MTFCA Forum

Seventeen years ago I was cut off in traffic three blocks from my home while driving my 1919 model T. I had a choice between oncoming traffic or quickly making a hard left turn at the intersection. I chose the turn ... and flipped the car over sending my passenger flying across the intersection onto a lawn. I stayed with the car falling between the seat and dashboard. I was under the car and gas was leaking on me when the paramedics pulled me out. Amazingly I had no broken bones .. just deep bruising that appeared ten hours later. I got off easy. My passenger was also lucky and got out of it without serious injury.

So each year around this time I count my lucky stars. I rebuilt that T into a speedster a few years later and finally sold it three years ago to afford buying the ‘23 runabout I currently enjoy.

Glad you are able to tell about it !!

And the wooden spokes are standing strong.

WOW! Glad all went well.

Hank

Gulp! What an ordeal.... luck was with you that day. An unfortunate reminder that our T's were not built with crash-worthiness in mind. Glad you and your passenger are around to share the tale.

Wow...scary stuff.

I do have to admit though, that when I saw your topic, I was worried that you'd had an accident in your current runabout.

Thanks .. I’m fine. But the experience has made me a much more defensive driver. Remember I drive my runabout nearly every day in a city. It’s not like most people who own cars from the 1920s. Always exciting.

Wow! What a story. It reminds all of us that we must drive defensively. Always be specially watchful, especially when driving our T's.
We are thankful that both you and your passenger came out of that mostly ok.
Take care.
Keith

It’s November for me, bout the same year too. Found myself laying underneath my inverted speedster on a remote dirt road with my right leg wound unnaturally around the reverse pedal. Live, learn... and change driving style!

Did learn one thing tho... Winfield carburetors can run while inverted...! But don’t recommend trying the same way I did!

That sounds horrible. How did you get help? The rescue people were at my accident within five minutes along with a fire truck. When they put me on the gurney I could hear the firemen count “one, two, three” as they flipped my car back on its wheels. Interestingly the ambulance drove me right past my own house where my wife was outside in the front yard gardening. The hauler took the T across town and charged me about $80 ... had they looked at my license they could have taken my car three blocks to my house.

I was released from the hospital a couple of hours after they did some x rays and checked me over. A week later I was teaching a photography workshop in France. That’s when I started to turn all sorts of colors due to deep bruising. For months after the accident it was difficult for me to get in and out of chairs without groaning a little. It took me about six years to get the parts and muster the notion to put the car back together. I might have been a little scared. Since it flipped rather than hitting something, the mechanical elements were actually fine. Every so often I would turn the crank to spalsh oil around. Even with the firewall broken in half I was able to stat the engine and let it run a little. The original radiator was destroyed. I convinced my wife that rebuilding it as a speedster would establish a lower center of gravity and make it less likly to flip .. maybe. I found a great set of vintage bucket seats at Hershey and I cut down the seat riser to install them. Then I put a torpedo gas tank behind the seat. I also installed a hand pump on the side to pressurize the tank but never really needed it. Also put a double spare tire mount on the back to make the car look longer. A low head and a spiffy no name updraft carburetor and the car was a lot of fun to drive for several years.

Mark-
I'm glad you are still here and I enjoy reading your writing.
: ^ )

Keith