MTFCA Forum

Wife is grabbing us a sandwich and we are going to visit mom at the nursing home. About a half hour drive in the modern car...so I think an hour of back roads for the T. She should be surprised !
This will be 3-4 times farther than I have ever ventured from home.
I feel confident, but I gots tools and extra parts !!

Don't worry about it! If it can go a mile it can go 100 miles. On back roads I can lope along all day at 25 mph and the T happlily keeps right on going like the energizer bunny!

Before you know it you'll be driving it to my place Dave. Just make it a long weekend so we have time to visit!

Good luck, Dave !! It's a funny thing. Like a saddle horse, your Model T responds to your own confidence. If the boss ain't worried, Lizzie don't worry neither !! Have fun, and good on your missus !

(I wonder if anyone has ever tried to estimate the number of trouble-free miles over fifteen million Model Ts have traveled during the past 110 years ?? It would be mind-boggling !)

Well, we made it !! Thanks for the votes of confidence, she ran like a Swiss watch !!
Made good time, 50 minutes there. I was tooling right along, till I got behind this Porsche doing 30 in a 35, damn slow pokes !!
Mom said it made her day to see the T, which made my day !!

Coming home, we went through scenic Rouges Hollow, up and down a couple bigger hills...no problem. Followed a mid 50s Pontiac back home.

So glad all went well and you all had a good time !

phewwww..... Glad you made it Dave. Good Job! Fun Hugh

We don't have that luxury in So. Calif. any more! Glad you can still do it.

Yep, I got enough confidence to drive er to Californy now !!
Need more than a weekend for that Dallas
My wife was happy too and I think she was surprised how quick we got there.
Good back roads, a little traffic and lights near a big shopping area, but she kept up. Just leave plenty of stopping room.
Probably 75 miles round trip...motometer stayed at the bottom of the window and she didn't slobber too much in the parking lot.

Original Smith wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 06, 2019 6:03 pm

We don't have that luxury in So. Calif. any more! Glad you can still do it.

You mean you can't go for a drive ?

While there are some places in SoCal where I would not drive my T for fun, i.e. downtown LA, Santa Monica, or the South Bay (where Larry lives), but starting in the Pasadena area, there are plenty of places that I will go just for the adventure. My mother’s house is a 30 minute drive without too many traffic signals. I’ve got a friend in Glendora that is a pleasant 20+ mile run straight across on Foothill Blvd. I drive my T to work in Burbank a couple of times each year, it takes less than an hour on surface streets in rush hour traffic compared to 30 minutes on freeways. BTW, working in Burbank and commuting through the foothills, I see Jay Leno in various old cars now and again, I saw him in La Tuna Canyon, driving a big green roadster about a week ago. My longer shake down route is out to another friend in Santa Clarita, about 40 miles each way, plus whatever gets added on giving rides to her neighbors and tooling around for lunch and ice cream.

Plus there a a number of local antique car clubs that put together simple day tours around the southland, like HCCA’s Holiday excursion where you can drive with cars of a similar era. I have yet to trailer my T to any gathering, if we go, she takes me there herself. But I grew up riding along in T tours that went from SoCal as far as the Seattle Worlds Fair or the Grand Canyon, back then, everyone drove their T the whole way.

So there are still spontaneous T adventures to be had in Southern California. I know that RDR (while he was still with us) and Gene down in Orange County were always good for a quick drive along the legendary PCH. No local country roads but still plenty of fun.

Keep crankin’,
Eric

I grew up in L.A. traffic, so traffic doesn't scare me. Sometimes it annoys me, though. The thought of driving a Model T in Lomita doesn't bother me, though I would avoid morning and evening drive time whether I'm driving old or modern.

Here in Kansas just about any Model T function I attend is at least halfway across the state. That's why I don't make it to many club meetings. About three years ago I made my first T drive more than a few miles from home. It was to a Model T field day at Galva, about 125 miles north. Starting out at sunrise I felt tense, and reminded myself to relax. A few miles farther along I caught myself feeling tense again, and reminded myself to relax. That evening I returned home after the 250 mile round trip perfectly relaxed. You get used to it.

FYI...
I googled my route yesterday and it showed 52 miles, I detoured on the way home adding 10-15 miles, going through Rogues Hollow.
Google says 46 minutes one way, I made it in 50 !!
I sticked the tank and used approx 3 gallons, over 20 mpg.

A little more about Rogues Hollow...
This is a little farther away from the stop sign coming up in the first set of pics.
Legends of ghosts, witches, babies crying at night and headless horsemen or something !!
This is "cry baby bridge", supposedly you can hear a baby cry sitting on the bridge.
Past the yellow tape in the picture used to be a hill where the road continued, straight up with a sharp right turn. Called "hillbilly hill". There's a old house cut off on the right of the picture, now a museum of the hollow. My friend used to stay there, his sister lived there and we both stayed while they were out of town. I never heard nothing, we sat there drinking beer till 3am. Actually at the southern end of the road I live on. https://www.google.com/amp/mysterioushe ... -road/amp/

twrenn wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:39 pm

Drive on down to my neck of the woods some time Dave!

Whereabouts is your neck of the woods, Tim ?

twrenn wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:39 pm

Dave... dropped you a PM.

I got nothing Tim ??

Although this was about 65 years ago, the L.A. area was, even then quite congested. My first old car tour was from San Fernando over highway 99 to Bakersfield. Parts of this route are now Interstate 5. I was in a Model A but there were about 15 or more Model T's. This tour was led by Walt Rosenthal. He lived about one mile from me when I first met him and helped the Model A people organize the Model A Ford club of America. We had no problems on the tour and I don't recall anyone having a breakdown.
Norm

Ruxstel24 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:51 pm

twrenn wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:39 pm

Dave... dropped you a PM.

I got nothing Tim ??

Dave...do you have a little red bell with a number at the top of your screen? That would indicate you have a PM in your inbox.

twrenn wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:29 am

Ruxstel24 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:51 pm

twrenn wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:39 pm

Dave... dropped you a PM.

I got nothing Tim ??

Dave...do you have a little red bell with a number at the top of your screen? That would indicate you have a PM in your inbox.

I've gotten lots of PMs...nothing from you.
I had a bell from you quoting me, nothing on the little envelope next to it.
Try it again or the email link.

Dave,
I lived in your area before we moved to Tennessee. From your first photo, it appears you were driving through Canal Fulton and I'm pretty sure I know where your mom is staying, a very nice place for sure. Take care and hope to see you again soon when I am in the area again.

Kind Regards,

Rick Rice

Nice work Dave. The T did you proud.

Sent you an email Tim...

Thanks guys !
Don, I think the most confidence was gained by my wife, she was very surprised we got there so fast !!

Rick, yes that is Portage St. coming out of CF.
Still have a steering column set aside for you...