HISTORY OF THE FORUM

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: HISTORY OF THE FORUM
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 12:15 pm:

Revisiting a 2009 Forum thread.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/112549.html


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 12:53 pm:

Thanks, Jay.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 01:37 pm:

That was an interesting read although nothing seems definite about a starting date. Tried to go back and pin myself down but some of the really old posts seem oddly shorted & no luck. I've been in this location since late '04 but not sure when I started posting. It was a goof seeing how often Bruce posted back then.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 02:54 pm:

Thanks Jay....good memories


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Heyen - Nebraska on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 03:01 pm:

Jay, thanks for the link.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 03:17 pm:

Making me to think.... dangerous ?? The first website I looked at was the MTFCA website.... in 1997...strictly on a dial-up modem and a very slow computer our nephew built... scary by today's standards.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan B on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 03:59 pm:

I got my Model T in 1997 around the same time as the internet. I remember the good old days and the great "food fight" that shut it down for a bit. Am I the only one who misses Reid and the posts on "Gilsonite"?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dan B on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 04:04 pm:

By the way, I was only 12 years old in '97. I remember posting about getting the Model T back then and all the encouragement I got to get it on the road. I've received so much help over the years.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 05:04 pm:

Reid certainly was entertaining. Still is:

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/03/comm_sarnoffs_propane_huffing.php


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 05:18 pm:

We knew him as the opinionated Miami piano tuner who used his T as a daily driver. From the comments to the above link, looks like he's fighting a righteous, but unsuccessful battle against a crooked politician.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Herb Iffrig on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 07:29 pm:

That page I see was from March 16 2012. Does anyone know the rest of the story?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kenneth W DeLong on Friday, January 03, 2014 - 07:42 pm:

Poop! I sure hope arguing with butt head bud was not what drove him off the edge! Bud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Saturday, January 04, 2014 - 08:13 am:

More on Reid Welch and his Propane huffing antics:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/search/results/keyword:reid+welch/type:all/


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By fordmodelt on Saturday, January 04, 2014 - 11:45 am:

Ried is proof that Model T's can lead to playing a Theremin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT-7ZhnSQrI


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gene Carrothers Huntington Beach on Saturday, January 04, 2014 - 09:34 pm:

What ever happened to Reid. I enjoyed his posts here and especially some tests he did with Bosch spark plugs.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Sunday, January 05, 2014 - 09:18 am:

Gene:

Read Royce's newspaper links.....

Leads one to believe Reid is pre-occupied .


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 12:01 pm:

Thought I'd bump this before the end of the 2014 Forum.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 01:25 pm:

Copied and pasted, as usual,Stan brings me a laugh.

"By Stan Howe on Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 06:48 pm:

I grew, too, Bruce, from hours of sitting in front of the puter reading the forum instead of out working."


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dean Yoder, Iowa City IA. on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 01:48 pm:

I bought this load from an add on this forum 2-14-97
24


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 02:24 pm:

In the 1990's, my impression of a computer was, "It would be a good device to type out a letter and then edit and revise it before printing it out and sending by U.S mail! :-):-)

In October 2003 we were evacuated because of a fire which came within 100' of our home. The following December, our children pooled resources and bought us a computer. My first task was to type in all the information about our geneology and pictures of as many people as cameras were available and also houses where they had lived and pictures of their graves. These I saved onto disks and also sent this information to all family members who were interested in receiving them. This included cousins, children and grandchildren. If we ever get evacuated again, we can take the disk along, just in case**.

From there things evolved to accessing and posting on this forum. I find it a great way to gain and distribute knowledge of Model T.s.

Anyway, my history goes back to about 1994. The forum was in basicly this same forum at that time.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - 10:34 am:

Geez, Dean, you were a lot younger in 1997 !!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Walker, NW AR on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - 10:59 am:

Bob -- That's Dean's son, and he was a lot younger in '97 as well. :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff Perkins on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 - 10:24 pm:

I signed on in 1998....mostly lurking.....have not posted in five years until reregistering last month. RDR and Royce were the ones I remember from my beginning.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 02:22 am:

I think I signed on sometime around 1998--are there any records to tell us when folks joined? I couldn't find any of my posts trying the search engine under "old forum"


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 03:49 am:

I don't know exactly when I first signed in. I am fairly sure it was before 2000. I can't remember if I used my actual name or not, but I think I did. It has always been my tendency to be open that way. And I have NO idea what I may have used for a password at that time. I did not post much in those early years, and then I did drop to the wayside for a few years, only reading posts occasionally. Work and messed up family had simply gotten in the way. But eventually, I started posting again. Maybe too much.
There was an incident with the early forum. Nothing terrible (I guess). Someone started a thread concerning the question of any real brass late '15/early'16 center-door sedans (still an unsettled question). I had shortly before that sold the one that I had, and that I believed to probably be a real one (although difficult to prove either way).
So I wrote a rather lengthy piece, detailing many of the minor items that led previous owners and myself to believe that it was a real one. I also told some reasons for doubt.
I posted it.
I don't know exactly when it happened. I never heard a reason given for why it happened. I do know my posting was on the site and alive for a few hours. But within a day, the site crashed. About a month's worth of postings were lost forever, or so the report said after the forum was brought back up.
In a funny kind of way, I sort of thought it must have been my fault. I know that it really was not. But computers and I have never gotten along very well. It is bad enough that I have a fundamental difference of opinion with computer people in general. Computers and I not getting along well goes far beyond my opinions. In the early days of home computers, people would excitedly exclaim they had this wonderful new program to show me.
--
--
--
Lets just say that I heard the phrase "It has never done this before!!" a lot, lot, LOT, of times. I would never touch anything. I seldom got within ten feet of the person's computer. There is no logical explanation for it. All I had to do, was be in the same room, and computers would crash. A LOT. Modern computers are much more robust. They are better built. They are better grounded internally. It doesn't happen very often anymore. Oddly, it still does happen occasionally.
Just a strange tale of me. But I was here early on.
Drive carefully, and do enjoy the holidays! W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Pawelek Brookshire, Texas on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 07:30 am:

I wandered onto the forum the second month it was in operation with my dial up and phone extension cord tacked on the ceiling from my kitchen to the utility room where my computer sat next to our food freezer. My computer at that time had a 2 meg. Hard drive! I thought this was Star Trek futuristic! I still have the CD that contains the first couple of years of the forum before the cat calling and nasty fighting began. It is humorous that the question came up within the first month, " What type of oil do I use in a Model T?" And still today the debate goes on where some say use modern detergent oil and others single grade non detergent. This forum has been the greatest boon to the Model T hobby and I have met many great friends over the years on the Net that I otherwise would have not. Merry Christmas !


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 10:38 am:

Michael, what month did it start? I was on by April or May '97.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 10:40 am:

Michael, please post your T&A pix again.

Michael has always been a great comic on the Forum.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By charlie haeckel on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 04:05 pm:

If you go to the waybackmachine there are more than 500 captures of this forum. the oldest one from jan 27 1998. lots of posts and some pictures still there. I will try a link for the oldest post. https://web.archive.org/web/19980127031125/http://www.mtfca.com/


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff Perkins on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 04:49 pm:

Michael Pawelek, another I recall from the earlier days as a master of the humorous post! Happy you are still aboard. I think of you still on that certain day of October! I too would like to see pics of your two cars.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 07:17 pm:

Charlie,
Well, that was neat! apparently I was posting at least in 1997, based on the posts I did in Jan 1998.
Boy, does time fly!!!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison North of Iowa on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 08:02 pm:

Wayne, I'm doing a little hit and miss reading through the posts in this thread. I got a bit of a chuckle out of your experience with computers. It reminded me of my earliest experiences with computers somewhere back in the very early eighties.

At that time we had a 16 byte computer that didn't read paper tape. It actually had some 5 1/4 floppy discs that we'd program as an assist to a measuring machine. I was so proud that I was one of the few that could "program" the machine to do the simple math problems using trigonometry necessary to make the machine do its thing.

I thought I was an absolute genius and often wondered how they were able to keep the place running while I wasn't there. But then I just accepted the fact, I was that good.

And then the day came that I had my fall from grace. Apparently something I said got under the skin of that intellectual, deviant, misfit from a technological junkyard. That machine made it more than known it hated my guts. I couldn't simply drive into the parking lot at the job and that dang machine would start to smoke, rattle, swear and physically threaten anyone within a half mile radius of the place.

It started byting it's floppy's, peeing down its own leg and killing most of the lights in the plant. I even heard a rumor, it had sent a threatening note to one of the "Swede" machining centers out in the shop and caused it to puke it's punch-key card.

It was a mess. No one could work with it. The final straw was when it killed it's own air drier and caused one of the leveling airbags to lose pressure and darn near tip the machine over.

It was about that time my supervisor decided it would be better if I was transferred to another part of the factory. But apparently the word went out among the machines and they rebelled against me all the rest of the time I worked there.

It was 18 years before I finally left the business. An outside corporation had purchased the company by then and the old measuring machine had been put into the back of the warehouse.

I went back once or twice to pay my respects but was never real comfortable being back there alone with it. Though it's life support had been disconnected for years I could still feel that vibe that a person feels when walking past the grave of an enemy.

Though it was sad in so many ways, I still felt a little better knowing I was instrumental in the death of that damn thing.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Pawelek Brookshire, Texas on Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 09:46 pm:

R.D. , I'll look up your first post on the forum when I get back home this weekend and get the disk out. I will
also find the naughty "rear end" pictures at the same time.....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jem Bowkett, Bracknell United Kingdom on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 07:13 am:

Can't remember when I first posted, but it was back in Gus's day, well before the 02 shutdown. RDR & Mike Pawalek were frequent posters, Terry was always good for an argument, and I do miss Reid's amazing research projects.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 01:44 pm:

Back then Reid and I were the only piano tuners on the forum. Are there others now, or am I the Lone Wolf? (speaking of which, was watching The Real MeCoys the other night for the first time in decades, and there on the wall behind "Grandpa" was the Lone Wolf print--now there's detail accuracy!).
Of course, there were always the posts by "T Monk" hoping to absolve anyone from their T Habit by accepting the object of their obsession into the Monastery. Never got ONE convert!! And the Orphan's fund plate is still empty. . . while the choir rehearses "A Mighty Magneto Has the Ford" for the next service.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gene Carrothers Huntington Beach on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 07:44 pm:

Don't remember when I first found this Forum but it was in reference to a question many years back about if anyone had the correct carb for my '12 and if the OF that I had was any good. Several posters offered to accept my old carb.

The most important day on the Forum was when I read a post from RDR and noticed that he was a next door neighbor and I could practically look out my window and see him setting at his computer!
We've been friends ever since.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 08:13 pm:

Likewise, Gene. You've done so much for me.

Wanna' crawl under the house, and string new wire from the floor furnace to the thermostat? :-)

I ask, just to show the others I know you would do it, but I can afford to hire it done. I'll save you for better things.



We have had our fun races up the freeways to the HME. Maybe Ross will join you next year. He's going to drive me in the modren for at least the start and maybe the donut stop.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Herb Iffrig on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 08:20 pm:

I used to print out good pages from the forums. I might have some from around 1999.
I would print out some of Reid Welch's methods. I remember one about getting the kingpin bolts perfect. He had a way of lapping them in maybe. Then there was the Gilsonite experiment.
The traffic seemed to shift from one forum to the other for a while.
Do you guys remember the poster Hurc? Did we ever find out who he was?
I know I have a print out of Poodles and Noodles at the Road Kill Café some where around here!

Herb


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 09:46 pm:

I want to know who Hugh Jass was.Probably a little skrawny guy behind a keyboard.
I got my first computer july 31 1999 that would go online.So I didnt get on till after that sometime.
Funny I dont remember the shut down, but if it was in 2002 ,I was not working alot on the TT at that time.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Alan Woolf on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 09:51 pm:

I was an early contributor to the Model T Forum. I don’t know when I found the webpage but it must have been in 97 or 98 which was about the same time I signed up for Ebay. My brothers Jim and Dan and father Ray have also contributed to the Model T forum over the years. The forum has been a real source of information for me over the years and I have also tried to add some useful content from time to time.

The forum has also introduced me to new friends. I met Ralph Ricks in 1999 when he came to Marietta, GA for the start of the Great Race. I provided a spot to park his car and helped with some pit crew duties prior to the race. I also met forum contributors Reid Welch and Hal Schedler. They were Ralph’s support team for the run across the country. There have been a lot of characters come and go over the years but even now there is a regular group of folks that check in and sound off. It still feels like a familiar community after so many years.

My activity on the forum has decreased lately primarily from being busy with other projects. I have been very involved in the restoration of a 1914 American Underslung that I purchased on 2008. Along with that project I am helping Jim with the restoration of his 1911 Model T. I still have my 13 touring and it gets exercised from time to time.

Many thanks are due to Gus Strangeland for having the vision and foresight to create this online community of T owners and those interested in T’s. Also thanks go to Tony CImorelli, Bruce McCalley, Chris Brancaccio, and others who have administered the forum and made it available for us to enjoy.

Happy New Year,

Alan Woolf

+++ jpeg +++ 504701 +++ 1911 T



+++


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By tim moore on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 10:22 pm:

Yes Mack I also want to know who Hugh Jass was along with Phantom Chaz and also Hurk. HJ was sort of funny, PC was not and Hurk I did not like for a long time but later found him quite funny. Then their was Reid, he was a smart guy but it went right off the rails with him.

I think I was here in about 1997 and watched the the fire burn almost out then come back several times. I watch the forum several times a day but don't post much like many others from the past. Learned many lessons about the internet and on line forums.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Keith Gumbinger, Kenosha, WI on Friday, December 26, 2014 - 10:57 pm:

I also got on the Forum early, I think it was in '96 or '97. I sold our '21 Speedster on the classifieds about then.

Yes, I remember Hurc, Reid and Hugh Jass. I enjoyed reading Hurc's posts, and remember that he was eventually identified.

We've been on several tours with Hal and Vonnie Schedler.....they are a great couple!

I met Ralph at the OCF in maybe '09 or '10 when he was riding around with Bud DeLong on a nice warm Friday evening.

BTW, who was Hurc anyway?

Keith


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By george house . . .caldwell county, TX on Monday, December 29, 2014 - 09:20 am:

I guess it was sometime in the Spring of '97 when I came in from an Army mission in Sarajevo and was surfing the web that I discovered the Forum. Back then it had a marvelous leveling influence on the tensions and stress of the day for me. . . .Still does. Yeah, thanks Gus et al


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jay - In Northern California on Monday, December 29, 2014 - 10:04 am:

Keith, I believe Hurc was Bill Bamber from Auburn Ca.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Potter on Monday, December 29, 2014 - 11:10 am:

Michael, you made me do it. I'm back - temporarily. Actually I never stopped reading the forum. I stopped from posting in 2004 for two reasons. First, I started a new business and posting time became non-existent. And second, it seemed like an "Annual Snit" was becoming the norm every late winter/early spring. Perhaps it was just a symptom of cabin fever. Anyway, I could get sufficient aggravation at work without reading the forum for my required daily dose.

I started posting about the time I acquired my T in September, 1999, and have met numerous Forum posters since then. One of the first was Bruce McCalley at Hershey. Then a bit later that year our older daughter was accepted into a semester abroad program (in OZ) for the spring 2000 semester. What does one get a person for Christmas who is going out of the country for six months? Didn't figure she'd need many T tools, so I looked up a person on the T Forum who was from Melbourne to help me get her something from the U of Melbourne. Since then Andrew has visited us two times. The second time he brought his very lovely Permanent Attachment (AKA: wife).

While our daughter was down under, she traveled up along the east coast. At one point there was a terrible fire with several fatalities at a hostel. We knew she was in the area of the fire at that time, however news reports over here were sketchy and she hadn't checked in via email. Another Forum poster from OZ, Ray, helped calm our nerves. (A change of plans the day before the fire was perhaps a life-saving decision.)

We had a few T get-togethers during Hershey week until folks started "talking" on the Forum that it should be a tradition. With work getting in my way, and knowing that traditions can become terminal conditions if imposed on others, we decided to discontinue the get-togethers. However thru my T activities I met, visited, or communicated with several early Forum posters. Unfortunately I've forgotten many of their names (that age thing is a bummer), but Jay, Kim, RD, Dick, Terry, Dan, T-Nut, RV, Don, Trent, Coilman, Mr. Fun Projects, Stan, John, and Michael were among them. When I was in Texas a few years ago, I tried to take Michael and his wife out to dinner as a thank you for sending me a couple of parts. But they wouldn't hear of it and made me sit at their table. While it was much better than any restaurant, it means I still owe them - even more so. Michael, my offer still stands. Recently the Forum has introduced me to a couple of rabble-rousers named Rob and Steve. All these fine people and many others would never exist to me without the Forum.

And Michael about that oil thing. IIRC, back in the mid 90's, there was an article about T oil in one of the T magazines by a petroleum engineer. The author went through the engineering process to create the specifications for the ideal Model T oil. When he got to the end, he realized that the oil specifications he created matched an existing oil. His conclusion: if you were to design an oil specifically for a Model T you would end up with 5W30 (I believe it was that, but it may have been 10W30 - old age). Wonder if Jay could find the article and reprint it. Wonder if it would restart (continue) the "Oil Wars".

Cheers,
T


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Monday, December 29, 2014 - 11:42 am:

I know Hugh Jass, and many of you know him. I won't reveal his id as long as he posts here.


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