Yesterday morning I drove the touring to the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum to meet the Special T's of Oklahoma tour. The car didn't seem to have its normal power, and struggled when climbing. I was first at the museum, and while waiting for the tour to arrive I found some spark plug wires loose at both ends. Tightening all connections was the cure. Soon the tour arrived, plus local T guys Dale and Charlie White. After a tour of the museum we drove through town to a local steakhouse for lunch.
The next part of the tour was where we ran into trouble. I was to lead the way to my place because most of the group had never been here. I like to cruise at 30 mph, a comfortable speed, but for this I kept it down to 25 mph so everybody could keep up. It seems even that was too fast, and soon the line stretched out and I had to slow down even more for people to catch up. We were doing OK until we reached the intersection where I turned. I looked back and saw that most of the cars had made the turn, but I saw two of them go straight past the intersection. The drivers couldn't be reached by cell phone, and that's the last we saw of them. The next holdup was mechanical. The starter on Ed Emerson's 1926 touring pooped out, so we push started the car. I led the parade out to my place with no further misadventures. I showed off my projects and junk, and I shot a couple of pictures.
Gary McNabb's 1926 Fordor
Betty Emerson watches the show as Ed gets another push start.
Next I led the way to Buster White's house. Buster has restored thirty-two Model A's and Model T's since he retired. At 92 he can't work on cars the way he used to, but he still enjoys them.
Dale White's 1927 touring, one of Buster's restorations.
My 1923 touring. I hope this year I can get a top on it.
Phillip Burford's 1916 speedster.
Ed Emerson, David Baker, Charlie White
Gary McNabb tells Buster and Dale about his Fordor.
This Model A pickup is the latest White project.
The 1926 runabout coughed, but didn't want to start.
The roadster was the last exhibit of the day. The Special T's headed back to Oklahoma, and I headed for home.
Last year, a neighbor brought his Touring car to the local picnic/car show, when he got ready to leave, the battery was flat, so he sent his son to find a tow strap. I asked him what the crank on the front of the car was for. He told me he had never hand started a car. It took a turn to prime and started on the first pull. That is one of the joys of traveling with a car you can hand start, you do not have to worry about the starter or battery failing, and it is much safer to hand start a car than it is to pull start it.
Best
Gus
Great pics Steve.
I can't imagine why you guys would need to push start one if it is running OK.
what a great set of pics and story of the event.
Great pictures & write up Steve. Thanks.
Didn't anyone think to handcrank that '27 touring?
Yeah, we tried hand starting, but it wouldn't even cough. Something wrong with the distributor? Dunno.
I gotta say, those were my thoughts as well.
Great photos and great story, too bad someone always has to challenge what you have done.
Steve - Great thread; top quality photos and narration as always; thanks,...harold
(.....still think you should start a chapter though)
No challenge here. Just curiosity. And Steve addressed that. Makes sense now.
There are times that a tow strap will sort out all kinds of problems, I even had to tow start my Cat 22 once, and it is much easier to start than a T.
Best
Gus
Terrific photos. You had a lovely day for it.
Steve, if the David Baker in the group was from Okie city; was he driving his 27 T coupe WITHOUT a MOTOR under the hood?
David had a modern van on this trip. He tried to chase down the two missing cars, but never found them.
Steve, I'm waiting for someone to ask how David drives a Model T without an engine under the hood.
May i ask why there is mention of a car that drives without an engine under the hood? Is it rear engined? Electric? Or an inside joke of somekind?
Kep, Yes, it is rear engined. He has a 36 or 40 horsepower VW engine and transaxle under the decklid (trunk). The wheels are standard Ford wire wheels, so everything looks stock, under the hood until you try to check the water, oil, coils, spark plugs, etc.