MTFCA Forum

Finally got around to taking another trip with the T. We went to Natural Bridge of Arkansas. It is an old tourist destination just north of Clinton Arkansas. It has been a scenic stop in The Ozark Mountains since the early 1900s. The road to the bridge is a steep, winding, crooked, switchback laden road. Today it is a nice narrow asphalt road with wide switchbacks. The T did good on the steep road, but we did have to go to low warford/low Ford a couple times because the approaches to the switchbacks was steeper than the main part of the road, and I could not build up enough speed to make the curve. The early years it was just barely a dirt trail to the bridge. We have added the video to our Model T Camp and Adventures page on YouTube.


Click the following link for the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y17VLQM3LME

Enjoy your videos Donnie. With good bands that are properly adjusted I have gone up and down some pretty steep hills as long as I don't lose traction in loose gravel.

When I was younger and learning to drive I remember some older people advising to go down the hill in the same gear you would use to go up. It didn't seem necessary in the modern vehicles I was driving. I have come to understand, that it IS NECESSARY to maintaining control of a T going down a steep hill. That advice may not be as relevant in modern vehicles, but it is imperative in a Model T.

Thanks for the fun trip, Donnie. I especially liked hearing the history of your "ridge runner" grandpa and his overalls.

I do it in the modern vehicles too. If automatic, I shift to low range. We have some hills around here which I need to use Ruckstell in the T and those are the hills I am refering to with the more modern cars. The brakes will last a lot longer too unless I forget to release the parking brake
Norm

Thank you for the video, i really enjoyed watching it

Scott

Great video and beautiful drive! Thank you for the share!

Donnie thanks so much. It’s funny that we can live a life time with interesting places just a short distance all around us & never take the time to see them & enjoy them.

Thanks for all the comments. We also drive down the hill in same gear we would go uphill with. I used low Warford/high Ford for the down hill. Same gear on most of the uphill. The corners of the switchbacks and one slightly steeper stretch of road was where we used low Warford/low Ford going up. John, we live right in the middle of some of the best scenery of the Arkansas Ozarks. Still a lot of it we just never went to see. People drive from all over the US to see what is here. And we drive all over the US to see what is near where they live . ???????