryl Crane and Johnny Stompanato, I Led Three Lives, Oatman Grade, the Grapevine, Roy and Trigger visiting my school, Monty Montana visiting my school, Big Klu, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, Bulova watch time, "Yes sir, Miss Bankhead", Birely's strawberry soda, Froggy the Gremlin, old 99 with the suicide lane in the center, Kodachrome, "Gotta clean out that closet one of these days", a field full of lightning bugs looking like a city at night, the smell of pines in the mountains, the smell of the war surplus tent in the mountains, $1 admission at Disneyland, free admission at Knotts, World Jungle Compound, the Bakersfield Inn bridge over Union Avenue, Wolfman Jack, "My mommy listens to KFWB!", Sweet Dick Whittington, Ed Norton, Lamont Cranston wealthy young man about town, Giant Felix Chevrolet, aiming the antenna at Mount Wilson and turning on the new 21" Silvertlone and seeing Ed Kemmer and Lynn Osborn in Space Patrol, Abba Zabba, Ken's burgers for 15¢, Frank Nelson bugging Jack with "YYYyyesss?", the Crystal Palace in Tombstone, the aunts' Studebaker, listening to Beethoven's Fifth over and over, falling in love with the sublime Third Piano Concerto on the radio in Mom's 1940 Plymouth, riding one of the last troop ships to Korea, shaking hands with Count Basie, shaking hands with Donald Segretti, buying beer from Karen Valentine at Sherwin's Road House, "On, King! On, you huskies!", "Kaneewah, Fury!", and "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

After that my mind starts to wander.
The inevitable often happens.
1915 Runabout
1923 Touring

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david_dewey
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by david_dewey » Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:49 am

Yoicks!! That's a lot to remember! I'm usually thinking, "Where did I put that wrench/pliers/screwdriver/etc. now that I need it??"
T'ake care,
David Dewey

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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Kaiser » Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:55 am

Oh I wish i had a one track mind, mine looks more like this :
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When in trouble, do not fear, blame the second engineer ! 8-)
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Rich Bingham » Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:13 am

What ? Me think ?
"Get a horse !"

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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by TRDxB2 » Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:24 am

What I would be thinking of is what I would be thinking of back then.
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Mark Gregush
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Mark Gregush » Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:36 am

Besides what I am working on, wishing I had a shop that I did not have to go outside and around to get to the other end of what I am working on to get the tool that I need or inside for same reason and could leave the car in one place and still have work room on both sides. That is what I think about.
I know the voices aren't real but damn they have some good ideas! :shock:

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Rich Eagle
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Rich Eagle » Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:57 pm

When I say "slaving away" it doesn't mean I dislike it. I wouldn't have spent 50,000 hours doing this if it wasn't satisfying. (That isn't a record in this group either.)
Today I was thinking "why do I enjoy this?" It was a little cool and windy and I was wet sanding a part that really doesn't need to be as clean as I am getting it. I remembered one of the best mechanics I know mentioning how he has cleaned and polished the insides of engines before just to see them shine.
Getting into the little corners requires some muscle development and a bit of thought as to how to attack tricky areas. I spent 4 hours on this piece and only one side is close to being finished.
My son and his family will play all sorts of video games for hours on end in much the same way. It requires hand eye coordination and a similar thought process to kill all those little ogres, ghosts or aliens. I've often noticed that many hobbies have some very similar aspects that may not be very obvious on the surface.

I know that sandblasting, chemical dips and at least a dozen other processes are quicker and more efficient. Scrubbing with a bucket of water and some 80 grit "wet-or dry" just works for me. That's how I did the frames on my first and last T's. I have sandblasted half a dozen others but my lungs don't like the sand now.
35plate.jpg
Sorry this isn't a T part but you can see the wooden pieces I use to drive the sand paper into the corners. A square of top material also protects my fingers from the grit. It is an acquired skill and shows how we can each find how we like to do things. Wet sanding reveals some interesting fabrication marks like the stretch marks around the center hole. Sandblasting doesn't.
Anyhow, that is what occupied my mind today and kept me out of mischief.
Rich
When did I do that?

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Steve Jelf
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Steve Jelf » Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:19 pm

I have sandblasted half a dozen others but my lungs don't like the sand now.

You're not supposed to breathe it, Rich. :D
The inevitable often happens.
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1923 Touring

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Rich Eagle
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Re: What do you think about while slaving away on the Model T?

Post by Rich Eagle » Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:39 pm

Thanks Steve. I certainly enjoyed your vacuum system and setup. I should add that the wind also carried the sand next door. We like the new neighbors better and that is another reason.
I did enjoy the sandblasting hour after hour and the funny places it took my mind. I have thought about building a sandblast cabinet.
I'm not sure my mind came back completely.
Rich
When did I do that?

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