MTFCA Forum

Starting a "Part 3" page. Included is the "Fox News 13" broadcast from Salt Lake City that was only partially uploaded before. Click on the link below to see the full three minute news clip:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8bri2sv63mk6e ... M.mov?dl=0


Still shot from the previously unpublished 2 minutes of the broadcast:

Link to Part 1, Coast to Coast:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29295


Link to Part 2, Coast to Coast:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29823

Rob, thanks for shepherding these threads. This truly is a real adventure. I’ve been on tours and of course they’re great but there was always a sense of security because well it’s a tour. You could rest easy knowing there was the vulture wagon or at least other members that could help out with problem solving or parts. In regards to Reiner and the group they are basically out their by themselves. They have demonstrated a combined skill level to over come many of the problems that would have stopped at least me from continuing.That said, even though they are mostly on their own, in reality they have the largest, with multiple support locations & experts to help along the way, the members of the MTFCA and Forum enthusiast who love models Ts have been such a huge reason behind their success so far. I’m overwhelmed by the support, the parts & the willingness to help out and make sure there is success at the end of this adventure. To the Teutonic 10: Bernhard, Heidi, Reiner, Heike, Otto, Stefan , Peter, Harald, Silvia & Gerhard, I’m praying for a safe & successful finish to the journey and a trip back home. Enough great stories and memories to last a lifetime. Best John

Thanks Rob, that was pretty neat. Who knows, maybe one day .... (it has been on my list for many years too...)

With a daughter in Texas, perhaps I can make a start!

John,
I couldn't agree more. When they were in Lincoln, I was impressed by the camaraderie, innovativness and sense of adventure these travelers possess. I can't imagine undertaking this trip as a U.S. citizen, let alone as a person from another country with English as a second language. I am impressed.

What a great group of adventurers.

Adrian, thank you for your post. Hope one day you make the journey.

Looking at those faces and smiles these folks know their stories and pictures for friends and family are personally worth more than any 50 of the best model T's!! To the next caretakers of those cars, they're going to be almost legendary! Very cool adventure!

The photo above I believe was taken at the Museum of American speed. It looks like Richard was there to show them around and he is probably the best host you could ever hope to have. The Museum will bend over backwards to make your visit a great time.

Thanks a lot for your posts, they motivated me to continue my daily updates.

Today I had the problem again, which I had several times during our tour. I nearly finished my daily update and then it disappeared and I had to start with it again.
Most times this happened when I tried to add photos…

Regarding your comments
We won’t use Interstates anymore, if there is an alternative, yesterday there was no.
To call 911 to get interstate or highway patrol could be an alternative.
Thanks Rob for the 3rd thread and link to Fox13.
Not only John is overwhelmed by the support and the willingness of the readers her, I am and the whole group is overwhelmed. Thrte comes support by followers on Facebook (Don Booth posted some of my daily updates oder Flivver Channel posts photos from Silvia and my daily WhatsApp status).
But we also get spontaneously support on the road.
When Harald lost his wheel two days ago, a resident brought Harald, Stefan, Heidi and me cold water and later some snacks.
Also the smiling and waving their hands, when people see us on the road is amazing.
Thanks a lot for the good wishes. Thank you!

Update to day 27, 03.07.2022, day-off, rest day.
We are still in Wendover and went to the Bonneville salt flats.
That was fantastic to drive on the salt road which never seems to never end. My wife Heidi made her first T driving experiences, no tree or fence near to us; 3 weeks later than you, Kathy, in Detroit.
Afterwards all five Ts had a car wash.

Before relaxing on the pool, Harald and myself had to look after our loose rear wheel spokes. We - to be honest - Harald and Stefan added masonry cord to the spokes which had been loose.
When we finished that, the valve of the tire tube exploded, but no air disappeared. As we expected that this would happen in the near future we preventively changed the tube.

Then some of us went to the others who waited for us at the pool side. And we relax in the water with a cold beer or coke.

Additional Photos

Thank you for the update. Looks like relaxing in the pool was well deserved. We look forward to hearing and seeing the remainder of your remarkable journey.

Teutonic 10, great update and pictures. I’m glad to hear Heidi is an experienced T driver now. Taking time to just relax before the final leg of the journey is a smart move. It appears all of you are having way too much fun. I’m a bit envious but I’m happy just to see the pictures & read the events of the day. It reminds me of the old short thriller movies they use to play prior to the feature film in the movie theaters. It’d make you come back again and again to see how your hero’s were doing.
Be Safe, have fun & finish the adventure.

Best John

Day 28, 04.07.2022, from Wendover to Ely, Nevada, 262 km, 164 miles.

Through Great Basin, desert, from 1.300 m to 1.900 m attitude.

No technical issues during the transfer, but when I filled up the tank, I recognised that the valve of the right rear tube lost air, same as before on the other side, material problem.

So we changed the tube and furthermore we added cord to two further spokes on the left rear wheel.

Thank you for the update. Good luck and continued safe travels.

I recognised that the valve of the right rear tube lost air...

It may be that there is nothing wrong with your tubes. Try changing the valves. They are available at any auto parts store, and quite inexpensive.

Some of us have been following your adventure without commenting but since your getting close to home (California) I just want to remind you that there's an abundance of us here in California available at your beckoned call if you need anything as you complete your journey into San Francisco. I'm about 30 miles Southeast of that city, in Hayward. As soon as you get close to the California border we'll come running no matter the distance just call/email/pony express/railway express etc. I know I'm not alone. would love to tour awaze with the group. 510 581 4911, karened4@att.net

Ed aka #4

Good on you Ed ! Very thoughtful

Take YTR's offer seriously! He has helped so many people over the years (including ME many times!), and driven his model Ts more than almost anybody else alive today (he and Dean Yoder are probably the top two!). His Yellow Racer is very authentically done, no modern trickery exposed or hidden (I have seen the inside of almost every piece of it), and probably has more miles on it than any other model T by its current owner in the world today! He is far and away one of the finest people I have ever known!
Thank you ED, We and I owe you more than could ever be repaid!

Day 29, 05.07.2022, from Ely to Tonopah, Nevada, 283 km, 163 miles.

I think that was for me and my car the most exhausting day.
Sunshine with heavy sidewind, not able to use a cap the whole day, top up is no option for me.

Five or six heavy uphill climbs, water ran out the top of the radiator - I will add gaskets later.
As I do not have a motometer I did not know the temperature of my engine.

I stopped 5 minutes after each heavy climb and added water. Thankfully only about 1,5 litres were missing and the engine seemed to be okay.

Next problem was gas, to make it short: 4 of us had spare gas with us. All reached Tonapah, but on the last hill before Tonopah, some engines began to struggle.
Peter’s car reached the top with Harald’s last spare gallon.
Peter’s was the only car with a problem, cable burnt and he had to use Harald’s battery.

Originally we wanted to go to Austin, but there was no accommodation. This detour leads to one additional day on our tour to Frisco.

Ed, thanks a lot for your offer. Hopefully we do not need anything, but I am not sure that our spoke repair will last till Oakland

Bernhard under 600 miles to go WOW. What an accomplishment. Thank you for the post. Looking to read & see more. Be safe, have fun. Best John

If you do not have a motometer, it might be wise to leave the cap a bit loose or not use a gasket. That way if you start getting steam, you will know to stop and cool off before all the water boils out.
Norm

Norman, agreed. I will not use an additional gasket.
Thanks for advice!

Bernhard, I’d be interested in knowing how often the universal joints of the 5 Model T s are greased. I ask this because, when I was stupid about 50 years ago, I tore one up running it dry but several years ago I tore up another well greased U joint. You fellows seem to be running between 140-160 miles a day. Danke schoen in advance.

Steve, there is a misunderstanding regarding the tubes.
It’s an problem with the material around the valve, that could not be fixed!
There was a discussion a few days before about the bad quality, which might be solved by using a hose clamp.
I looked for them, but I did not find such small ones.
The problem was that the clue that holds the rubber of the valve on the metal stem of the valve got loose/leaked.

George, I do not grease the universal joints regularly.
I greased it extremely before we started and greased it about once a week a little bit, and when I saw that more oil ran out in this area I greased it again by fully turning it down. I did this last weekend.

Day 30, 06.07.2022 was a short driving day, just 103 miles, 167 km.
Again through the Great Basin, but just one climb and the rest without any challenge for the cars.

The scenery around the basins were great, very colourful, changing colours… awesome.
The basins were very try, sometimes real desert, most times just sagebrush, but nearly no gras.

Today we had no technical issues.

When we arrived in Hawthorns we again strengthened spokes on both rear wheels of my car.

Hopefully my tires are good for the last 500 miles we have to go; front right, does not look very good. That’s the wheel with the “wrong” clamps, but since one week I got George’s clamps, so I could use my spare wheel there.

After spoke repair their was time to relax at the pool.

Tomorrow we should reach Lake Tahoe

Those leaks between the valve stem rubber and the valve stem brass can often be fixed by that famous old model T "fix-all" bailing wire! About a centimeter or two below the top of the rubber, wrap two times around the stem (tightly but not too tight!), then a quick small full twist the ends together. I have done this many times over the years with faulty inner tubes. It is also a very good idea to wrap around the bailing wire "fix" numerous times with electrical tape to cover the twist between the ends. That "knot" in the wire has a nasty way of slicing your fingers when checking tire pressure! (One guess how I know that!)

The "U" joint should be routinely greased. However, IF it was well packed before the trip, a really good amount of grease should last for a couple to few thousand miles. Some engines leak enough oil out the tail shaft that a well greased U-joint might be okay for many thousands of miles. I would recommend checking it it you are not sure about it having been full before.

Edited.
I guess you added to your post? Sounds like you have the U-joint well taken care off.

Wayne, wailing wire! That seems to be a very good idea. Hopefully I do it with the right pressure. Thanks.

U-joint. I agree, at least my and Harald’s should be fully greased before we started, as Stefan did it for Harald’s T and he recommended that I should do this as well. And I did it.

would not have thought getting small clips for the tubes would be no problem or I would have suggested the wire also. I got mine in the first AutoZone I found somewhere in Kansas.
Here is a valve stem cut open, note the only contact with the valve stem and metal tube is right at the end before the thread,
That's talc which has worked up around the stem.

Looking forward to todays report. I hope all is well with our intrepid "T" travelers.

Day 31, 07.07.2022, from Hawthorne, Nevada to South Lake City, California, 225 km, 140 miles.

Again try, sunny, hot, desert, Lake Walter, then Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe.

One issue with Gerhard’s right rear wheel, which I only recognised as the street was extremely good and flat.
The clincher tire got loose in the rim, very strange.

After that from Carson City the cars had to climb up 800 meter, but they all made it - slow but without any problem.

Thanks for the update Bernd, safe travels today. What a great adventure you have all had. Thank you for taking us along,
Rob

Rob, two more days and then we should reach the coast. On Sunday morning we plan to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge

Our local club is taking a breakfast tour to Colfax Ca. tomorrow. Any idea when you will be coming through that area? All of our towns around here are right on the Lincoln Highway. We would love to bring out some cars and cheer you on.

Eric, thanks for your post.
Unfortunately we are already closer to San Francisco, we are staying in Sacramento.
Tomorrow we will drive to El Cerrito, where we will stay for the next 2 nights.
We did not decide, when we take the Ts to the shipper, but this will be latest on Wednesday for the group with final destination Frankfurt

Day 32, 8th July 2022, from South Lake Tahoe to Sacramento, California, 197 km, 123 miles.

Two strong uphill climbs, where we could use our Ruckstell Gearbox, but at the end we went from 1.900 m on 10 m.

The temperature felt as the hottest and the gas prices are the highest here in the States.

More important is that we had no technical issues with the cars, which led to stops. At the hotel we did some maintenance works and repairs like we did every day.

My rear wheel spokes seem to be okay, no new loose spokes. Hopefully that won’t change till Wednesday, when we plan to “return” our Ts.

At the afternoon we visited the daughter of our technical chief of our Alpenchapter (he could not attend the tour because of health problems), picked up some T-parts and had coffee, soft drinks and a great strawberry cake.

Tomorrow we will go very close to San Francisco (unfortunately I could not tell you which roads will be used to El Cerritto, but I heard that we will drive through Winters) and on Sunday we will cross the Golden Gate Bridge and with that we have reached our final destination.

This is just so wonderful! Continue to drive carefully, and be safe! Such a grand adventure for good friends to take upon the challenge together! All of you must be commended for meeting the challenge and persevering together. It is something to be proud of forever!

Gute Reise meine Freunde.

Vielen Dank, Wayne!

Thank you for the update, and for taking us along on your great adventure.

Day 33, 9th July 2022, from Sacramento to El Cerrito, California, 168 km, 105 miles

Sunny, dry, agriculture, old town Isleton, not Winters and Napa Valley as announced the evening before, we are still flexible, some short very steel climbs….

Today I had a problem with the coil boxes.
Reason was, that I removed two boxes yesterday.
These boxes are the boxes which George Schmitt not House lent to me in Omaha. I had to prepare a packet to send them back to George - they did a great job.
Back to today: I had to exchange two of the 4 boxes. At the end, 3 of my own 8 boxes do not work, but 5 working boxes are sufficient .

Furthermore Harald had shaking wheels. Therefore Stefan and Harald shortened the tie rod and the problem was gone.

Later at the hotel we worked on one loose spoke….of my rear left wheel. They should now last for the next 500 miles.

But the most important news of today is, we are extremely close to our final destination, we already saw the water of the ocean.

Tomorrow we will cross the Golden Gate Bridge from the north!
We nearly made it!!!!!

That’s wonderful news Bernd, although many of us will be sad to no longer look forward to your daily travel reports. Your accomplishment is a testament to your group, and the incredible Ford Model T, that still, with strong will of the owners, is able to cross vast distances.
Thank you for your reporting and photographs.

A very excellent adventure, thenk you all, very much, Dave Sullivan, Bellingham, WA, U.S.A.

Wish we would have known the route through the Sacramento area. Two very active Model T Clubs here. We were on a tour yesterday to Colfax and may well could have met up.

Bernhard, Heidi, Reiner, Heike, Otto, Stefan , Peter, Harald, Silvia & Gerhard, I am looking forward to all of you crossing into San Francisco and completing the United States part of your adventure. I also wanted to thank you for allowing all of us to ride along with you through your posts on the Forum. To all the folks in the T community that were able to help along the way, thank you for your more than generous contribution from a physical & material support. It really exhibits the fact that no matter who you are, where you’re from or where you’re going there is a spirit of camaraderie that unites us with “the car that changed the world”. Thank all of you. Be safe, have fun & enjoy the ride of a lifetime.

Best Regards, John

Thank you for your consistent descriptions of daily enjoyment and challenges you’ve overcome. However, I have been mis attributed on the coil donations. Perhaps another ‘George’ sent them. I sent the rim lug hardware in the event you needed to use your spare. Take ‘em home to Germany. You more than deserve them and I wish I could’ve done more. Congratulations to all on an epic adventure and many successful accomplishments...Deutschland Uber Alles !!

Thank you for posting about your trip. About 20 years ago we went to Germany. We landed in Munchen and left from Frankfurt. We spent a week at Oberwillhelm. During that time we saw part of Austria and also Lichtenstein. We met some possible relatives at Schresham which is near Heidleberg.
We might have been through where some of you live?
Norm Kling

Sooo....did they cross the Golden Gate? How about some pictures?

Yes they did. There is a video on FB.

I am sure Bernhard will post something later tonite. Remember he is 3 hours later than you are.

We made it!
We crossed Golden Gate Bridge from the north to San Francisco and with that we completed our coast 2 coast trip.
Incredible that all cars did it … and all drivers and passengers.

Even my car with the scratch between the fourth and fifth valve made it. The water gateway which I installed before we started did a great job.
Actually I did not count all our technical stops and repairs, but I will do that, when I am back home.
We all have to thank the followers on the MTFCA forum and on Facebook, who wishes us good luck, offered their support and especially to them who really supported us.
I can’t name all now, but two George helped me, George House with lugs and George Schmidt with coils, Frank and Craig with wheel spreader for Reiner, Rob Heyen also with a wheel spreader a for Reiner and two tires (Harald had to use one). And Don Horton helped Gerhard to stay on the road with parts of his rear axle which he took 100 miles to us. Furthermore Steve from Piquette Avenue Plant helped Harald with a wooden rear wheel.
This list is not Complete, sorry for that.
All our drivers had Model T experiences, but without Harald’s and Stefan’s help, problems would not be solved or the repair would have been much more expensive.
Special thanks to the yellow team!


Day 34, 10th July 2022, San Francisco area, 141 km, 88 miles
All together I was driven 7.185 km, 4.490 miles.

We drove from El Cerrito to the north around the bay from San Pablo. A few meters after the Al Zampa memorial bry Gerhard had cable burnt. But after about 45 minutes it was repaired.
In Sausalito we met Ken with his very fast wire wheeled Model T. He followed us to the north view points of the Golden Gate Bridge and let group Stuttgart who stay longer in Frisco to downtown.

Yes, after completing the tour, we are going to separate the group in two parts.
Group Stuttgart flys back on Wednesday, 20th
Group Frankfurt flys back on Wednesday, 13th

Group Frankfurt went to the painted ladies and to the Lombard Street (my left rocky brake smoked but worked)

Later on we met each other at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Group Stuttgart will take their two cars tomorrow to the shipper.
Group Frankfurt will drive tomorrow US1 south, to see some beaches and on Tuesday we follow the invitation of Redwood Empire Model T Club for a tour to the north (Santa Rosa area).

And some more photos of the streets of San Francisco

Thank you for sharing.

Congratulations! We all have very much enjoyed the experiences you have shared with us. The pictures are amazing.

-Bryce

Congratulations! Herzliche Glückwünsche! Ein wunderbares Abenteuer. Sie alle verdienen es, für Ihre unglaubliche Reise gelobt zu werden.

Thank you for sharing your journey,
Rob

FANTASTIC!!

Congratulations on an epic, successful tour, and many thanks for sharing it with us.

Yes ! You all have the admiration of your US Model T family
...Now do it again using the southern route.
BTW; it’ll be 110* here today

Congratulations!! You all earned a well deserve cross country medal!! Thanks again so much for taking the time from your busy schedule to share your experience with us along the way.

Bernd, when you folks have a chance it would be interesting to know what tools & parts you brought along on your adventure and what you should have included. There is a discussion on what to pack when going on a Tour - https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30274

Thanks for taking us along for the ride I enjoyed every posting. The only question I have is: "If you had to do it all over again, what would you do different?"

Hi Bernhard

Thank you for your many tour update posts that let the rest of us ride along in our imagination.

Congratulations on a successful tour.

And be sure to let us know how all of you and your Ts do when you and them all get back home later this year.

From your Nova Scotia PenPal.

Jeff

Day 1 after reaching the destination, day 35, 11th July 2022.

Group Frankfurt drove via Bay Bridge and Us 101 to US 1.
Not the best idea to use 101 but we had been fast.
We had fog the whole day at the south beaches, but only 500 east of it, the sun was shining.

For the way back to Richmond we used Upper Great Highway, fantastic road showing us awesome beaches and houses, but still fog.
On the Golden Gate Bridge there still was fog, more than yesterday and it was very cold. But north of the bridge the sun was shining and it was very wind and warm.

Our cars had no technical issues.
Today we started in El Cerrito and finished in Richmond.
136 km, 85 miles.

Thanks for the many congratulations. We appreciate it so much.

I will answer your questions when I am back in Germany; the I can use my laptop, here I only have a iPhone mini and I could only type my text with one finger.

South route through the country would be good idea.

South route through the country would be good idea.

In the spring, before the heat of summer arrives.

When you went from Rio Vista toward Vallejo, I think you went about 1/2 mile from my son's house. But unfortunately, he did not see your group go by.
That was a trip of a lifetime!
Come back again and this time visit San Diego! If you do during my remaining years, I plan to see you.
Norm

Day 36, 2 after reaching our destination, 12th July 2022
Last daily posting, last full day in the United States of America .

Today we followed the invitation of Redwood Empire Model T Club.

Vince waited for us on the west end of the I580 bridge to head us with his 1910 open side valve Touring to the meeting point with other Model Ts of the Club.
Before going to that place we came to the result that Harald‘s rear end had a dangerous problem and the decision must be to leave the car there and go with another T.

We met 7 other awesome Model Ts and more than a dozens very nice T lovers. They, or to be more precise Mike, arranged at Tour of about 33 miles with a stop at highly recommend Taco-truck.

We liked to talk to the club members who were very interested in our tour and experiences

Afterwards we went to the Armstrong Redwood park, which we could walk through.

We would have been there much longer but we needed to return, as today we had to pack our car and our luggage.

On the way back to the south, Peter’s Batterie was fully empty, with my he could go on.

It was a great day!

Your run around San Francisco looks like typical summer days there!

We have been honored by your visit here! And we shall remember it and your wonderful postings for years to come.

Allzeit gute Reise.

Hello again!

Two months after our return from the states I could collect my 1923 Ford Model T Touring from Bremerhaven, North Sea, Germany.
It took me 1.200 km, 750 miles and 16 hours on (in Friday afternoon very crowded) German Autobahns to get our very reliable Car home.
The car looks nearly as it looked on July 13th, when we brought it to West Coast Shipping in Richmond.

Last weekend I removed all the tools, spares and the equipment we used or did not use during our fantastic coast to coast tour.

There are some things to repair: broken indicator at the front (left), new tires, new wooden spokes, maybe some paint repair at the wings and I now have to clean the frame because after the driving lessons of my wife on Bonneville Salt Falts on July 3rd we had remove the salt in the way we had to do it.
How could I measure the correct size of the spokes, without removing the spokes?
I like to order Hickory spokes: I know they are 30X3-1/2 and I could measure the tenon (5/8 or 1/2"). I know that the lengths of the spokes are not uniform - Kelsey-Hayes are 1/16" longer than Ford (20 13/16 to 20 3/4). But how should I measure this small difference in the diameter of the fellow with the hubcap/axle in the middle of the wheel?

And I need to get the car here to the TÜV to be allowed to drive it in Germany.
Hopefully I and the other 4 will be ready Mid October, because we then will meet each other hopefully with our US Ts at our autumn rally at the Chiemsee (south of Germany, near to Austria).

Furthermore I have to answer some questions:
Perry asked me, what would you do different, if you had to do it all over again:
I think the most important thing I would do different is to drive with well-maintained own cars.
I think we had very very very good luck with our cars, for example we did not have any issues with our engines and my 1923 Touring ran better than my Model Ts in Germany. You could not have so much luck, if you do this a second time.
What I also would do before a next tour is to have a look in the rear axle, the axel should be overhauled before a tour like that.
And because of our issues with the wooden spokes, wooden spokes need to be in perfect condition to drive especially in try regions (south route across the States).
The size of the group should not be large, 5 cars, 10 people are the limit. And 5 rooms to find, was sometime a challenge, but we managed it.
We have been very different people in our group, and everything worked very well. The only think which lead sometimes to some tension had been different ideas about dinner locations - not all of us could accept, that some group members did not want to spend every dinner with the whole group. Different expectations even about such small things should be discussed at the beginning of a longer tour. Maybe with other car tour members you have more important things to discuss. We had a lot of fun with the whole group!

Frank asked me about the tools and parts we had with us.
I have enclosed a spread sheet with tools, equipment and parts and mentioned also if you used them (yes), if you used them very often, I mentioned "often".

If you have further questions, please let me now

Greetings form the oldest town in the Hunsrueck region
Bernd

A wonderful way to spend a summer, and many thanks for sharing it. I would suggest going to great lengths to get all of the salt out of the cars, including the many hidden spaces, as it is very destructive.

Very cool. I hope you enjoyed some smoked fish or eel while you were there
My wife's family lives in Bremerhaven and my brother-in-law just happens to be the Comissioner / Chief of the Bremerhaven Water Police. Wish we could have been there to see you picking up 23 T.

Most of the German vehicles exported go through this port and most US Military Service Members know this is where their vehicles travel inand out of Germany.

Here are a few picks I have taken in the Port over the years.

Thank you for the update!
It is wonderful to hear from you again!

Chiemsee is a beautiful place to tour. I loved my trip to that area.

I would have to agree with having dinner with just my spouse or just my best friend on occasion. Eating as a group of 10 every day would be too much for me. I like a little privacy once in a while. Maybe 6 people want Mexican one day and 4 want Italian. Flexibility is the key to long travels.

I was amazed that you all finished your trip. Proves what camaraderie and perseverance can accomplish. I enjoyed reading about your adventure every day.

I think the best way to measure your spokes would be to remove part of the hub. Remove the 6 nuts, and then tap the plate with a punch until the plate spins and you should be able to get it off to measure underneath. Others may have a better idea.

Fantastic report. I followed your journey with interest. Your writeups were fantastic. Now, I am going to copy your list of tools and spares for future use and as a suggestion to others. Bless You.

Thanks a lot for your comments.
Pat, yes, we had a wonderful tour across the States and hopefully we return soon again.
Rich, you have seen more of the harbour than me, I just towed my T in the trailer (in heavy rain) and went to customs (also in heavy rain) and had no time to see the harbour or to get something to eat there.
Regarding the inside diameter measurement:
I think I have the Kelsey-Hayes ones, as I measured 52,9 cm (from outside line to outside line what should be inside diameter), which is closer to 20 13/16 as to the 20 3/4 of the Ford. Tenon is 1/2.
I did it this way Tomorrow I will order 36+2 spokes...
I will come back to you, when my T got TÜV and is registered in Germany.
Bernd

My 1923 Touring passed the German TÜV!
We are allowed to drive on German road now and did a first 500 km trip to our Fall Alpenchapter Rally at the Chiemsee in Bavaria.

Today I found the this fanatic report about our tour.
Many thanks to Steven.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x2nHVJWF5HU

Wonderful!
Enjoy driving the countryside roads. Keep away from the autobahn!

Good video, and great adventure. Thank you for sharing the link.

I agree. Great video and thanks for sharing. Glad you made it back to Deutschland safe and sound. Sorry I couldn't catch ya'all when you were in the Sandusky area, to treat all of you to our favorite local ice cream shop. I'm pretty sure you even went right past it along route 6 heading west! If you saw, or remember seeing, a fairly big wind turbin with a black cow face on it, that was the place!
Maybe we see you again some day.