MTFCA Forum

Several years ago I was given the negatives and prints of these images that were taken by Ira Current when he and a friend took a road trip in 1924. Current was a photo emulsion engineer for the Ansco company .. later GAF. No matter how I tried to add them the order changed, but the one of him and his mother should go first. There is text on the back of four and I’ll post that next.

Ira’s notes on the back of the prints.

Very Nice Thanks for sharing.

I love the way folks like this just pointed the car into parts unknown and
dealt with any problems as they happened, if they happened. My Great
Grandfather and a friend rode their 1919 Indians from Seattle to Alaska and
back in 1919 or 1920. That's some mighty remote travel today. Back then, I
can only imagine what passed for roads ! And they thought nothing of it !

These guys were in their late teens or early twenties ... so they were in their fearless years.

Yep Mark, just like we were when we went to Vietnam. Ain't nothing going to happen to me. Dave

Trips like this were big and memorable events to the folks involved. In 1929 my mom and her sister, brother, and sister-in-law drove out to Arizona to bring the other two sisters home from summer school in Flagstaff. They talked about that trip the rest of their lives.

In 1926 my grandfather and uncle drove a Model T from Los Angeles to Plymouth Rock and then into southern Ontario Canada and back home. Took most of the summer. Unfortunately, they did not take pictures of the car, but they did take pictures of some places of interest and people they knew and visited along the way. My grandfather had come by train from upstate New York to Los Angeles before 1900 and this might have been the first trip back for him. They took along a tent and wherever they arrived after a long day's drive would pitch the tent and spend the night. I have that tent in my garage. I will post a picture of the tent. They also had a few mishaps along the way. One broken crankshaft which was repladed in one day at a Ford dealer. One time they ran into a ditch and a lot of people crowded around. They helped lift the car back on the road, grandpa thanked them and they went on their way.
Norm

My Great Grandfather borrowed my grandparent’s Model T “for a few days” to drive from his home in Missouri to Arkansas. That’s where there was gambling and drinking. The Model T was the only car he could borrow that he knew could make the trip. He returned home two weeks later to my very angry grandparents. It seems that Great Grandad woke up one morning after heavy drinking to discover that he had gotten married. He “borrowed” the Model T (without asking) a few weeks later to go get unmarried. I wish I had a photo of that.