Here's a sampling of some of the families posing with "Penelope" at the last cruise-in...




Bob

I love it!

Bob,thats a beautiful car.

bob thanks for sharing! Great kids, beautiful car. Or is it beautiful kids, great car? How about both! bob

This week, it worked out well. The weather was cool and even though rain threatened, we had plenty of spectators.

I had "Little Rascals" music playing from the boom-box hidden in the wicker basket on the running board and people kept lining up to get their pictures taken behind the wheel.

Most had cameras, but for those that didn't (those whose photos are posted here), I used my cell-phone and e-mailed the snapshots to them.

The guys with the look-but-don't-touch Corvettes, Mercs and '57 Chevys must have hated me.

Prince and Royal Knight Companion by Order of the Garter, priceless...but your daughter shows up in this hat? Worth $131,000...just sold for a donation to charity.

Bob, that's a great looking T; how do you like the new type mirrors?
They look more secure than the old aftermarket ones that have been around for some time.

Regards,

Steve Boothroyd

Those cute kids make Penelope look just right! That's no hat on the "princes" Its a da**ed door knocker! Gene pool getting very low over there!

Steve,

I got those mirrors from either Lang's, Snyder's or Mac's catalogs (can't remember which one). They're 5" across(the 6" mirror being out of stock for what was, at the time, the foreseeable future). They're weighted, which cuts way down on vibration. Alas, the mirrors themselves don't come in brass, but the stalks do. Go figure.

Bob

Hey Bob, is that the straw boater you got from me?!?

If so, it looks good, doesn't it!

That it is, Bill. And as you can see, the hat is being put to joyous use.

I also hand out false mustaches (which I purchase by the dozen for a song at the local party store). Even some of the girls wear em--and the giggling doesn't stop.

It's all in the spirit of fun and silliness and while the buffoonery is taking place, I whip a little history on 'em. Next thing I know, I'm hosting an impromptu Q&A period, demonstrating hand-cranking, or taking some nice, senior couple for a ride. Fun, fun, fun!

Bob

Steve Shelton,

The wife was just talking about the hat earlier this evening, apparently it is becoming known on line as the toilet seat hat!

Glad the money went to a good cause but I'd sure hide that hat!

I give the lady a lot of credit. She sacrificed her dignity for the sake of charity and probably wound up taking a lot of flak for it. BRAVO!!!

Bob

Bob not sure that was the intent orignally...but in the end it was a good thing.

Did not intend in any way to highjack the thread by the way...but "hats" and "spectators"...this seemed to fit.

And here's another nice family I met at the weekly cruise-in...



They brought in this gorgeous 1929 Ford Model A and let me pose in it...



Bob

Bob,
If that's a 29 it must be a very late one. The body is either 30 or 31. The running boards are 31.

The Model T and kids look great. In the third picture behind the girl in the derby, is what looks like a Corvair Greenbriar Station Wagon. My son has one of those he restored. He is now out camping in a Corvair Ultravan. Hope it doesn't break down, because there will be no source of parts or anyone with knowhow, except him, to fix it. They are in the Sierras.
Norm

Norman, that looks like a Ford Econoline van from here. Note the kind of pointed inner portion of the headlight housings. Dave

That is a Ford Econoline.

The other day, I took Pastor Bob and his bride, Barbara, for a ride to the beach. Funny hats, as always, were mandatory (But I couldn't get them to wear the false handlebar mustaches or prison-striped, turn-of-the-century swim suits).




Bob

Nice to see the original JC Penney hat is getting some good use. Something I could never give it.

Enjoy!

So, how old is that hat, William?

Bob

And this is the latest group of photos of happy families wearing funny hats at the weekly car show in Kings Park, Long Island:










Bob

Bob,

I would say the hat is at least 1928 or older. Straw skimmers started to go out of fashion in the late 20's. I've seen ads for them as late as 1929, but none beyond that. The men's fashion world took a serious nose-dive in October 1929.

In the movie "The Sting", the fake FBI agents wear boaters as part of their uniform, but I believe that's a historical anachronism, since that story took place in 1936.

It had been in my possession for at least 20 years. I do know it's NOT older than 1913, because JC Penney wasn't incorporated as J.C. Penney Company until then. And the label inside the hat says J.C. Penney Company.

"Danbury Made" refers to the hat having been manufactured by a hatter in Danbury, CT. There were only 6 hat manufacturers in Danbury in 1923, and that number would eventually dwindle to zero. Danbury was known at one time as the "Hat Capital of the World".

Lee, a hatter, was a contract maker for hats for JC Penney but I am not aware of them making this one.

As far as I'm concerned, that's what these cars are for. I love giving kiddies (and their parents) rides in mine when ever I can.

You're so right, Dennis.

A few weeks ago, I gave a ride to this elderly couple attending the car show—they must have been in their eighties. The gentleman mentioned that when they'd been dating, he would take this lady out in his Model T.

Well, I loaded them up in the back seat and by the time we'd gotten out of the parking lot, this sweet old couple were smooching it up back there like a couple of teenagers! It's a wonderful thing to see old folks become young again right before your eyes.

Bob

I live in the retirement part of Florida. Lots of "80 somethings" show up at the local, monthly, car show. I hear some of the darndest Model T stories. I can't top the one from my (late) mother's next door neighbor though. The day I brought my car home to it's new place in my mother's garage, her next door neighbor, a sweet little gal of at least 90 came over and went all through the car. She couldn't be more than 5 feet tall and 90 pounds, she motioned for me to bend over and proudly whispered in my ear, "I had my first sex in the back of one of these".

And here are this week's families in funny hats, posing with "Penelope."












Bob

Oops... almost forgot one:

How about this moron in Templeton CA... oops that's ME!

it is my understanding that there were two makers of this hat. one in England the other US. One was the Bowler Co. the other was the derby. I am not sure who was where.

Hey Bob. I know that flying you Navion was kind of a 'spiritual experience' (think of the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.) but did you ever think that you could derive a similar kind of peace and sanctity, just putting along down a quiet road in something with 4 wheels under it?
I know for me anyway, that my Model T (noisy as it is), is a 'quiet place' where I can go by myself, just set the throttle and let the problems of this fast paced world drift off into the breeze for a while. In that way, I find it similar to the aircraft experience. Unlike the 'aircraft experience' though, it's a whole lot simpler when things decide to go sour.

Dennis,

I flew airplanes for a good twenty years and came away with the realization that while boats and cars can be relaxing as well as exciting, airplanes can only be exciting. So much of a pilot's training and routine involve an acute awareness of operating in a profoundly unforgiving environment. Once, as a student pilot, I got caught in snowstorm-instrument conditions, over water, when my instructor sent me off to solo. On other occasions, my Navion had to be force-landed three times (If the FAA is listening, I'm just a big-mouth liar spinning yarns and showing off).

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that flying is one of the two most exciting, exhilarating, sort of risky things you can do with your vulnerable flesh. From, the air, I've seen the ocean turn to gold in the sunset,



...seen diaphanous sandbars glow emerald green where they rose high enough to almost-but-not-quite touch the surface of the water;



...and I watched a Trident submarine punching its way through to the surface with a violent, slow-motion maelstrom of waves and splash and spray, just off my right wing (no camera that time, dammit). Oh, Pilot Officer Magee was right; nothing feels quite like slipping the surly bonds.

But you are also right: A Model T Ford on a sparsely traveled country road is like a rolling chapel of reflection. The pace is slow enough to smell the roses and you experience every little ripple in the road, every flap of the top, every rattle, every smell and every sound. Yet, oddly enough, this experiential overload becomes a wonderful environment for relaxation. Oh sure, you have to judge time and distance just right when approaching a green traffic light and you do have to plan ahead to avoid situations that would require asking too much of the brakes; but there are lonely backroads enough—at least in my neck of the woods—where one can just chug along at a languid pace and enjoy a sense of serenity.

And with the old cars, you don't have to check with Flight Service to make sure the weather won't kill you today, no need to file a flight plan so your friends will know to look for your downed position along your line of flight, after you're overdue; no need but to look out the window and let a sunny afternoon spark the urge to open the garage door and take the ol' girl out for a spin. Neighbors will wave and the ahoogha horn is a wireless remote that makes people turn around and smile at you.

And if you happen to be as silly as I am, you can bring along a bunch of funny hats, false handlebar mustaches and Soupy Sales bow ties for an impromptu photo session. Hey, what's life without whimsey?

Bob

Yup. I figured you'd know what I was talking about.
I've been around aircraft my whole life. Comes with the territory when your dad was a pilot. Some here might not be familiar with the poem "High Flight", I know you are. Since you started this topic, I don't feel as bad hijacking it.
High Flight
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God."

Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941 (in a Spitfire, over England)

Beautiful!
And I have never been close to piloting a plane, at least, not in this lifetime. I have always wanted to. Finances, family and a hundred other things have always been in the way. Vicariously I enjoy your pleasures. Model Ts, speedsters and others, on long lonely drives must suffice.
Drive, and fly, carefully. And enjoy, W2

Wayne,
Me too--but my lack of depth perception is one more reason I shouldn't!
One other mode of transport is similar too--piloting a small steamboat on a quiet waterway when the engine is ticking over fine, the waterglass is half full, and the steam gauge is steady. (Well, it's quiet until you see someone or something so you can blow the whistle--oooh, what a beautiful sound!)
T'
David D.

More Spectators and Funny Hats at the Kings Park Cruise-In...

Where did you come up with the picnic basket? It looks like a perfect fit in the running board luggage rack I gave you. I still think you made a good choice with the electric light car over the gas light cars. The guys I know with the gas light cars don't seem to be that interested in going to the trouble of trying to use them.
I always try to be home before dark. As far as I'm concerned, that little dinky tail light on my car is just a rear-ender waiting to happen. I can't imagine having to start a fire in my lights to get home in the dark.

Now that you fella's have brought up one of my favorite poems, I wonder how many of us here on the forum have "slipped the surly bond of Earth".

Eric Hylen
Commercial Instrument SEL/MEL

Dennis,

I have two wicker containers, a short picnic basket purchased from Michael's arts & crafts store and a clothes hamper purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond. They happen to be the same width, so I don't have to re-adjust the luggage rack when I lift one out and replace it with the other.





The tall one is a bit clunky, but I need it for the weekly cruise-ins because it's large enough to contain all my silly hats, a fire extinguisher and a boom box that plays "Little Rascals" music.

The neat thing about a wicker basket is that you can't tell whether it was made yesterday or a hundred years ago, so when I nestle one in your vintage luggage rack, the visual impression is very "period correct." Can't thank you enough for that luggage rack, Bro.

Bob

No problem on the luggage rack, there was just no place for it on my (modern?) 27 Tudor and you had to do a lot of work on it to make it serviceable anyway. I like the big basket the best, the little one looks kind of lonely down in there. It's all the extra 'doo dads' that make these cars special and I'd venture to say that the Model T was probably the most accessorized car on the planet.

Threw the butterfly net over these two in front of the local pizzeria (and accidentally got a nice sky reflection in the cowl).