Today was the "Pre Tour" day of the 2013 Texas T Party, hosted once again by the hard workingSpace City T Club of Houston, Texas. These guys and ladies really put on a great tour every year. This year promise to be interesting as we are based in the east Texas "Piney Woods" region centered in Lufkin.
The tour book gave us a list of places of interest in and around downtown Lufkin. We put about 60 miles on the T today. Here's what it looked like driving in to town from the hotel:
The destination was antique shops, and later lunch in the heart of downtown Lufkin. WE spent a couple hours visiting shops and then having a buffet lunch at the Lufkin Café.
After lunch I went to start the 15. Cranked, cranked again, tried choking, tried throttle wide open........ pulled the crank 15 times, no start.
It helps to turn the gas on...........fired right up on two pulls after turning the gas on.
Maybe that is why Henry didn't put a valve within easy reach.
Then we went to the Texas Forestry Museum. Nice assortment of vintage logging machinery, including huge rail car mounted equipment used to drag massive pine logs across the ground to get them to the trains.
I liked the landscaping around the museum using all native Texas plants, so I took this picture.
About 4 o'clock this afternoon we all drove across town as a group to the local Ford dealer. Model T owners and free food are made for each other! The dealership provided hamburgers, drinks, and Blue Bell ice cream. Blue Bell is made in Texas, by the way!
About 40 Model T's in the parking lot marked "Pre Owned Fords" LOL.
One fellow pulled his 1927 Model T touring into the dealer's service area. I was thinking this should be interesting...wonder if they have a flat rate book for Model T's?
There are several things wrong in this picture. One of them is causing the T to run poorly.
Later on we cruised back to the hotel, arriving about dark. I had a headlight bulb burn out just as I entered the parking lot. Thanks to John Stolz for the use of his Tripplett meter.
Lots more Model T's were arriving and unloading, old friends from all over.
That fuel filter sure is not going to help.
Several people were performing last minute routine maintenance in the parking lot. I ran into this fellow (figuratively) with a nice 14 touring and noticed he had a distinctive accent. I asked where he was from and the reply was "College Station". Aha! I knew he sounded a lot like Ross Lilleker.
It always amazes me when people have taken such great care to make their look just great but it never runs well, usually because of something extra that the owner did or had done.
That is one lovely Improved Ford touring-my favorite. The manifolds and headlight cross-bar and carb tell me it is probably a late '26 with wires.
Could be a '27 with a carb instead of vaporizer.
Lovely car. I'd like to see more pictures of it.
One problem i see is that you have a "plumber" working under the hood
Mike
That is probably Royce's car. He hired a plumber to put in his new Texas T water pump.
For Royce, yes I have a flat rate and its hard to beleive, imagine resetting valve lash for $0.50??????
I was going to crack a joke about the picture of the improved Ford, but I decided to keep it above the belt.
LOL Royce is in the best mood I've probably EVER seen him in.
I always manage to do something like "hey, maybe try turning the gas on" when I'm front of a bunch of folks. I just shake my head and open up the let-pipe so I can't hear the giggling as I drive off.
Hey Ed, it appears the problem is what is NOT below the belt but should be.
Also - roughly $0.50 for setting valve lash in 1915 works out to about $12.00 now. I could see that being realistic if it was per valve.
Good one Ed!