200 Model T Fords recently drove through Vale. They were on a road trip from New York City to Seattle. My friend Rosann called me up at 6:30 a.m. to inform me of this earthshattering event and we agreed to meet at the Livestock Sale Yard to view the parade of cars as they drove towards Unity and John Day.
The Model T Ford was manufactured from 1908 to 1927 and was known as the Tin Lizzie to the masses. 1908 is the historic year that automobiles came into popular use. It is the first affordable automobile that put America on wheels.
The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills and two Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Before starting a Model T with the hand crank, the spark had to be manually retarded or the engine might 'kick back'. The crank handle was cupped in the palm, rather than grabbed with the thumb under the top of the handle, so that if the engine did kick back, the rapid reverse motion of the crank would throw the hand away from the handle, rather than violently twisting the wrist or breaking the thumb.
The car's 10-gallon fuel tank was mounted to the frame beneath the front seat; one variant had the carburetor (a Holley Model G) modified to run on ethyl alcohol, to be made at home by the self-reliant farmer. Because fuel relied on gravity to flow forward from the fuel tank to the carburetor, a Model T could not climb a steep hill when the fuel level was low. The immediate solution was often to drive up steep hills in reverse.
Consistent with the practical-mindedness of folk in those 'make do' days, the cost of the car was rationalized by added duty. The vehicle was used much like a farm vehicle by taking off the rear wheel and uysing belts, etc to power commonly available belt-driven equipment of the time. An example is a wide belt, powered from the rear hub, used to move hay from the ground to the hayloft in the barn.
200 Model T Fords recently drove through Vale. They were on a road trip from New York City to Seattle. My friend Rosann called me up at 6:30 a.m. to inform me of this earthshattering event and we agreed to meet at the Livestock Sale Yard to view the parade of cars as they drove towards Unity and John Day.
The Model T Ford was manufactured from 1908 to 1927 and was known as the Tin Lizzie to the masses. 1908 is the historic year that automobiles came into popular use. It is the first affordable automobile that put America on wheels.
The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills and two Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Before starting a Model T with the hand crank, the spark had to be manually retarded or the engine might 'kick back'. The crank handle was cupped in the palm, rather than grabbed with the thumb under the top of the handle, so that if the engine did kick back, the rapid reverse motion of the crank would throw the hand away from the handle, rather than violently twisting the wrist or breaking the thumb.
The car's 10-gallon fuel tank was mounted to the frame beneath the front seat; one variant had the carburetor (a Holley Model G) modified to run on ethyl alcohol, to be made at home by the self-reliant farmer. Because fuel relied on gravity to flow forward from the fuel tank to the carburetor, a Model T could not climb a steep hill when the fuel level was low. The immediate solution was often to drive up steep hills in reverse. 
Consistent with the practical-mindedness of folk in those 'make do' days, the cost of the car was rationalized by added duty. The vehicle was used much like a farm vehicle by taking off the rear wheel and uysing belts, etc to power commonly available belt-driven equipment of the time. An example is a wide belt, powered from the rear hub, used to move hay from the ground to the hayloft in the barn.
Very fun. Were all the cars restored Model T automobiles or were they remakes? Was there a purpose for the trip across the USA? Neato.
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