MTFCA Forum

Many years ago, Stan Howe posted the following on this forum:

STEWARDSHIP

“On a serious note, we are all just stewards of these cars. Somebody owned them before we did, somebody will own them after we are gone. The money that we pay for them or the money that we take for them is just a way to determine who will steward what car and for how long. It is our obligation to steward not only the physical Model T, but also the knowledge, the folklore, and the spirit of the cars to pass to the next generation of owners. We need to be telling the stories as well as the knowledge of how to set the spark and adjust the gas.”

At the time, I was the editor of our local club newsletter, The Occasional, and I emailed Stan to ask him if I could use his quote. He answered that I was welcome to use anything he posted on the Forum. It's been here before, and now I am posting it again.

After 28 years of ownership, including local St. Louis Model T tours, organized Model T tours in twelve states, two road trips (St Louis to Dearborn and back, and St. Louis to Richmond and back), most of them with Anja next to me (I drove, she navigated), car shows, talks at schools, and just driving around on a nice day because we felt like it, it is time to pass the stewardship of the car to the next in line. Anja's last trip in the T was from the funeral home to the cemetery in 2013, in her customary place beside me.

Today, the stewardship has passed to another member of the St. Louis Club, Bob Grincewich. He is the fifth owner of the car in 100 years and I very much suspect he will have as much fun with it as we had.

Knowing both Stan & Dick I can wholeheartedly agree with these comments.

Stan was an on-again off-again member of our club in Calgary over the years and we went to Montana on many tours.

Dick & Anja were on a few tours with us when we started touring around 2006.

Congratulations Bob Grincewich on taking over Dick's car, the St Louis Club will treat you well.

Chris

Stan was a unique individual and fascinating to speak with. He spoke a lot, and it was fun and educational to listen to. His work on everything he did was second to none. RIP Stan.

Couldn't have said it any better Eric....

Dick,

You and your car were mentioned last night at our monthly meeting. I/ we hope that you will still participate when you can with our local events.
Sam talked about how much you have been involved over the years. It was great meeting you last year on the fall tour. I am in the planning stages of this years tour and I hope you will join us again. If you are available, it is on October 12th.

It was a very touching story of Anja’s last trip as your navigator.

Scott

Stan patiently answered my pestering questions when I was rebuilding the Ruckstell currently in my '24.

This whole discussion started me thinking about Stan. What an amazingly versatile guy he was! Here's another side of him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6vp-YgkIg

Stan had quite a repertoire of his original recorded songs. One I liked was "Take me back to along the Yellowstone" Along with singing he had his Auction business.

I have 4 U&J carbs that Stan rebuilt, he and i had many conversations about them and other stuff over the years. I had about 20 copies of Herman and Frieda books and i would give them to new members. He is missed!

Met Stan at his last auction. Joked with him about having him look at my Stroberg OF. He said he wouldn't and laughed. He posted the auction results that next Monday. Tuesday I opened the forum to RIP Stan Howe. Wished I could have known him better.

Yeah; what a guy Stan Howe was. Last time he came to Chickasha, my wife and I took him to Amber OK for a steak. I revelled in his many stories and he gave me a CD where he sang ‘Turn Me Loose and Let Me Sing’. And he rebuilt 2 U&Js for me that I installed on twin ‘14 runabouts. I definitely miss everything about Stan.

DLodge wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 07, 2024 5:59 pm

Many years ago, Stan Howe posted the following on this forum:

STEWARDSHIP

“On a serious note, we are all just stewards of these cars. Somebody owned them before we did, somebody will own them after we are gone. The money that we pay for them or the money that we take for them is just a way to determine who will steward what car and for how long. It is our obligation to steward not only the physical Model T, but also the knowledge, the folklore, and the spirit of the cars to pass to the next generation of owners. We need to be telling the stories as well as the knowledge of how to set the spark and adjust the gas.”

I had extensive interactions with Stan, and bought carbs from him. He was a jewel and his knowledge and skill was vast and deep and he is missed.

Dick brings up an important, somewhat uncomfortable and not so subtle point here that rarely gets discussed.

Fact: On a long enough timeline, the survival rate of everyone drops to zero.

Therefore it is our DUTY as stewards of these cars to share as much as we can about the knowledge each of us has as it relates to this hobby with others before our time expires. If you make a product for the model T, especially one that is unique and valuable to our hobby, share your plans, drawings, sources and other relevant info with someone else in this hobby whom you trust. It's frankly selfish not to do so. I can attest that everything I make including my suppliers, contacts, schematics, etc is shared with more than one person I trust. This way, the literally 1000's of hours I've invested in making products for our hobby isn't lost when my time expires (which it almost has, a couple of times now). Hopefully someone will come along and pick up the torch using the information we purposefully leave behind and hopefully even improve on all of our contributions and keep this hobby alive and thriving for the next set of stewards to enjoy without having to reinvent the wheel.

Jeff