MTFCA Forum

As they say, it is better late than never. So here is our trip recap to the 2024 Old Car Festival! I drove my 1923 Model T, and a buddy drove his 1930 Model A from Cincinnati to Dearborn on back roads. This was our first time participating in the amazing weekend event with out cars there, and I can not tell you how much fun it was, it truly is one of the best old car events in the nation.

https://youtu.be/mFJakfySbeo

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it inspires someone to make the trip in their car. It goes to show you how dependable these cars really are... no trailer needed!

Classy video, good story. Thanks for sharing. jb

I was apprehensive about my first drive there, until I was reminded that there are Model T people all over the country. That's true. In my thousands of Model T miles, the longest I was ever grounded by T-specific mechanical trouble was two days. In that case I had help from a real mechanic, which I am not. All the other events during those years were annoynances I was able to deal with on my own. But what about my wreck? That wasn't caused by what I was driving. It was bad driving by me or by the other guy (I don't remember.) Which cars were involved is irrelevant. Will I make the trip again? Time will tell.

A typical event.

It takes an incident on the road to find out just how well T owners can connect, in the most unlikely of places.
On an tour of thousands of miles from Adelaide to Western Australia, and back, I lost a magnet clip and screw after crossing the Nullarbor Plain heading west. Working in a transport depot yard in Kalgoorlie, we'd only just removed the hood to start removing the motor when a bloke drove up in his ute. Next thing we were at his home workshop, with all the bells and whistles needed, loads of helpers, a barbecue meal for all of us on the tour, a welcome swimming pool to cool off in, and the whole deal fixed in just three hours! He was an expat South Australian geologist working in the gold mines in Kalgoorlie. I forget how he found out about our predicament.

And then, later in the tour I snapped a back axle just pulling away from a stop sign. On the tralier again we ended up taking the rear axle assembly out in a garage belonging to a local WA veteran car club member. I carried a spare axle because my car had modified bearings on the outer end. Phew!
This fellow had a nice 1915 T roadster, minus the factory turtledeck. I was able to repay his kindness a couple of years later when I found a turtledeck at a swap meet in Ballarat, another gold rush town way over on the other side of the country. Due to the time difference between Victoria and WA not running on summer time, when i called him it was 3,00am. He was not impressed until I told him what I had found.

You are never too far away from help in a T.

Allan from down under.

So great to see someone else take a chance on a trip to OCF. Best car show ever. Next time you can bring a tent and pretend it is 1930.
It is so much fun to really go on a journey to see what it was like in the day. Hope you can do it again.

I also lost my muffler and Dallas Landers came to my rescue to get it back in place. The exhaust pipe was resting on the fuel line after the muffler broke loose.

Wonderful and exciting stories Allan… but whats a Ute ??

LOVE IT!!!!
This is definitely one thing on my bucket list, only question being taking the '29 A Roadster Annie Elizabeth or '14 T Touring Daisy Mae...

Well done, thank you for sharing.

A Ute is basically a pickup truck. Australian English.

DHort wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:39 pm

A Ute is basically a pickup truck. Australian English.

Its more like an automobile converted into a small pick up, but factory built.

Ford Australia was responsible for the first coupe utility, way back in the early 1930's. A true ute has an integral fixed side tray area which is part of the body. Think US Ford Ranchero/Chevrolet El Camino. If the tray is removable like most modern pick-ups, it's not a true coupe utility.

Allan from down under.

I don’t think you told us. What happened to the phone in the end?

Playswithbrass wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 05, 2025 7:40 am

I don’t think you told us. What happened to the phone in the end?

My phone was totaled. It had been run over by more than one semi-truck. I was able to have the screen replaced, then I could back up all the pictures. But the camera didn't work. I took it back and they ended up replacing my entire phone.

I was more concerned with all of the pictures from the Henry and Clara Ford Estate than anything else! That was such a fun time.

Thanks for asking and watching the video!