Model T stories from my grandfather: The 1911 Torpedo Roadster that "Got away"

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: Model T stories from my grandfather: The 1911 Torpedo Roadster that "Got away"
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Matthew Atchinson on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 06:17 pm:

I thought it might be fun to share one of my grandfather's many Model T searching stories with you all.

In the early 60's my grandfather had already owned, restored, and sold quite a few Model T's. He was at this time working on his 23 roadster, which turned out being his last and fullest restoration he did. He heard from a friend that a gentleman owned two model t Fords and had them in a barn. One of them was an all original 1911 torpedo roadster.

Torpedo roadsters have been my grandfather's favorite model of Model T's for years: and they still are. He quickly went out to meet this man. Sure enough there in the barn were two model T's. A 27 Tudor sedan, and the Torpedo roadtser. the car had belonged to the gentleman's mother. She had bought the car new and barely ever driven it. In 1927 she had bought the tudor as a replacement. The topedo went into the barn and there it sat for decades, occasionally brought out to be cleaned and run. The car still had all of its paint though faded here and there a little, no rust, and the ORIGINAL upholstery had not been destroyed by rot or mice. My grandfather made an offer on both of the cars, though he was particulary interested in the torpedo. The man responded that he had ridden in the torpedo as a boy and a young man in the 27, and since his late mother had been so fond of them he was just too attached to be rid of them. My grandfather left his number in case he ever changed his mind and left.

fast forward to 1966: My grandfather here's that the man has passed away. He goes over to see from the neighbors if anyone around would know who to contact about the cars. He gets there: the barn and house are GONE! He goes to the neighbor's house and asks what happened. The family had sold the small farm and it was getting developed. The barn and house had been pushed down by bulldozers to clear the land. No one wanted the two T's and.....yep you guessed it.....the were sadly still inside the barn when it got toppled into a fill they dug behind it. So somewhere out there, is a once beautiful 1911 Torpedo roadster that was smashed into oblivion "six feet under." My grandfather still kicks himself for not going back again to inquire with the man again. I'm sure many of us would have loved to have such a unique Model T.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ed in California on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 06:30 pm:

I saw the same thing happen to an an old feller when I was younger. He died, and the property was sold as is, 6 cars in a barn as well. The new owner bulldozed everything into a giant pile. I still remember seeing the chassis sticking out of the pile before the whole lot was carted away. One man's treasure is often another mans junk.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Matthew Atchinson on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 07:26 pm:

I'm thinking of making "Grandfather's T stories" a bit of a regular posting if people are interested in me recounting the rambling Model T adventures of my grandfather.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 08:14 pm:

Do you own a metal detector?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Matthew Atchinson on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 08:18 pm:

Kep, hahaha. I'm sure by now after 47 years the crunched up cars are totally rusted away to nothing. But if i knew where it was I would definitely go for that (that is if there isn't a suburb built on it by now). Something like the engine and rear end could be ok, but I doubt anything else would have survived. Sort of reminds of that forum posting last year about the Model T's on the bottom of a great lake.


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